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jstreete · May 23rd, 2007

Are any of you familiar with the ASI (Advertising Specialty Institute) or the PPAI (Promotional Products Association International)?

I'm thinking about joining one of these organiztions but I want information from someone who has done it before. Is it worth it? (I know that that's a personal question) Does it save you a lot of money? Any feedback

Rodney · May 23rd, 2007

Check out this thread and this post by Mark, it might help a bit:
PPAI# ASI# (What are these)?

Screenprinting and Digital Garment Printing University

Hopefully if others have experience with these organizations, they'll add more info to this thread as well.

lifestar · May 23rd, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodney


	Check out this thread and this post by Mark, it might help a bit: PPAI# ASI# (What are these)? Screenprinting and Digital Garment Printing University Hopefully if others have experience with these organizations, they'll add more info to this thread as well.

We belong to ASI- you are supposed to receive discounts from ASI suppliers that are different than that of regular wholesale discounts. We have not found that to be true as of yet. Basically our membership paid for us to be on a list for suppliers to send endless amounts of catalogs and junk mail and for ASI to try to sell us software and websites. However, we did attend one ASI conference and the sales seminars were very helpful.

jstreete · May 23rd, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by lifestar


	We belong to ASI- you are supposed to receive discounts from ASI suppliers that are different than that of regular wholesale discounts. We have not found that to be true as of yet.

Wow, this is what I was apprehensive about. Do you offer the endless variety of promo items that are hot in the industry? I definitely do not want to pay the membership dues if it doesn't give me greater discounts on bulk orders.

Thank You all for your help.

lifestar · May 23rd, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstreete


	Wow, this is what I was apprehensive about. Do you offer the endless variety of promo items that are hot in the industry? I definitely do not want to pay the membership dues if it doesn't give me greater discounts on bulk orders. Thank You all for your help.

We do some promotional items - so maybe ASI might be more helpful to a business that sells all promotional items- I don't know. But I have to add that it has been very hard to take advantage of any of the "membership benefits" they offer. I suspect it is because we are not a multi million dollar distributor. We have been trying since January to get the UPS discounts promised- our emails are mostly ignored. Also, we tried to take advantage of the merchant account cost review they offered. They "lost" our fax that contained our membership application for that THREE times so we just gave up.

DAGuide · May 23rd, 2007

How about Option #3! This would be my method if I had to start over 4 years ago. (Read Below):

Go to PPAI's website and see if there is a Regional association that meets near you. If so, register with the regional one. It is cheaper. The one near me is PPAF. They meet once a month and usually bring in a Supplier to talk about different sales techniques. It can be a very educational event depending on the speaker. You should definitely get educated on how to sell promotional products. It is a much different type of sales and you need to make sure that you do everything correct or you could be eating the cost of a mistake. I believe the dues are around $125.00 year.

ASI also allows the regional association members access to its tradeshows for free as well. Might have to pay for the seminars though. Definitely go to a tradeshow, ASI - PPAI - Sage host them, as you can get a lot of information.

Go to PPAI's website and sign up for a UPIC # (industry ID number for promotional products distributors). There are some requirements, but almost any decorator can provide the adequate information. Remember, the largest piece of the promotional products industry is wearables - what we deal in everyday. There is no cost for a UPIC # and you don't have to be a PPAI member either.

Once you have a UPIC #, sign up for access to Distributor Central. This is a much more smaller database of promotional products than what ASI's ESP has, but is it FREE! Test your customers out using this free software and see if you have a market for these types of products. If you are selling a bunch of them, look into getting a subscription to SAGE or one of ASI's products.

Hope this helps. Best wishes.

jstreete · May 24th, 2007

That should definitely help. I'm moving from Dallas to Houston to finish College and I hope to get things rolling there. Your post has been very helpful. (really)

Thank You

DAGuide · May 24th, 2007

Not a problem. Here is the link to the regional association in Houston - Houston Promotional Products Association. Just let us know your experiences (good or bad) with the entire process and your success. I personally found the sales education to be very valuable for me and how to overcome objections. Best wishes.

Mark

jstreete · May 24th, 2007

Will do.
Thank You

To think that I wanted to ask this question two weeks ago but was afraid that it would be over looked.

Bill Williams · May 2nd, 2010

In this economy I suppose its not surprising that attendance is down, but optimism is really important. Not only optimism but better offerings. The traditional forms of promotional products require upgrading. This is largely due to the fact that consumers are becoming more aware of our industry, and appreciate reusable type promotional products that don't outright scream: promotional freebie. It's a tough industry to be in right now, but this is when the cream of the crop shall rise!

Thanks
__________
Techstore are specialists in a range of Business promotional items.

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