The Pro

Name: Deanna Rademachir
Title: Account Executive
Distributorship: Sir Speedy Printing and Marketing Services (asi/398043), Austin, TX

Exchange contact information.
“I try to go on at least one appointment a day. Once they agree to a sales call, I shoot them an email with my contact information and ask them if there’s anything specific they’d like me to bring. Since we’re in the state capitol, there are a lot of government associations here with lots of members and yearly events.”

Be strategic about specs.
“Don’t barrage them with sample details. Their eyes glaze over, and that’s the last thing you want. First, listen to their challenges, then come back with samples. It takes time to get the first meeting, so I want to use it wisely. Start with asking what you can do to help, and then bring relevant ideas and samples. I ask about the target audience and budget, then I present with ideas and samples, then I give them a hard quote, and we move from there.”

Take care of the client.
“I recently met with a representative from a local association with just catalogs, and started out by asking her about their current challenges. She told me they were feeling stuck – their current distributor took their orders and got them what they wanted, but that was it. It was dry. When I met with her again, I brought a broad range of ideas and samples within her budget. She loved everything. No one had ever taken the time to do that with her before! I put together an ASI presentation and we whittled the products down to four categories for their event sponsors to choose from. Know how to narrow it down and how to take care of them. You want their branding to be out there as long as possible.”