The Weather is Great... But the Storm is Upon Us!

Our industry is under attack! We have had the "Pharma Ban," "Killer Bags" and now this "California Promotional Products" ban. In 2008, FreePromoTips did a story entitled What Do Promotional Products Have in Common with Illegal Hand Guns. Click here for this outrageous attack on our products being penalized for being effective marketing tools.

Some may say if California can't pay for the products they purchase, it probably isn't an irresponsible act to ban their purchase for now. But the issue isn't really the product. Bill Simon from ID Builders notes that, "Selling is all about looking at the buyer's problem and using what you have to help them solve their problem." He goes on to say that, "Governor Brown's true problem is not the purchase of 'giveaways' (a term I detest in and of itself, but that is a subject for another day). His true problem is that he has no idea of the value his state received when they invested in these products."

Simon continues, "If our industry cannot convince Governor Brown (or any other government agency, in California or any state) of the value in printing the messages that appear on their highway billboards (e.g., "Buckle-Up, It's the Law") onto a useful product that people will keep (e.g., inexpensive key tag to remind people of the law constantly), then we are only in the business of 'selling products.' If this is the case, we dug our own grave at this point by failing to adequately communicate value."

It's long been my position that we need to change the perception of what we do. One of our distributors company's many slogans is "We Don't Sell Stuff... We Provide Solutions!" There is no better time to start hammering that message home than now. The storm is here. It is clear we need to start working to change the perceptions of this industry or risk watching our industry and livelihood continue to be eroded because of ignorance about its true value.