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Sunday
May 31, 2009 Bag Design Open HouseFiled under: ASI Canada It was a dreary, damp day Wednesday, June 27. But, inside at 300 Confederation Parkway, Unit 3 (the home of Justin Case/Bag Design) it was warm, dry, congenial and magical!
Thursday
May 14, 2009 What a great week!Filed under: ASI Canada Road Tour Last week’s Advantages Road Shows in Quebec and Ontario were a big a HIT! I did not attend the Montreal location because we had Meghan from our U.S. office that is fluent in French do Montreal for me but Jay and Fred did attend and told me it was a great day. I left on the Monday to join the group in Ottawa and what a 24 hours I had. Of course I never took my winter tires off the Jeep and had to run over that afternoon to get my summer tires on. Fortunately they weren’t busy and were able to change the tires right away, and then I headed over to Hydeport to pick up some boxes Paul had been storing for me. As I got out onto the 427 Hwy all of a sudden the truck started shaking, at first I thought I had a flat tire so I pulled over to check, no flat tire so I got back in and started off again. Didn’t get far before it started shaking again – it was shaking so hard I could hardly hold the steering wheel straight. I called the tire store and they told me to bring it back in so they could check it out. I had to first get over to Hydeport to pick up the bags we needed in Ottawa so I just used all my strength to keep the truck on the highway and got to Hydeport before they closed, then headed back to the tire store. I got back there and it turned out the guy that installed the tires didn’t balance them – nice! It’s now 6:30 and I was on the west side of Toronto so I knew I was going arrive later than I thought, which was not really a bad thing as I was in no big rush. The rest of the drive went well although at my age I do have to stop every couple of hours, so it takes me longer than it should to get everywhere. I decided to stay at a hotel right off the highway as it was only a 15 minute drive to Tudor Hall in the morning (and I could smoke). Before I go any further I might as well tell you I’m getting a bit of a reputation (for getting lost), the last two times I had to go to London I totally missed the city. I had blamed Pat Morris for the problem I was having, as both times I missed the exit for London Pat was in the car with me. The first time we were coming from Kitchener on the 401 and chatting away after a couple of hours I turned to Pat and said how much further is it to London? Pat looked out the window and replied that she didn’t know and asked where we were? At first neither one of us recognized any of the towns until we saw the exit sign for Chatham then we knew we were way past London. In case you don’t know there are about 4 or 5 exits off the 401 to London and somehow we missed all of them! Then again a couple of months ago Pat and I are in Kitchener and are headed for London, we were leaving Kitchener around 2 and hadn’t had lunch yet so I suggested we drive to St. Jacobs and have a nice lunch before we drive to London. We went to the Stone Crock a great restaurant in town and enjoyed a really good home cooked meal (something never enjoyed in my home). Then we went to their bakery and picked up some goodies for our night in London. We weren’t in any big hurry to get to London so I suggested we just take highway 7 all the way, it’s a nice drive and goes thru some lovely towns along the way. Once again Pat and I are happily chatting away and enjoying our drive, we get to Hwy 8 and go south towards London, yes you guessed it – we once again missed London. Somehow I ended up out on the 401 going towards Windsor but at least this time I realized my mistake and turned around right away. Well I guess you know where I’m going with this story! When I checked into the hotel in Ottawa I asked them print a map to the location from the hotel and headed out early in the morning so that I would be able to get to Tudor Hall with lots of time to set up. I still don’t know how I missed the street but somehow I ended up by Grenville, realizing I must have missed a turn somehow I went back the same way I came. I knew the street was close to Hunt’s Club Road so I turned there and followed a sign with a horse and carriage on it (don’t know what that sign was for). Okay that didn’t work out either so I pulled over at a Hilton Hotel and asked for directions. They printed me a new MapQuest and I headed out once again, this one leads me into a Private Golf Course. Fortunately, the guys there were nice enough to give me good directions and I found the Hall, my 10 – 15 minute drive only took me an hour and a half – good thing I left early and thanks Jay for getting everything set up! So, I guess I have to stop blaming poor Pat for getting me lost all the time, she wasn’t in the Jeep with me and maybe I should consider one of those GPS things! Check back next week and I’ll tell you all about the rest of the tour!
Thursday
April 16, 2009 Maybe price is the issue?Filed under: A message from Leslie Recently at the ASI Canada Seminars in Ontario I discussed with people in attendance that things have really changed in the marketplace in the past few months. When discussing promotional ideas with an owner of a business you need to be able to provide proof that your ideas will work to achieve their goals. They simply will not buy into promotional campaigns unless they are convinced that the money they invest will provide an R.O.I. For employees their mindset is similar but more driven by fear, when they say price is the objection what is really motivating them is actually the fear of failure. If the promotion does not achieve their goals they will be held responsible for that failure, so in their mind if they can buy a product from a cheaper source they can at least tell management they saved the company money. A number of people at the seminars requested that I send them a copy of the recently released Advertising Specialties Impressions Study; this is great information to present to clients that want proof that advertising specialties are effective. If you would like more information on the study or if you haven’t seen a copy yet just go to www.asicentral.com/marketing in addition there are PowerPoint Presentations you can personalize to send to clients – it’s really worth your time to check this site out thoroughly! Food for Thought: If you are doing things the same as everyone else, then all your clients have to judge you on is price! Today I was listening to a conference call and one of the tips I heard that I believe is really important was to look at what other businesses are doing that’s successful - then find a way you can apply those strategies to your business. If you’ve got more ideas let me know!
Sunday
February 1, 2009 Finally, we can get back to business!Filed under: ASI Canada Love them or hate them the Conservative government will now be in power for at least a year and the budget will stand. This is good news for Canada, as the majority of Canadians did not want either another election or anything to do with a coalition government. It helps at the least with giving us some stability on one front and should help businesses in Canada to focus more on running their companies without the distraction of whose going to be running the country. While many in the industry have told me things are slow coming into the year I hear the same thing every year. January for many is a slow month as clients are coming off two weeks of holidays and it takes some time for things to ramp up again. For some the political instability would also have had an affect as planning would have been shelved waiting for the budget. But, love is in the air or is it! As we head into February now’s the time to really take stock of where we are and what our relationships truly are with our clients. Are we just selling them stuff so that we can generate an income or do we really have their best interests at heart? The days of just selling stuff are done; mass transmitting “Specials” to everyone in your contact list are a thing of the past. What’s most important to customers and even potential customers are “What’s in it for me” – they want you to save them time, save them money and most importantly make them look good! Unless you are dealing with the owner of the company, everyone is going to be concerned about the stability of their position within the company. They are being asked to do more with less, less time as many are forced to not only do their own job but jobs that were done by other co-workers. Budgets are being cut back and yet management wants to see sales at the very least maintain 2008 levels and many will demand increases. Stress levels will be higher than ever! Now’s the time to get down to business with a totally new attitude of caring and understanding for what your clients are dealing with. In the past couple of years we’ve all heard the term consultative selling and now is when we need to put that into practice on a daily basis! In today’s environment it will be all about caring and respect, the more you care and the more you can do to help your clients succeed in these difficult times the more you in turn will succeed! Check back next week for more tips and ideas!
Tuesday
December 23, 2008 HAPPY HOLIDAYSFiled under: ASI Canada It’s been an exciting first year for ASI Canada thanks to each of you and on behalf of Fred, Celine, Jay and myself we would like to thank you for your support during 2008!
Tuesday
December 9, 2008 Are Advertising Specialties Recession Proof?Filed under: ASI Canada Our industry survived the last two recessions relatively well and there are some very important reasons why.
Wednesday
November 26, 2008 Advertising Specialties Impressions StudyFiled under: ASI Canada During the past week I have been having conversations with members from the east coast to the west coast about the state of the industry in Canada.
Tuesday
November 18, 2008 A personal message to the industryFiled under: A message from Leslie I don’t believe there is anyone in Canada that has not heard of the tragic passing of Brandon Crisp last month. Maybe it’s because I’m currently living in Barrie and living in a smaller city brings out a more personal involvement.
Monday
November 10, 2008 When the going gets tough!Filed under: ASI Canada What a roller coaster it’s been in the past few months – record high gas prices, then dropping to lows not seen for a long time. A dollar at par, then dropping like a stone, the stock market falls, then record increases only to fall again.
Monday
October 27, 2008 Five Cities in Five DaysFiled under: ASI Canada The first ever fall ASI Road Show was a huge success, not only was attendance strong in all five locations everyone I spoke to loves the format. The regional table top style show allows for greater interaction between the suppliers and distributors, |
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