Tyra’s son, Angelo, visits the Promolux office now and then. Watching him interact with the team reminded us that maybe we can learn a thing or two from toddlers about good customer service.
Smile! People can tell on the other end of the phone when you are smiling. Happy is contagious.
Give lots of hugs. Maybe not physical hugs, but remind your customers they are important to you and that you need and appreciate them.
Mine, mine, mine! Toddlers know this concept all too well. Just as they take ownership of their toys, take ownership of your customers’ needs and any problems that may arise.
Why? Be genuinely curious about how your customers are doing, what they need and how satisfied they are with your service/products.
Nobody likes a tantrum. Not moms and not your customers. Keep your cool no matter what the situation.
I want it now! Respond to inquiries, issues and requests promptly.
Snacks and Naps. Everyone is better on a full night’s sleep. Take care of yourself and you will take better care of your customers.
Ask anyone who has been to summer camp and – even as adults – they can tell you their camp nickname, their counselors’ names, and can still sing most of the crazy songs. That one week in the summer was filled with enough memories to last a lifetime. And their camp shirt? They probably still have it – tattered, faded and torn – balled up in a corner of their dresser. They’ll still pull it out from time to time and all the great memories come rushing back.
We are fortunate to work with a number of summer camps across the country. The directors and counselors are some of the most dedicated, passionate and fun-loving people we know. That’s why we’re excited to have created camp stores for a few of our clients.
Campers and parents can shop and have access to camp all year long. And camps can raise awareness for their camp in schools, communities and neighborhoods farther than they could reach on their own.
Together with input from camp staff, we can design and produce the apparel of your choosing. We develop the site, the payment processing and fulfill your orders.
Not a camp? We can help you, too! We provide online stores for a number of our customers. Just give us a call!
Promoluxers Amber and Melissa packed their bags, voted early and cranked up the Ke$ha for a 600-mile round-trip trek to Cedar Rapids, IA. There they spent three days getting trained on our new software upgrade.
The upgrades are going to help our already rock star employees become even more awesome. We’ll be able to receive orders electronically and realize efficiencies for our web stores. As our business grows, it’s important to Tyra to make the upgrades that keep us ahead of the game. The goal: efficiency and automation without error.
The ladies kept the road trip fun, Googling answers to their off-the-wall questions: Why are barns red? What do farmers do in the winter? What are the terms for other elected officials? They munched on peanut M&Ms while watching the election results come in and they toughed it out in a room with only a space heater to keep them warm.
Our team will go to great lengths – and distances – to do great things for the company and our wonderful customers.
(Couldn’t find a Google answer to why this van is a school bus. Maybe it’s still dressed up for Halloween.)
As you know, customer service is paramount to us. We want to ensure our clients get what they want, for a great price, with great quality and WHEN they need it. And always with a smile, of course. That means working with vendors and partners we can count on and trust.
Here’s one of our favorite delivery guys making sure your Promolux order is there on time and in one piece.
Okay, so that’s really Tyra’s little guy all dressed for Halloween, but we like to train ‘em young around here.
We talk a lot about customer service here at Promolux. We hope it’s what differentiates us from other vendors with whom you could choose to work.
This article points out “seven rules for getting customers to love working with you.” It got us thinking about how much we love working with our customers and hope they feel the same way.
These seven rules can be applied to many types of businesses, industries, and organizations. The rules are so much about how humans want to be treated and respected. Not sold to.
Make building the relationship more important than making the sale.
Create opportunities for the customer to buy, rather than opportunities for you to sell.
Have meaningful conversations and never give a sales pitch.
Be curious about the customer as a person and let the friendship evolve from that.
Don’t try to be a hero who swoops in to solve the customer’s problem.
Believe in your heart that you and your firm are the best at what you do.
Deliver exactly what you promised to deliver, no matter what.
Whether you are aware of it happening to you or not, colors evoke a feeling. They make you feel happy or sad; hungry or angry; peaceful or energetic. Color is also trendy, from the pastel, modern and Scandinavian color palette of the 1950’s (Check it out!) to the avocado green appliances in the 1970’s. And did you know that Tangerine Tango is the color of the year for 2012 (as declared by Pantone)? Read all about it. Those who work in fashion, special events, interior decorating, or graphic design watch and follow these trends.
We work in Pantone colors every day. According to Wikipedia: The Pantone Color Matching System is largely a standardized color reproduction system. By standardizing the colors, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colors match without direct contact with one another.
(We love this picture of the Pantone Color guide in his wheel spokes! Call us color geeks.)
Any logo has specific colors that must be matched in print, on cotton, canvas, etc. We take great care to ensure our clients’ colors are correctly represented on their promo items.
As you plan for the Fall and beyond, think about keeping up with the color trends and putting your customers in what’s hot (of course using colors that complement your logo). Any favorites?
Sure, most of us here are big Milwaukee Brewers fans, but we were excited for the opportunity to work with the Staten Island Yankees. The SI Yankees are the Single-A Affiliate of the New York Yankees and affectionately known as the Baby Bombers. Of course we only work with the best: The Yankees are the defending champion of the NY-Penn League having won the title in 2011.
Since we all have a little baseball fever around here, it was fun to work on a few projects for the team. We hope the fans love their giveaways as much as we loved working on them!
It’s always important to drink your water, but as the days get hotter it’s even more important to stay hydrated.
Don’t just reach for any old water bottle, make it stainless steel. WHY? The benefits speak for themselves:
Most hygienic material available: so hygienic that the same material is often used in the manufacture of surgical equipment and kitchen utensils.
Provides bacteria resistance.
Retains flavor and purity of the drink.
Environmentally friendly: no more plastic bottles!
Indestructible! Scratch and dent resistant.
Rust free.
Dishwasher safe.
Provides GREAT insulation: Stores cold water for 24 hours and keeps water hot for almost six hours (and heat is rarely transferred to the hands through a stainless bottle).
PLUS, you can get them in such cool shapes, colors and designs!
Looking for a product that is useful, one-size-fits-all and will show off how smart you are? Call us…we can help.
Women hold the purse strings and decision-making power in many households. Chances are they are a big part of your target market. Consider these stats:
Women account for 85% of all consumer purchases including everything from autos to health care:
91% of New Homes
66% PCs
92% Vacations
80% Healthcare
65% New Cars
89% Bank Accounts
93% Food
93 % OTC Pharmaceuticals
Women represent the majority of the online market:
22% shop online at least once a day
92% pass along information about deals or finds to others
171: average number of contacts in their e-mail or mobile lists (and they are telling people about you!)
76% want to be part of a special or select panel
58% would toss a TV if they had to get rid of one digital device (only 11% would ditch their laptops)
51% are moms
Source: Mindshare/Ogilvy & Mather
With your female customer in mind, think about the promotional products that will appeal to her. Think about the design and the message that will make her actually use the product. She’ll wear/carry it and talk about how much she loves you to her friends! Certainly worth the investment for that word of mouth.
Here are a few tips in choosing items for your female audience:
Items that are functional and make her life easier (organizers, journals, magnetic chip clips!, mini first-aid kids/sunscreen to carry in her purse).
Canvas totes are always good. Great for trips to the grocery store, library and just hauling all the kids’ stuff around.
T-shirts/hats/jackets that look good! Think fit (no boxy unisex shirts!), flattering and stylish colors, and EASY to launder.
Environmentally friendly products are important, especially to moms.
Also remember, quality matters. If you’re going to put your name/logo on it, make sure it represents the quality and integrity of your brand.
“The great question that has never been answered and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my thirty years of research into the feminine soul, is ‘What does a woman want?”
― Sigmund Freud
The news released this week that Australian billionaire, Clive Palmer, will build a Titanic replica – Titanic II – got us thinking about brand/name recognition. It’s been just over 100 years since the original sank after hitting an iceberg, killing 1,500 people and 15 years since the wildly popular movie. Certainly, when you say “Titanic,” nearly everyone will know what you are talking about. Pretty strong name recognition.
But…it’s recognition of an enormously tragic event. Is it good or bad to associate so strongly with something that was such a catastrophe?
Sure, there will be travelers who are curious and will appreciate the novelty of the new ship. On the other hand, there are those who are superstitious and wouldn’t set foot on the darn thing.
And let’s hope it’s not an exact replica. Luxury? Hardly: although most passengers had to share bathrooms (only the two promenade suites in first class had private bathrooms), third class had it rough with only two bathtubs for more than 700 passengers.
Mr. Palmer assures the public that the ship, “will have state-of-the-art 21st-century technology and the latest navigation and safety systems.” He’d better keep singing that tune until the new ship sets sail in 2016. He’s fighting 100 years of a name that to many means death.
customer service.
