ASI Success Story: Easy Add-On Revenue for Any Business

Get the support you need from ASI and enjoy high profit margins in the promotional products industry.

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INTRO

Drew Vollette started his printing business on a spontaneous, enterprising whim after purchasing his first embroidery machine on eBay during his freshman year of college in 2020. What he lacked in experience he made up for in endless curiosity and determination, and with the help of some extensive research and online tutorials, his small business was up and running.

Drew started by printing custom items for friends, clubs and small businesses around campus, and word of mouth spread throughout the community. He soon upgraded to a larger machine to accommodate increased demand, and his work eventually caught the eye of Cincinnati-based print shop OTO Supply Co.

With Drew’s DIY embroidery success joining forces with OTO Supply Co.’s screen-printing business, the shop’s capabilities grew, and customers started to inquire about additional products that were more difficult for a small operation to offer. Instead of closing the door on this opportunity, they decided it was time to transform into a one-stop shop with the help of ASI®.

“We knew that if we wanted to be a full-service shop and really grow our business, especially our corporate accounts, we needed to offer promo products.”

 

GETTING SET UP FOR SUCCESS

Talking to clients and leads, Drew quickly realized that they were missing out on a key demographic in search of additional promo like drinkware and tech items. As a small business, OTO Supply Co. could only print and distribute a limited amount of apparel at a time and attempted to learn on the fly in regard to fulfilling additional promo orders.

“We knew that if we wanted to be a full-service shop and really grow our business, especially our corporate accounts, we needed to offer promo products,” Drew said.

“Being a smaller business that specializes in print, it was hard for us to introduce promo at first because we didn’t know a lot about the ordering process and lead times,” he continued. “But joining forces with ASI allowed us to scale our operations quickly.”

With ESP+ Websites, they were able to deliver a worldclass shopping experience and were suddenly able to compete with bigger online distributors by allowing customers to pull from over 1 million promo products in ESP+.

“Before ESP+ Websites, customers would ask us for specific products, and we’d spend hours searching and corresponding back and forth to find the right one. Now ordering is super simple.”

THE POWER OF UPSELLING

Transforming OTO Supply Co. into a one-stop shop meant that customers no longer had to venture elsewhere to fulfill their promo needs, and Drew started noticing the benefits immediately. In some instances, their order quantity more than doubled.

For one particular corporate outing, in addition to their typical order of about 10,000 pieces of printed apparel, they were able to increase the total order to 30,000 just by adding related promo products like sunglasses, sunscreen, towels and lip balm.

“Having a database of a products in ESP+ with filters to match your clients’ needs is super valuable. They can shop different suppliers, see all the costs and features side by side and choose what’s best for them. It’s an easy upsell with very little work on our end.”

THE BEST THING ABOUT THE PROMO INDUSTRY

“The cost of an ASI membership is nothing compared to the ROI.”

 

“There’s so much creativity you’re able to bring to a bunch of different brands and products that you otherwise wouldn’t have thought of. There are so many unique offerings that you can add that will boost the value of your business.”

LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE

Reflecting back on his time as a one-man embroiderer operating out of a college dorm, Drew is amazed at how far he’s come in just a few short years. And he’s even more impressed with how much simpler business operations have become with ASI as his promo partner.

“It really is as simple as setting up a P.O.,” Drew said. “Customers place their order from a supplier through our site, and we receive the goods 2-3 weeks later with no additional overhead.”

Now that OTO Supply Co. offers a full suite of promotional products, they’re eager to expand operations even further as their customer base grows.

“Our main goal is to add value to each order, whether that be with promo products or just information and education about what’s possible and how our brands can shine brighter.”

 

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Learn more about the ASI membership benefits Drew experienced and so much more.