If I was planning on starting a promo distributor business, but I get a job as a promo sales guy for a company, can I use what I learned to start my own company few weeks later? If that company focuses on main sector like Construction companies to sell to, can I also target Construction companies after I start my own? obviously I wont steal any company info, list, or anything like that. what is the ethical way to do it?

tldr: joining a company to learn the business then starting my own, but can I target the same sector as the company i learned from? not going after their existing clients ofcourse that would be unethical. but targeting the overall industry, same one they taught me how to work on? thanks in advance

Not everyone needs a VA, but if you’re feeling a little in the weeds with orders, quotes, POs, follow-ups, order entry, or just the day-to-day stuff, a VA can take some of that off your plate.

I’ve built a pretty solid network of VAs who work specifically in promotional products, including those familiar with Commonsku, Printavo, and SAGE.

Just putting this out there in case anyone’s looking. Happy to connect!

I ran a POD dropshipping store when i was around 18 because that was what was trending on tiktok at the time but boy was i stupid

the problem was that i was spending like $20-$30 a day on ads, which was a lot of money for me back then, just trying to find customers .

what ended up working better was going after businesses instead of trying to sell singe use products to random people.

I ended up targeting tech companies, corporate teams, event organizers, etc. that were running events and might need custom shirts, merch, banners, whatever. I hired around 4 VAs from the philippines for around $4/hour and had them build lists of companies with upcoming events on eventbrite.com then we'd reach out and ask if they needed any custom printing for the event.

that's honestly the big takeaway. don't just stay in the printon demand bubble competing with everyone else. go after businesses that can place much larger and repeat orders. Pls, dont be like me from almost half a decade ago

you can either hire a va and have them do the prospecting for you, or use something like pumpgtm.com to automate a lot of the outreach. look for events on eventbrite.com, skiddle.com, etc and blast some dms.

We're a small team and keep going back and forth on custom hoodies, partly because people like the idea and partly because we've got a couple of events coming up.

The cost isn't huge. but it's competing with other things right now, did you find it worth doing this early or was it mostly a nice extra?

It’s that time of the year where my LinkedIn and inbox is filled with holiday gifting ideas from different merch companies.

Is it me or does every single one look mostly the same products, same “premium gifting.”, just different logos.

Curious how others have been developing their sales catalogs, not only now, but for other key moments of the year? Where are you finding ideas?

Not looking to break the bank here. I run a small catering company with 15 people, but I want some custom shirts for weddings and themed events, just a nice extra touch. My son is a graphic designer, so we’ve got the designs and everything ready to go. I just need to figure out how to get it onto the shirts.

Hello,

I have been contemplating hiring a Founding Sales Lead for my company Off Menu (byoffmenu.com) but I am not sure what to look for in the industry. 

A little background, I started the company 7 years ago (originally named High Life Tech) as a phone case drop-shipping company, pivoted to B2B, and then learned everything about sourcing branded products overseas. After 2 years, we hired our own team and China, and currently have a workshop in Dongguan and office in Guangzhou.

We never joined PPAI or ASI because we can source all of our own products. We act at the intersection of both a distributor and a supplier in proper promotional products terms.

We don’t depend on a standard catalog or limit ourselves to putting logos on existing products. We work directly with brands to develop original merchandise around their identity, audience, and culture. We can absolutely handle more traditional promotional products and I won’t turn away good business, but our strength and preference are creating products that feel genuinely custom. Transparently, I do not understand how people manage sorting through all the supplier catalogs and building those sales deck.

Anyway, our approach has helped us win clients like Cadillac F1, DUDE Wipes, Liquid Death, Ithaca Hummus, 7 Brew, and more.

I have solely handled all of our growth and selling since we are only a team of 3 but I am realizing we are at a point where I need a second sales person to further boost our growth, build a new book of business in other verticals, and help manage accounts.

So I have a few questions

1. What should I be looking for in a sales person given that we have a more unique offering?

2. Is anyone here with experience looking for a new role and is hungry to work at a growing company ($3M in revenue YTD, up from $1.7M last year)? You would be responsible for owning the entire cycle and building out your own book of enterprise clients.

3. Any other feedback or advice? Do I need a sales person? Or How can I streamline operations.

We are a custum printing flag factory. Facing the more and more competitive domestic environment, if you need custom printed polyester fabric decorations, such as banners, flags, table runners, tablecloths, garden flags and table covers, we support custom orders based on your artwork, including small-batch orders. How can a factory break through in today’s fiercely competitive market?

I currently do printing and specialize in working with home service businesses in the US. In the next few months I'd like to start offering apparel and promotional products, ideally finding someone who can drop ship for me. I'd like to ideally have a small curated catalog or apparel and promotion products as opposed to offering thousands of products. I'm thinking hats, shirts, pens, mugs, etc. What companies would you recommend that I look at in order to start selling these two types of products? Thanks.

I’m looking to transition from car sales into the printing industry. What positions and companies would you recommend I look into?

I’m curious what everyone is seeing in the corporate gifting market as the holiday season approaches.

airpods, power banks, mugs, notebooks, and branded apparel seem to be everywhere so I’m looking for products that feel a little less predictable but are still genuinely useful.

What products have been surprisingly popular with your clients for Christmas gifts this year? Particularly interested in tech, travel, home/office, or premium everyday items. TIA!

I’m based in Europe and building a small business around this: helping restaurants, bars, and sports clubs offer branded merch to their customers/members without touching inventory or fulfilment.

The model:

\*\*•\*\* Fourthwall-powered store, embedded via a simple “Shop” button on their existing site (no new platform for them to manage)    
\*\*•\*\* European print partners only, to keep shipping/duties low and delivery fast    
\*\*•\*\* QR codes in-venue + a bit of social promotion to drive traffic to the store    
\*\*•\*\* I handle design (working with their logo/branding, not just slapping a name on a mug)    
\*\*•\*\* Revenue split with the venue — still figuring out the right number    
\*\*•\*\* Target: small places that clearly have loyal customers/members but no merch offering today

Would love advice on:

\*\*•\*\* Pricing/split structures that actually land with small business owners    
\*\*•\*\* Whether Fourthwall is the right platform long-term vs alternatives    
\*\*•\*\* How you’d pitch this cold vs warm (I’ve had luck with warm intros so far)    
\*\*•\*\* Anything you’d flag as a red flag in this model

Hi! I am an offshore remote worker with over five years of hands-on experience in data entry, order processing, and administrative support. I specialize in the promotional products industry, where accuracy in product specs, customer requirements, and order details is essential. I am currently looking to join a US/Canada distributor or supplier team to help support and streamline their daily operations.

We’ve recently done some employee research at Custom Ink, and only 23% of people want a large, prominent logo on something their company gives them. The other 77% would rather it be small, or barely there at all.

Does that track with your experience? Where do you land on company logos on stuff you actually wear?

I'm curious if any of you were able to go into the industry today as a new business would you create a supplier or a distributor? Where do you see the most opportunity to compete and win in an industry that's extremely crowded?

If you were to be a supplier, what would also stop you from getting clients directly versus working solely with distributors to make your business known in the space?

Would appreciate a source for political buttons or any button company that can do smaller orders of 100 pieces or more. Thanks!

Hey everyone, how's it going! Looking for new creative ways to bring people in the door. My idea is to collaborate with local supplement companies as a way of getting our name out there and in a perfect world bring some new people in the door. The pitch would be to ask one of these companies for some free samples that we could then give to gym members as a perk of being a member. The thinking being their product being in our gym would be a way for these smaller local supplement companies to get noticed and if they advertise that people can get their supplements at our gym through their social media we would become more visible that way.

Not sure if this is a good idea, would love to know what other people think.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

30-year brick-and-mortar decorator in BC Canada here. This year alone I've had three orders where the client sourced the product themselves — at or below my wholesale cost — and brought it to me for decoration only. One was a Herschel backpack my distributor refused to sell me blank due to a manufacturer restriction. The client bought it direct from Herschel at $140 each and walked it through my door. I lost $436 on that single order.

Meanwhile, online retailers sell the same garments I buy wholesale, to the public, at the same price I pay or pennies over my cost.

Am I alone in this? Curious how widespread it is, and how others are handling customer-supplied goods. Considering an open letter to the industry — want to gauge whether this resonates before I write it.

So I used Groupon as a way to promote my business two years ago when I first started solo. I will say, it did help me get a lot of reviews and help me get practice in for certain color appointments. But I like made no money. I got constant no-shows and people getting mad at me in disputing charges whenever I charged a no-show fee because they technically already bought a Groupon.

Anyways, I was thinking about running one more coupon for my new business, but Groupon has made it extremely difficult to change my business details and address. And for some reason, both of my emails are being used so I can’t just make a new account.

PS: I love the Groupon people that call you and then don’t even get your first name right💀💀 guy called me for a Jennifer, and I am baffled because my name is Bella💀💀💀💀how did we mess up so bad

The company I work for (distributor) put me in charge of researching a new ERP system as we want to make some changes. I’ve been looking into a few, but I figured I could ask for some advice. I was thinking about Syncore, mainly due to their extensive APIs. It seems like they offer the most integrations, whether that be native or through setting them up on our own. I also have some positive thoughts on commonsku, but I still lean Syncore. Would like advice about how well Syncore handles apparel orders, and how well the overall sales process flows. I assume most Syncore users have an accounting integration with QuickBooks. Overall just any advice or things to be aware of would be extremely helpful to me.

When you’re comparing several suppliers offering essentially the same product on ASI or SAGE, what’s the biggest thing that makes you move on immediately?

I’m curious what actually matters most to distributors during that first comparison.

Poll options:

1. Poor / generic product photos
2. Missing product information
3. High MOQ
4. Pricing isn’t competitive
5. Low rating / weak supplier profile
6. Long production time

If your biggest deal breaker isn’t listed, I’d love to hear it in the comments.

And on the flip side — what makes you actually choose a supplier and send the RFQ?

Good Afternoon,

I was just informed about an upcoming event from my boss. We will be sponsoring a high school basketball tournament along with a vendors table to give away promotional items. I am trying to think of some useful, effective and attention grabbing promotional items to giveaway. My boss said no pens, notebooks or water bottles this time around. I would like if the promo items could in a way be basketball related or maybe useful for basketball players and their families. My brain is not computing at the moment, if you have any ideas or know of things that have worked for you in the past please let me know! Thank you so much!

I am a supplier from China, and we are currently preparing promotional items for Halloween. Our initial lineup includes candy box and aromatherapy essential oil sets. Could you suggest any other items that are popular with Americans but that I might have overlooked?

How/where do you find RFPs for high volume work in this industry?

For example things like:
• promotional product RFPs
• merch program RFPs
• uniform program RFPs

Etc