Quick Thoughts by Cliff Quicksell, MAS

Every year more and more products are being introduced into the market, and after a while it all looks the same. What if a program was developed that helped generate a true (ROI) return on a trade show investment? During my tenure as a promotional products consultant, I was absolutely amazed at how ineffective most marketing managers were at effectively managing the results of their trade shows.

As I was growing up—and even to this day, I am very involved in athletics. As a high-schooler and through university, I participated in varsity track, basketball and baseball, and studied martial arts, achieving my black belt in tae kwon do and hapkido. I learned many valuable lessons that have been tenets for me to this day; lessons that I use and have passed on to both my children, Caitlin and Alex.

The Internet, the obvious low barrier to entry, unskilled salespeople, the economy—each of these drive price wars and ultimately erode profits. Additionally, these issues relinquish control over to the client thus giving the client ultimate control to manage and drive the process. However, it doesn’t need to be that way. Choose to be different!

A few years back I was speaking at Fruit of the Loom’s national sales meeting, I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with a gentleman whose name escapes me, however, his message during our offstage conversations still resonates with me today.

Accountability—the very mention conjures up feelings and thoughts of stress, being under a microscope or micro-managed. Accountability is imperative to running any organization. Whether it is a business, a household or a team—everyone needs to be accountable. So where does it begin?

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