Premium Promotions

[cutthroughstatic]

On a whim, I hired a researcher on E-Lance to compile an excel spreadsheet of companies within a ten mile radius of my address, having between 25-50 employees. I had him create a spreadsheet with the company name, industry, and then asked him to do research (LinkedIn, Facebook, whatever he had to) to identify the person in charge of procurement/supply purchasing and include their name and info as well.

So now I have this list, and even when I asked to have it done I wasn't sure what in the hell I planned to use it for. Still am not 100% but I have an idea I wanted to float out there.

The area I live in is extremely wealthy. Like, one of the wealthiest counties in America. Like, seeing a Ferrari is the equivalent to seeing a Civic. It is also a HUGE hub for companies of all kinds.

I was tossing around the idea of trying to sell promotional items to these companies (branded pens, etc) but there are SO many websites out there doing that and I'm sure I couldn't do it cheaper.

So why do it cheaper? As I search I find NO ONE doing "premium" promotional products. Surely, for the types of people and the types of businesses I plan to solicit, there may be a need for some really high scale branded items. Instead of plastic clicky pen that cost .05c that the local McDonalds has, why not help them set themselves apart with an actual metal pen? (doesn't have to be pens, just using that as an example).

FIRST STEP:
So, what do I plan to do with this list? I'm just going to email these people directly and throw it out there. I'm going to create some random email with a made up company name and identify myself as a rep. Ask if they have any need for x,y,z premium products. If not, maybe ask them if they have anything that comes to mind that they have a need for.

If you had a list of contacts for local companies, what would you do with it?

By no means is this my main business or something I want to spend a ton of time on. In fact, it's a distraction - and my biggest downfall is getting distracted with side projects. But I have the list and it may be worth the time.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[JAJT]

If you had a list of contacts for local companies, what would you do with it?

I'd sell them something they need.

This is basically how 100% of cold calling works. You look up numbers and people and do a bit of research, call them, then try to sell them.

Although personally I wouldn't ask "would you buy premium promotional items?". I'd likely try gauging their interest in specific ideas I had. Maybe call 10 of them in the security space and ask if they are interested in printing their company's business card on a metal police badge that you estimate would run $3-5 each. Or call fire-arms places asking about putting their business card on stress-foam gun replicas for $5 each. Or whatever. Play with the variables. They would likely pay more for these items to stand out from their competitors if they go to trade shows often I would think. I once saw a business card on a stress-foam hand grenade from a company that dealt in military contracts - that thing sat on my desk for years until I stress-squeezed it apart. Compare that to a physical card that would have been filed away immediately and forgotten. Surely that kind of 'sticky' promotional item was worth an extra few bucks to a company.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

By no means is this my main business or something I want to spend a ton of time on. In fact, it's a distraction - and my biggest downfall is getting distracted with side projects. But I have the list and it may be worth the time.

Sorry I'm not sorry for calling you out but... really?

Why are you wasting your time?

It may be time to take a look at your belief systems and decide if this pattern of yours is helping you or hurting you.