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Don Dare found himself in a precarious position after he was laid off from his previous job due to pandemic-era downsizing. Unemployed for the first time in 10 years, he embraced this new stage of his life by starting his own business, Dare2Marketing.
Don built a strong client base with his text-message marketing business, and soon his customers began inquiring about promo products like T-shirts and mugs. He started sourcing products from distributors independently, but while this met the demand of his customers, he found it difficult to turn a profit on promo operating this way.
Even though he started from nothing to build a customer base of nearly 1,000, he feared his growth would stall if he couldn’t meet the needs of the market on his own. Then, in a passing conversation with a colleague, he learned about ASI®, and suddenly he had an easy solution to his biggest problem.
“ASI is what I needed. I signed up and the rest was history. It was a no-brainer.”
Don grew tired of having to tell his customers “no” when they asked for more types of marketing – including promo products. But now that he’s an ASI member, it’s easier than ever to get the best pricing.
The results have been astounding. A year after joining ASI, Don’s promo sales increased by 199%. As a DIY small business owner, he made the most of his partnership with ASI and utilized its resources to unlock business potential that was previously unavailable to him.
While Don was successful and happy in his pre-pandemic career, he notes that he’s made more money than ever before working for himself. His growth is so strong that he’s expanding his workforce to help meet the extremely high demand for more promo.
“Growing my business is my number one priority,” Don said. “I’m a hard worker and am never satisfied with the status quo. I know the potential of this business, and I’m ready to take it to the next level.”
As a veteran in the customer-facing space, Don knows great service when he sees it. He described onboarding with ASI as a seamless experience, swiftly receiving all his necessary credentials, resources and his promo website quicker than he ever expected.
“It was all very painless. I picked my website template and got everything set up easily. If I had a question, my Customer Success Manager was just a phone call away.”
Since joining ASI, most of Don’s revenue has come from selling promotional products. And with help from ASI and ESP+, he was even able to launch his own promo website, dare2promo.com.
He also appreciates ESP+’s all-in-one capabilities. In addition to product search, he’s able to use the platform for project management, CRM, orders, presentations and so much more, keeping everything organized in one place.
One of the most helpful pieces of ASI content that Don has come across is the 2023 Ad Impressions Study, the industry’s most comprehensive report on the power and effectiveness of promotional products. “Everything is broken down by product, state, gender and more. It’s a great way to analyze trends in your region.”
Want this Success Story as a PDF? Click here to download.