The nature of BizGift business means there is always some sort of trouble on horizon. It is pretty much impossible to have things going smooth. What is possible however is to lower the likelihood of disaster.

First of all - do not be suicidal and do not promise impossible to your customers. It is very tempting to say OK to every request from client in order to secure the deal. But this may and will came to haunt you. Yes, most of the things can be done, but not all can be done within the time and budget constrains of a BizGift project. You will not get paid for your promises for the goods delivered. If you promise and do not deliver, you end up paying !

Make sure you select a reliable supplier. Get references from people you know, use suppliers that you had good experience with previously. If you still do not know, choose a market leader in your area, there is always a reason for someone to become a market leader. Take the pricing into consideration, but do not make your choice solely based on price. At the end, you often get what you are paying for …

Once you select your supplier, make sure you brief them well. Not every supplier can read your mind.

Then when you secure the order remember that is when the real trouble starts. This also when you have no way to back off anymore …

“Murphy’s law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation, if you give them a chance. If there’s more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do it that way.” - from Wikipedia

So here are few examples of possible problems:

• While you were closing the deal with your client, someone else beat you and occupied your supplier’s production facility. There is no chance you will make the order on time.

• The moment you place the order, your suppliers apologizes (in the better case) to you for making mistake in calculation and gives you nicely (in the better case) two options - higher price or no production.

• Due to time or technical constrains you concluded the deal with your client without having the final product ready and approved. While fine tuning the product in the preproduction stages of the order you and your supplier realize, that what was ordered actually can’t be done …

• After you place the order your supplier changes the payment terms, take it or leave it. The new conditions are either impossible for you to comply with due to your cash flow or simply too risky to accept.

• You loose your cool during a routine meeting with your supplier, and the supplier simply walks away. You get dumped …

• You conclude the deal, you are ready to place the order with your supplier. Then you find out the supplier closed down the business.

This is in no way exhausting list of possible trouble. The closest you get to the complete list would be by checking out the Murphy’s laws. So watch out, do not let Murphy to mess with your BizGift project.

Photo: www.murphys-laws.com

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I admit I never thought highly about luggage straps as an advertising medium. But after recently spending more than healthy amount of time on the planes and in the airports I realized, these straps are great.

First of all, people would appreciate them because they are useful:

• they help to keep your luggage closed in case the zipper breaks or the buckle on the suitcase snaps open

• if colorful enough, they help you to recognize your bag

• and if colorful enough, they make it clear to others, that your bag is not theirs

When looking at them as an advertising medium:

• they have large area for branding - the logo or the message can be big

• they are very visible and move around the world with the owner of the luggage

• they are inexpensive

• they can be produced fully customized in relatively small quantities

Just recall those long minutes at airports standing by the carousel waiting for your luggage to appear, looking at hundreds of others…

Everybody’s attention is firmly focused on the bags going round and round and round. Which ones attract your attention ? Usually the colourful ones or those with loads of stickers on them, or those with something that makes them different. A well designed luggage strap may do the job. And it comes cheaper than branded travel bag or suitcase …

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No matter what business you are in, one of the most important assets you have are your loyal customers. At the end of the day the clients that feel good about dealing with you are those that will stick with you long term. Clients who are with you long term are also clients that are usually understanding when things do not go as planned. It is all about the relationship. To build that relationship, you need to entertain.

Get to know your customers and try to choose the entertainment you think they will enjoy. I was few times in situation when I mentally suffered in the hands of my suppliers while they were having fun and enjoyed themselves on their company expenses. Not much fun … I do not want my customers to feel like that. Luckily most of my clients are down to Earth people who enjoy casual food, casual drinks and talk the usual bar talk. Business itself is secondary but the best ideas always come out from such casual beer or wine conversations. I am actually looking forward to meeting them every time they fly over .

Well have to stop here, it is time for me to get out now and get casual, customer is waiting . This topic will return.

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Today was a pretty good day. For past few months we worked hard to win a project that, to describe it mildly, is huge. I mean huge huge. And today was the day we learned we have won it. Sounds like a reason for celebration, time to get out and down several cold ones. So what the hell am I doing here, writing this post ?

Well, one thing I have learned is, that it simply ain’t over ’til it’s over. The moment client gives you the order is where everything begins, not where everything ends. Trying to win the order is a game. It is serious game but still only a game. You do not win it, you loose nothing, except maybe your pride. But once you win the order you are in trouble ! And if the order is big, you are in trouble for next several months. The more you are aware of this, the better for you.

So when it will be over? I always tell my staff, that we can only consider any project to be successfully over when all the goods are in customers’ hands on time, in good condition, money is in our account and after that another 4 months have passed and we have no claims for any refunds. Then it is over and we may be right to mentally move on.

If all goes wrong you loose much more than what you would gain if all goes right. That is a simple math. Maximum you can make (in financial terms) is the profit margin you work with. But there is no maximum to what you can loose …

It is important that all parties involved in the project understand this. One of the reasons we ran into troubles in the past was, that our suppliers considered things done the moment they received the order from us …

How I know this ? Well, I was on the loosing end several times. Luckily the crisis management every time managed to limit the damages to bearable levels and more importantly, I was lucky to be dealing with customers who were part of the solution and not part of the problem. But that may not always be the case.

So, today the troubles began

P.S. I am not the only one who says It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over, here is the other fella, Lenny Kravitz. But he has totally different reason (video inside the article)

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It was about 10 years ago when we got to work with an advertising agency on gifts that would go with tea. I am not sure what were all the ideas considered but when we came into the picture there was only one concept left - The kitchen timers.

The client did not want to use any generic timer designs. They wanted products specifically designed and produced for them. They were willing to invest into new tooling and surprise surprise - they even gave us enough time to manage that .

We were presented with 2 designs of timers - one in the shape of half a lemon, the other in the shape of raspberry. These 2 designs represented the fruit teas from client’s product range.

The gimmick was the dial. To make these timers “special” there was special marking on the dial. Different colours marked the correct infusion time for different kinds of tea - 3 minutes for black tea, 5 minutes for green tea, 8 minutes for fruit tea etc.

The result of all the work was a practical and useful product of nice quality and unique design (at that time, 10 years ago). And … it also taught people how to make their cup of tea .

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