Newsletter Blogs

People are much smarter than puppies, but raising a puppy can teach you a lot about how to manage people. I know this because with Tiffany, my family's first puppy 25-plus years ago, I did everything wrong. Tiffany was never potty trained, constantly barked at nothing and, essentially,…

Question: I have been using the order numbers that QuickBooks auto-assigns for sales orders (SO), purchase orders (PO) and invoices numbers. Is there a better way? Answer: Yes. When I was a distributor, I quickly learned how often I had to access different orders during the course of a day. And thus, being able to…

David Bowie was was an icon to those on the outside, a unifying thread for writers, artists, musicians and weirdos across generations.

The branding for this year’s Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) Expo was “The Best Expo Ever,” which is a big claim, considering the Expo is always a great event. The Expo is the largest industry event of the year. It’s a busy, productive week that, for many, goes beyond being a trade show—it’s more like…

Answer this. Believe your answer. You’ll be well on your way to defining your competitive advantage, your value proposition, and will become more successful at differentiating yourself and your company. You’ll be well on your way to moving away from the commodity business and being an innovative value creator. Describe your client’s life before they…

January is the embodiment of the new. People celebrate the new year, discuss their New Year’s resolutions, outline their plans and, in

Question: How can I set up QuickBooks to control what information users have access to? Answer: QuickBooks allows you to set up users and passwords under the "company" tab. When setting up a user, you can specify which information you want that particular user to see or not see, and edit or not edit. You…

Let me apologize to you right up front—this article isn’t the typical “dream big” stuff I enjoy writing about. But the truth is, if you don’t understand these concepts, your big dreams could turn into big nightmares. Many sales-minded people are not interested in accounting and finance. My guess is that it’s a right brain/left…

Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT) is about being there whenever and wherever your client might be receptive to your message. It used to be far less complicated to be in sales, especially in the promotional products industry. If you had the relationship, you were the clients' resource. Your marketing primarily consisted of sending a catalog…

As she slowly pulled the sheer black nylon stocking up along her shapely leg, her bright red fingernail caught at the edge, causing a fresh run to skittle down her thigh toward her shimmering midnight calf. OK, as much as I love them, that’s about all we’ll be talking about black stockings in this article.…