Welcome to the promo playbook, the podcast where
suppliers come to win in the promotional products
industry. We're your hosts, Lisa Faustic and
Adrienne Barker, bringing you insider insights,
expert strategies, and no fluff advice to help
suppliers navigate the promo channel like pros.
From marketing to distributors to mastering software
onboarding, we cover it all. Whether you're new
to the industry or ready to scale up, this is
your playbook for success. Let's get started.
Hey everybody. Welcome to this week's episode
of the promo playbook. Today we're going to do
a bite into the idea of supplier and distributor
partnerships and what that looks like using the
tools that you have through follow up customer
service and all the things we do as suppliers
to build relationships with our distributor partners
because The truth is your distributor is your
customer. They're super important to you and
every single communication with them is a relationship
builder. So we're going to go ahead and dive
in and talk about the idea of building strategic
partnerships with your distributors. Adrienne,
you want to give us your thoughts on that? Yes.
So suppliers. First of all, recognize that distributors
talk to each other. So if you are unkind, if
you are giving the information to the distributor
slowly, if you're not responding completely,
if you're just making the distributor's life
difficult because they want to sell your line,
I would really reconsider that because they do
talk to each other. So I think my first tip will
be, that leaders of supplier companies should
be monitoring the phone calls. You should really
double check, take some time. What does that
phone call sound like? And before the call ends,
is your supplier, company service, whoever's
answering the phone, are they making sure before
that call clicks off that they've answered every
question? And that could be the same with an
email. You wanna kind of really show at that
time. It's like a doctor's office, right? Yeah,
someone's gonna have to wait to see the doctor.
But when you get in that office, get all that
information to the distributor quickly. These
distributors do understand that you're busy,
but you have to recognize that they're busy too.
And they wanna make a sale. They wanna get their
client happy with what they're offering. So I
really feel that this is an important conversation.
Thanks, Adrienne. So reduce friction, bye. giving
as much information as possible, being clear,
concise, maybe that's your FOB point, making
sure your quotes are clear, that the distributor
can understand what you're saying, set expectations.
Kim, what are your thoughts on the development
of distributor -supplier partnerships? Yeah,
I mean, you really need to and you should anticipate
what that next question is. Listen, we don't
want to go back and forth and have email ping
pong. So if something is out of stock, customers
asking for, hey, I would like this tumbler in
pink. Don't say, sorry, out of stock. Say, sorry,
we're out of stock, but we have these items in
pink, or we have that item in these colors. Here's
the pricing. Here's the time frame. Basically,
get it all together at one fell swoop, because
otherwise you're going to toss it over the net.
and say we're out of stock. They're going to
come back and say, do you have any other options?
Then you're going to give them options. Okay,
but what is that pricing? But then what is it?
And like, none of us have time for that. So take
advantage of like, just be thoughtful in the
literal sense of being thoughtful. Like think
a couple steps ahead, get that information all
at once. Because when you do that, that distributor
is like, darn, she was so good. I'm gonna go
back to her for the next one and the next one
and the next one and now you're the go -to supplier
for that distributor and That's how rain that's
how you know, you start making rain. All right,
uh, you know with money so Good stuff. Yeah,
so so just to sort of um restate that like Give
150%. Give all the information. Don't use one
word replies. Like if a distributor emails you
with an order or a question about stock, don't
say OOS and nothing else. Say thank you for your
inquiry. We really appreciate the opportunity.
Restating what Kim already said. Unfortunately,
we're out of that color, but we do have XYZ.
Give context to your distributor partner. Say
thank you. acknowledge that this is an opportunity,
and build a relationship when you send back a
quote, say, good luck. We hope you get the order.
We're pulling for you, sending you positive sales
vibes. We're all people trying to make a living,
and the kindness factor is key. Thank you, Adrienne,
for bringing that up. I want to talk about ghosting
a little bit because that seems to be something
that happens in our world today, which... Totally
blows me away. I'm not a goaster. It's not the
way I function. And I don't know if that's a
generational thing. Adrienne, you want to chime
in on that? What's your experience with ghosting
and how do you feel about it? It's definitely
not in my generation. I've never even thought
of it, nor have I ever thought, like, I'm not
going to get back to someone. My father always
said, do it now. And as much as that may drive
people crazy, what that really means is when
an email hits your desk, Either don't open it
and then close it again, mark it as unread, and
think you'll go back to it. At least let the
person know, I received your email, I'll need
a day. I'll get back to you tomorrow. Whatever
that looks like, I kind of think the same thing
with a phone call coming in. It's almost easier
to answer a phone call than to have to call the
person back. But that we can debate too, because
there's two sides of that. Lisa and Kim, how
you do one thing is how you do everything. And
that is so important. So honestly, if you're
a goaster, I'm going to assume that every time
I send you an email, you're probably going to
ghost me. So I'll probably end up having to pick
up the phone. So now in essence, you're costing
me more time, more money. And if you're going
to ghost me and then you're going to have the
nerve to ask me for a discount too, on top of
it, that makes no sense. We get more with honey
than we get with bitter. So if you're working
with a supplier, I think that And as my time
as a distributor, it was always letting the supplier
know that I cared. I understood. I honored them.
They are important to us because I knew at one
point, if anything happens, even if there was
a problem that I had, that they weren't going
to see me as, Oh, that's Adrian, the ghost or
they would see me as, Oh, that's Adrian. She
responds. She listens. She cares. So at the end
of the day, what kind of reputation do you want
to have? If you want to be known as the ghost
or then, you know, walk through PPA with a Harry
Potter invisible cloak, right? So nobody can
see you because in essence you are doing nothing
for your reputation. And let's be honest, this
industry, it is all about the reputation. People
know what you're doing. You know, they they they
talk. So be careful with that. I think that's
my number one piece of advice. Thank you, Adrian.
Kim, anything to add there? No, I mean. I'm a
zero unread email girl. Like I see that red and
I see numbers and it gets into double digits.
I mean, like 11 and I like start to stress. So
I am definitely someone who responds right away.
I mean, part of it is because if I don't respond
right away, I'm never going to remember even
15 minutes later. So I have to do it now. But
it is it does, you know. It always surprises
me when people don't respond. It even surprises
me more when people don't respond and you're
the person that's being helpful to them. It's
like, hey, you asked for the favor or we gave
you this great opportunity. We brought you this
awesome order as a distributor, but you're not
responding to me at all as the supplier or as
the partner or whatever level it is. It doesn't
make me, to your point, it doesn't make me want
to do business anymore that way. You want to
treat people like you want to be treated, right?
Treat people like you want to be treated type
thing. I always say all the lessons go back to
kindergarten. And this one is like the very core
of what you learned in kindergarten. Wait, but
maybe we are wrong. Maybe we learned it wrong.
I think it may be treat other people how they
want to be treated. Maybe. I don't know if I
can change my DNA to that. Kindness, response,
expectations. I want to touch on something both
of you are talking about is that this goes both
ways, guys. If you're a distributor and a supplier
is trying to get in touch with you about a proof
approval or some piece of information they need
to process your order, Get back to them quickly.
They're holding a production space. They're trying
to get you into the production schedule. Don't
drag it out, you know, so it goes both ways.
Suppliers don't ghost, please, and distributors
don't ghost. We need each other. We need each
other to keep our engine running and keep everything
going smoothly. Now, sometimes that's harder
when you're a boutique or a smaller supplier
and the owner might be wearing all hats or there's
a small team of two or three people. So a couple
techniques you can use is to put on an auto reply.
Like if you know you're going to be away on a
different task for an afternoon, let your audience
know, hey guys, my reply might be delayed for
a couple hours because I'm going to be off site
or whatever you is happening and is appropriate
to say at that given time. manage the expectations
of the person that's reaching out to you. Because
we all know in our industry today, the expectation
is quick, quick, quick. Got to get back to people
in an hour, two hours, three hours max, unless
you let them know, hey, I'm working on this.
Kim brought this up. Just communicate, be nice,
be kind, say it's in the works. because what
happens is on the other end the anxiety level
rises because they're trying to make their client
happy. There's another person on the other end
waiting for an answer. We can't lose sight of
that, that our distributors are on the front
lines with their customers who are sometimes
freaking out. They are desperate for an answer.
They might be at a trade show at a booth waiting
for goods to arrive. They might be at an event.
They're making a presentation to somebody. keep
in mind that we're all humans trying to do the
best job possible to represent our industry out
in the real world. So I'm going to turn over
to the topic of subject lines, because most of
our communication in promo is done via email.
I'd say 90 % wouldn't overstate it, that it's
done through email communication. Kim, well,
I'm going to throw this to Adrienne first. What
are your thoughts on subject lines? Well, a subject
line is very important for the communication
to have it changed so that the person that's
receiving it can understand. I think sometimes
you may not get the response because you didn't
tag it, urge it, or maybe in the subject line,
if you change it and put, urge it, must read.
And you know what, by the way, The old fashioned
phone, pick it up, pick it up. There should be
no reason why you're not picking up the phone.
I mean, I want to just go back and say, Lisa,
that if you're finding that. you know, this is
something that, you know, if you did a feedback
or survey, wouldn't that be amazing too? I think
suppliers should really look at doing these surveys.
Just get a feeling. But if you're finding that
people are coming up to you and saying, you know,
you're, you're, you're great company, but your
customer service is, you know, lacking or I'm
not getting the answer. I'm not getting the response
at the right time. Or you see on Facebook, the
promotional products professional 18 ,000 people.
And people are writing that my gosh if i was
a supplier and i saw one distributor right can
someone help me get in touch because i can't
find a number whatever it may be. Go back and
look at your standard order processing. Go back
because you got some kind of disconnect there.
You should have things tagged correctly. Who's
calling you? Who needs a response? Your system
should make it easier. And now with all the AI
agents out there, you really shouldn't have a
problem. Your workflow should be incredibly smooth.
And as much as I do believe that, you know, phone
call is great, it does stop the process of a
good workflow, right? Emails will help the workflow
because that way you can get all that information.
So consider, at the end of the day, if you want
to do a good job as a distributor to your client,
you better make sure your communication is successful
with your supplier partner. Thank you, Adrienne.
Kim, thoughts there? Yes. So we are talking,
you asked about changing subject lines. And when
we were prepping for this call for this podcast,
I was like, I never changed my subject lines.
And then I had a whole new world in front of
me when I learned, hey, don't take the most recent
email you receive from client A and respond about
a topic that is totally different than what that
email is. First of all, you'll never find it.
And two, the person receiving it may never actually
realize that you're that you have a different
question. Maybe they think that that original
topic was done. So when you're responding, because
it's so easy just to search Lisa, and I'm going
to take the last email from Lisa that I got and
say, hey, what do you want next week's podcast
topic to be? But meanwhile, that thread was all
about one of our clients. She's not going to
make that connection and we're never going to
be able to go back to it. So I can either start
a new email, or simply change that subject to
new podcast topic. And now we're all on the same
page and we can all respond back and forth and
know exactly where things are in our inbox. So
while I personally had not practiced that, it's
not been one of my, you know, general practices.
It is something that I don't know why it took
until our prepping of this call. it's really
great to do. So I certainly encourage those of
you who do not already do it to make the subject
line match the actual content, immediate content
in which you're asking. Thank you so much, Kim,
for putting that into like easy digestible way
to do it. You know, just change the subject line
to reflect the context of the email. Fabulous.
So because we want to keep this as a bite. Oh,
Adrian. I do, I do. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Yeah,
guys. Listen, listen, listen, this is important.
Your signature, add your phone number. I don't
get a flip phone if you have to. You gotta have
a way to get people. And then I want you, everyone,
I want everyone listening right now, go back
to your emails. Do your replies have your phone
number or is it like 20 replies now that they
have to find it? Because this is a one thing
that is so irritating. And let me tell you again,
how you do one thing is how you do everything.
If you're doing this to suppliers, Are you doing
this for your clients? Do they have to look up
your number every time they want to call you
and have a number? Your replies should cancel.
So the reason why I'm saying that your signature
line is one thing, but when you reply, you may
have that removed. So either add it back or just
add your name and your phone number. But my gosh,
don't be afraid to give your phone number out.
It's so important to do business. And you know,
by the way, there's some people that won't do
business with you unless you actually have a
phone number and you make it easy to contact
them. That's it. Great. No, great. And I'm not
going to wrap up yet. I have a couple more topics,
but I want to thank you for expanding this conversation
into client facing. Like, how do you interact
with your clients? What is your etiquette when
you're getting back to clients. What are the
expectations you set with your customers? So
I wanted to segue into sort of our last topic
of expectations. Like in your opinion, Kim, what
have you seen are the expectations of a distributor
from a supplier in terms of communication? Promptness
is probably the top, right? You know, distributors
are looking for information yesterday. I mean,
usually just it's a fact of life. It is a rare
occasion that a distributor has a long runway
before they need to present something. It's usually,
can you get back to me in 24 hours because I
have to present in 36. Being able to respond
and get all that information again in one email
makes it easy for the distributor. So I think
distributors do have that expectation and it
unfortunately, for good or for bad, right or
wrong, it is an industry that there's almost
always a fire, right? It is always a very quick
turnaround. It's event -driven, it's state -driven,
all the things that make it awesome, but also
chaotic, and having the ability to quickly accurately
and fully and thoughtfully respond can really
set you up for great success or hold you back
from growing that business. Excellent. And I'm
so glad you mentioned the word success because
this whole topic is around helping distributors
and suppliers be successful. And what does it
take? to make that happen in the speedy, speedy
world that we live in that's so information driven.
So Adrienne, I'm going to ask you to take that
from the supplier perspective. What does a supplier
need from a distributor to do what Kim is describing?
Communication. As simple as that. They need you
to respond. They need you to communicate everything.
You know, don't say, oh, I'm looking for blue
shirts that are short sleeve that may have four
or five buttons. I don't know. Maybe they won't
have any buttons. Like be clear in your communication,
reread what you're writing. Does it make sense?
Are you making sure that there's like that they
can reply back with everything you need? Give
them the event date. give them the enhance date,
give them the ship to address. You can do all
of that even without an order if you're just
looking for a quote. That is so important. Distributors,
you know what? Anticipate your client's needs
so that you can communicate effectively to distributors.
If I could just say this, everyone, Prime Day
is coming up or Black Friday, get the book Unreasonable
Hospitality. Learn how to anticipate your client's
need. If you can anticipate your clients need,
you're going to be able to communicate that to
a supplier. They're going to be able to communicate
how they can help your client with what they
need. And you're going to have a much smoother
process. And guess what? You'll look like you're
amazing. And God forbid, I always think of this,
if anything ever happens at the end of an order,
so as a supplier, If you're working with a distributor
and you know what? These things are always like
fire, a big fireball because you know, you're
not getting all the information. You've tried
to pull it. Like you're all of a sudden your
client's a dentist and you're like having to
pull their teeth on them to get all this information.
And now guess what happens? Something goes wrong,
right? The suppliers irritated because they're
going to go back and go, God, I never really
got all that information. They're going to be
mad at the distributor for not really providing
it. And as distributors, don't be so quick to
ask for a discount. because that may not work
for you this time around. So be clear. Look at
every order and think to yourself, if there was
a problem with this order, would it come back
and affect me? Because you know what? Distributors,
some of you do make mistakes and you should pay
for your mistake and you shouldn't try to blame
it on the supplier. And it goes the other way
too. So that's a whole other topic, which is
conflict resolution once something does go wrong.
But just to recap, for distributors, be clear.
Do your homework. Make the subject line reflect
what you're asking about. If there's an SO number
or a PO number, include it. If you're asking
for a quote, remember to state the quantity.
the dates if you know them. I mean, we know you
don't always know all these answers, but the
more info you can give to your suppliers so they
can check inventory even in advance before you
even quote a customer and help you close the
sale by giving you good information. What's the
type of imprint? And also do your homework, distributors.
We know your spread then. Suppliers know that
you're running six ways to Sunday. You are trying
to play a twister game of keeping it all together.
We're there for you. But help us out a little
bit by going to our website. Don't just say,
I need something in blue. What silhouette, what
color do you want? Yes, we can come back to you
with an overarching response, but help us help
you by doing a little bit of homework and giving
us as much as we can to go on. So we love this
topic. We're all in it together. This is the
key. We're all in this together. It's a symbiotic
environment. We all help each other. All the
boats rise together. So we love this topic. We
wish everybody success over the next couple of
weeks as we cruise through cruise Q4. Hopefully
everybody's buzzing and things are popping and
we will look forward to talking to you next time.
We're so grateful for our audience and wishing
you I don't know if this will drop before or
after Thanksgiving, but we're so grateful, sending
you gratitude. Talk soon. Thanks for tuning into
the promo playbook. If you found value in today's
episode, be sure to subscribe and leave us a
review. Got a topic you'd love us to cover? Connect
with us on LinkedIn. We want to hear from you.
Until next time, stay smart, stay strategic,
and keep growing your supplier success.