In some books and movies, you just know how the story ends. The same is true with some deals. You can get a sense when things might not turn out the way you’d hoped. Maybe the prospect stops returning emails or keeps rescheduling your meetings. Thes...

For a number of years, the company formerly known as S&S Activewear told its customers that they could "Create Your Vision" and thus bring their ideas to life when they worked with the supplier. Today, PPAI 100's No. 2 supplier, which has announ...

PPAI’s Women’s Leadership Conference has kicked off in Milwaukee as women in the branded merchandise industry gather for a high-energy experience focused on leadership growth and meaningful connection.Before the first timers' reception and the o...

I want to talk about the stories we tell ourselves. Every distributor has a collection of them. They sound reasonable. They feel true. And they are slowly killing our businesses. I know because I believed most of them for years, and a few of them I ...

AI can be helpful for all kinds of tasks, from summarizing notes to speeding up research. When used well, AI can save you time and help you work more efficiently. However, if reps rely too heavily on AI, they lose their creativity and their unique p...

Do you have a story you tell over and over? Maybe it’s about how you landed your biggest account or found the perfect merch for a demanding client. These stories stick because they’re memorable. People care about facts and logos, but stories make th...

When you get prospects on the phone, those first few seconds are crucial. They’re not deciding whether they need merch — they’re deciding whether to keep listening. Some reps bungle those first moments on a sales call. They may talk too fast or soun...

Ten years ago, coming into the branded merchandise industry after a career with brands like Converse, Reebok and Vans, I carried many of the same assumptions that outsiders still have today.Branded merchandise was swag, giveaways and tchotchkes....