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Elevate Your Sales: Tools for Promotional Products Businesses

By Destiny Maruri 

You know better than anyone that the promotional products industry is full of potential – but also fierce competition. Your competitors are often pitching the same or similar items. You have to differentiate yourself in how you sell, not just what you sell. That’s why it’s essential to have the right sales tools for promotional products businesses in your arsenal.

The most successful promo businesses blend smart strategy with powerful technology to streamline operations, close more deals and strengthen client relationships. From client relationship management (CRM) platforms and quoting software to automation tools and analytics dashboards, these solutions are transforming how distributors grow. (And good news: You really only need one tool to do it all – ESP+ – which we’ll get into later.)

In this article, we’ll explore a winning combination of sales growth strategies and promo sales software tailored for the promo industry. Whether you’re looking to boost efficiency, improve customer experiences or drive long-term revenue, these tools and tips will help you elevate your sales performance.

Sales Growth Strategies in Promo

Work smarter, not harder. The most successful promo distributors use a combo of strategy and data to move prospects through the pipeline efficiently and close more sales. Here’s how:

Understand Your Audience & Segment Effectively

Effective sales pipeline management starts with knowing your audience. Use your CRM tool to segment clients by industry, order history or engagement level. Then, you can prioritize high-value leads and tailor your outreach to match their specific needs, keeping your pipeline full and moving. Many CRMs have sales pipeline management features built in to help you keep everything organized.

Looking for one promo products software that does it all? ASI’s ESP+ is more than search and presentations – it has a CRM tool built right in so you don’t have to flip between different tools or tabs while you work.

Create Full Experiences To Sell Bundles

Instead of pitching one item, focus on selling cohesive product experiences that support a larger campaign, event or initiative. Health and wellness programs, onboarding kits for HR clients, seasonal gift bundles or loyalty rewards are all great ways to sell a bundle of products. You’ll increase average order size and also position yourself as more of a partner than a salesperson.

Boost Online Visibility

Staying visible and top-of-mind are crucial to the growth of your business – but you have to make sure you appear where local customers are looking. That means listing your current business information in online directories so when customers search for promo, your name appears at the top of the list.

ASI’s Local Listings tool ensures your info is accurately listed in 70+ online directories. This increases visibility and helps connect you to interested buyers while keeping your information consistent across the web.

Market, Track Performance & Optimize Campaigns

Use a combination of prospecting tools like email marketing, social media and ad retargeting to reach prospects and customers. But don’t just deploy marketing campaigns – measure results and adjust based on what you’re seeing. Use sales reporting and analytics tools to monitor campaign performance – track open rates, click-thrus and conversions. With these insights, you can change messaging, adjust timing and double down on what’s working to drive better results.

4 Promotional Products Sales Tips

You need to stand out from the competition, so focus on thoughtful product selection and presentation and use these four promotional products sales tips:

  1. Pitch useful, everyday products. The more a product is used, the more your client’s logo will be seen. Think drinkware, tech accessories, writing instruments, apparel or office items.
  1. Use storytelling & lifestyle positioning. Start by using promo catalogs to inspire clients and provide ideas for upcoming campaigns. Next, show how the products you present fit into real-world scenarios by sharing past success stories.

Add your logo and contact info to ASI’s promo catalog covers to further build your brand and create a tangible connection with customers. They’re perfect for drop-offs, meetings or mailers.

  1. Provide virtual product mock-ups. Help clients visualize the final product. This will help build excitement and also help you close the deal faster.

In ESP+, there is a Virtual Sample Studio where you can upload logos and position them on products to give clients a preview!

  1. Employ sales presentation software. Pitch full campaigns, not just products. ASI’s ESP+ platform allows you to search for promo and create professional presentations that you can share – all without leaving the tool.

Promo Sales Software

When it comes to promo sales software, there is one that stands out from the crowd: ESP+. As we’ve discussed, it can be used for search, presentations, CRM and sales pipeline management – but it can also be used for so much more.

Here’s just a taste of what you can do with ESP+:

  • Find the exact product your client needs – fast. Search a library of 1.2 million+ promo products and use a combination of AI-guided search along with a variety of filters.
  • Know it’s in stock before you order. Suppliers can integrate their internal inventory with ESP+ so you can verify the quantity and style of a product are available before you order.
  • Impress clients with professional, customized presentations. It’s easy to brand a presentation for your client, add products, adjust details and pricing and share it through email or a link – all without leaving ESP+. Your client can also give immediate feedback on the products you share (thumbs up or thumbs down).
  • Stay organized & improve client communication. Manage all client contact info, orders, proofs, emails and more since CRM is built right into ESP+. There is also a client portal so your clients can interact with you directly without long email chains.
  • Remove the need for separate quoting software. ESP+ can take you from presentation to quote to PO to invoice in just a few clicks.
  • Streamline order tracking for sales. At any time, you and your clients can check the status of an order with an easy-to-read timeline. No surprises, just transparency.
  • Enjoy distributor sales automation. Want to automate lead follow-ups? You can create tasks with due dates in ESP+ and digitize your to-do list. Sample requests? Those can also be done in ESP+.

E-Commerce for Promo Products

An e-commerce website is a fantastic way to drive sales 24/7. That’s why ESP+ allows you to design and launch an ESP+ Website without leaving the tool. Simply pick a template, your colors, upload your logo and you can publish a website with more than a million promo products for your customers to shop for. Track performance anytime with your ESP+ dashboard, including sales, average order amount and average profit margin. Nothing like closing deals while you sleep!

Stores for Clients

You can also use ESP+ to create and launch client-branded promo stores. Design an ESP+ Store for a specific industry, event or purpose (even a pop-up), select the products, upload a logo and go! You’ll strengthen client relationships and drive reorders at the same time.

Put These Tools to Work

Now that you’ve seen how the right strategies and software can transform your business regardless of your goals, ESP+, ESP+ Websites, ESP+ Stores, Local Listings and ASI Catalogs are all important tools to help you succeed in every stage of the sales process. Grow smarter and faster by exploring these tools today.

Don’t have access? Become an ASI member and get everything you need to grow and succeed in promo.