PPAI In Action: 2009 PPAI Suppliers’ Forum Revealed Simple Ideas That Work


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PPAI In Action: 2009 PPAI Suppliers’ Forum Revealed Simple Ideas That Work

Issue: 2009may

Murray Siegel, marketing director for Baltimore, Maryland-based supplier Towel Specialties and chairman of the supplier committee, says ideas presented at last week’s 2009 PPAI Supplier Forum take a lot of the guesswork out of weathering the economy.

Bottom-line enhancing business practices for the new economy was the focus at last week’s 2009 PPAI Suppliers Forum, which was held prior to the “THE Show” hosted by the Upper Midwest Association of Promotional Professionals (UMAPP) in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Ninety supplier, multi-line rep and supplier rep members turned out for two panel discussions. One panel, “Tough Questions of the Day,” was moderated by Michael Woody, president and owner of International Marketing Advantages, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in marketing, international business and mergers and acquisitions. Woody is also a former PPAI Chairman of the Board. PPAI’s Executive Vice President Paul Bellantone, CAE, led the other panel discussion, “Rep World—Opportunities Using Different Types of Reps.”

Upon returning to work after attending the forum, Murray Siegel, marketing director for Baltimore, Maryland-based supplier Towel Specialties (UPIC: TOWLSPEC) and chairman of the supplier committee, says he presented what he learned to colleagues not as groundbreaking ideas but as simple things that are working for other companies.

“It was in the context of knowing that people at other companies are using these and they’re having some success and some luck with it,” says Siegel, “so it was good to reaffirm in that environment. For example, one person said you should mail your catalog in a see-through envelope. That’s one of those things maybe I’d thought of before but to hear someone suggest that and say he’d had success with it takes a lot of the guess work out of it. It just reaffirms things we may have been on the fence about.”

The forum also included a presentation on measuring tradeshow effectiveness led by Woody.

The Supplier Committee planned the forum to address topics that affect supplier companies today—particularly with the economic challenges impacting revenues across the industry, says Rick Merrill, PPAI’s director of professional development. “Nearly all participants indicated they gained some new and useful information,” he says.

Comments (1)

5/26/2009
Rena Ashfeld (rena@winedgeinc.com)
company: Winning Edge, Inc.
title: National Sales Manager
"I thought the forum was WONDERFUL -I came back with 12 pages of wonderful notes... Now need to put the great ideas into ACTION! "

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