Pantone Color of 2020 Is 19-4052 Classic Blue I’m feeling a little blue today. To be honest, I’m feeling a lot of it. But not because I’m sad or unhappy. I’m just celebrating the announcement of Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2020: Classic Blue. And I think it’s an...
Three Things That Separate a Vendor from a Partner As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about business efficiency. Sometimes it’s sales tips and others, the value of specific tools like print-on-demand. I also frequently stress how...
Assessing and Defending Against Document Security Threats I’m sure you try to safeguard the security of the documents you generate in your business. But it’s also likely that you feel vaguely uneasy when you hear news stories about counterfeiting, duplication and...
They’re More Effective Than Ever Is smart marketing dead? Is effective sales strategy dead? No, of course not. So I wish people would stop asking the question “Are QR codes dead?” because that question is just as silly. In fact, here’s a much better question:...
It’s the Time Want to grow your business or organization? Here’s a tip: spend more time on it. But before you roll your eyes, notice I didn’t say anything about working harder or longer hours. I simply mean spending more time on your actual business by tapping...
Create Business Cards That Work to Avoid the Wastebasket Most business people have a love-hate relationship with business cards. It’s great when they lead to a profitable relationship. But they are more often a “necessary evil” and do little good. As it turns out,...
Don’t Write Off the Holidays When You Could Be Writing Up Sales Sure, there are people who complain that the holiday season has become “too commercial.” But for most of us, shopping, going to festively decorated malls and buying presents is a real part of...
Laugh More, Stress Less We all know work can be rewarding and fulfilling. But it can also be stressful. According to surveys conducted by the American Institute of Stress, it’s one of the most common sources of stress. That’s certainly no surprise. Work overload,...
Custom Pink Pens Make a Statement and a Difference You obviously want to promote your business; your employees and their families depend upon it. But you also want to support things that are even bigger than that. So today I’d like to present an opportunity to make an...
Living at the Office is Overrated Chances are you love your job. You normally don’t get to be an owner, manager or successful without feeling that way. But that doesn’t mean you want to spend every waking hour doing that job. Some still view “burning the midnight oil”...
Pigskin Proverbs Can Be Profitable for You I’m a sports fan and the proud father of a college athlete. With football season coming up, I started thinking about what high school, college and pro football teams are hearing from their coaches right now. And it occurred...
To Sell More, Sell Smarter Sales are hard. I know that might be voted “worst news flash of the day.” But it’s worth reminding yourself that earning a prospect’s business doesn’t come easily, even to the most charming and experienced sales representatives. So today I’d...
Make Those Vacation Benefits Last We’ve all heard it. Vacations refresh and energize us to be more productive. And, unfortunately, Americans often leave vacation days “on the table” because they are too stressed to risk the time away. There’s plenty of research to...
When Stickers Adhere, It’s “Your Ad Here” In Tuesday’s post, I wrapped up a series on promotional items ideal for companies involved in the automobile industry. One of them was stickers (bumper, window and more). It occurred to me some of you might...
Wise Words About Stress from a Wide Range of Achievers I understand, I really do. You’re busy. And no matter how well intended, my posts here may feel sometimes like they are just giving you one more issue to think about. I often write about promotional items...
Are You Sending the Right Message at The Wrong Time? If you’re a regular reader, you know that I often talk about products, services, and ideas that will save you time in your workday. Usually, it involves promotional items and print management. But I hope you haven’t...
Stop Wondering About QR Codes and Start Winning Chances are that lately, you’ve heard QR codes discussed more often at industry meetings and trade publications. A little odd, since some folks had pronounced QR codes “dead” years ago. But it’s also quite exciting....
Do People Use QR Codes? “Quick Response” is a Business Necessity Do people use QR codes? People ask me that question from time to time, and I understand why. It’s because certain “too cool for the room” techies pronounced QR codes dead years ago, and apparently...
You’re Either Learning…or Losing Ground In last Thursday’s post, I shared my picks for the first six of 12 top blogs for sales reps. Today, I want to complete the list. In all, they are a very eclectic group; some are based heavily on stats, others tell...
How Kite Fishing Can Improve Your Sales Results Huh? Let me explain. There are countless blogs for sales reps, but one of the best is authored by Jill Konrath. Why? She has a quirky, but engaging style that draws you in. When I noticed her post titled “Tackling the...
