Meade agreed that price won't be the only factor in the coming months."I know that when we ask our clients, they say customer service comes before price, but we all know it's really the opposite of that and it's always about price," he said. "But I think from our distributor-supplier relationships, it's really turning into customer service. This industry has over 3,500 vendors and I'm only going to be using 30 because I don't need the pricing, I need the customer service. I really think the ones that help me more are going to be the ones that are going to be successful, no matter what the pricing."
Kyle A. Richardson is the editorial director of Promo Marketing. He joined the company in 2006 brings more than a decade of publishing, marketing and media experience to the magazine. If you see him, buy him a drink.