Thursday, November 17, 2011

3 Reasons to Avoid Buying Your Promos Fom The Internet

I have recently been inspired by a slew of horror stories that people have shared with me about shopping online for Promotional Products.  Here are 3 of the most common troubles that I've heard about when people order online, and most importantly, the solutions.

Buyer Beware
There are tens of thousands of promotional products.  If you ever try searching for a pen on one of these websites, you can get up to 80 pages of search results, no fun.  The beware part comes in when your order arrives and the pen that shows up does not look at all like the pen that was on your screen.  The pen may have looked like mahogany, but you found out the hard way that it was a cheap plastic imitation, and it doesn't even write well.

The solution: A conversation.  When we talk with our clients, we always ask them who their target market is.  You can feel comfortable knowing that if you want to impress people with your awesome pen, you will end up with an awesome pen, not a plastic imitation.

-It Was the Cheapest Option...  At First
Many online promo stores will boast that they have the lowest prices.  And that can seem to be true, until the bill arrives.  I recently heard tale of a lady who went online because the prices seemed to be better.  Little did she know that the special price that she saw advertised was for the red pen, not the blue one of the same style that she needed.  And by the time she paid extra for the laser engraving in 2 locations, she ended up spending way more than the advertised price.  That is just downright deceptive.

The Solution: Once again, a conversation with one of our specialists here at United would have cleared all of this up in an instant.  Do we claim to have the lowest prices?  No, we don't.  But we are competitive.  And most importantly, our client's invoices don't surprise them.

-A Day Late, and [many] Dollars Lost:
I cannot keep track of the number of times that someone has come to me days before an important event because their on-line store could not accommodate their time constraints.  Yes, you were able to save twelve cents per pen for your trade show giveaway, but what does it matter if the items show up even one day late.  Even after just one day, you have already lost out on potential revenue.

The Solution:  You guessed it, call United and talk to us about your time constraints.  We will go over a list of items with you that we know that we can produce in time for your event.  We wouldn't sell you something that you cannot use.