Joe Millman Sales and Passion

Dallas Show Jan. 2012

Joe Millman — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:22:17 GMT

Wrapping up a fantastic Dallas show—two more days to go, and one helluva two week run in Atlanta and Dallas. So many positive comments on sales, service, and future opportunities. Our customers were very upbeat after coming off solid selling seasons. Our new collections are on point and have been extremely well received. Great teams can do great things, from our design team to the trade show set up crews all the way through the selling process—what a run.

Take a look at the Dallas showroom here.

Happy Selling. JM

Atlanta 2012

Joe Millman — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:38:07 GMT

Welcome to Napco's showroom for the Winter 2012 show. The showroom looks fabulous

and is ready for the show. Our designers and trade show team really out did themselves this year. Thanks all!! Come in and visit with us all week as we debut our Holiday/Fall 2012 collections. See you at market. JM

Click here for video.

Mickey, Service, & Splash Mountain

Joe Millman — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:46:00 GMT

I spent last week at Walt Disney World with my family. I was anxious to go from a business, customer service perspective as I had heard so much about the Disney culture, their service, and how well they run a massive organization.

I compared what I was experiencing there to my business life here, and how my company provides service to our valued customers. Disney had an answer to each question, every employee knew directions within the parks (and I got lost a lot), and the parks were spotless. Cleanliness begets cleanliness which led to friendliness begets friendliness.

As I soaked in all there was to see, learn, and extrapolate from this vacation I made sure to remember why I was there and that was for my kids – to see the joy on their faces whether it was seeing Goofy, Mickey, or Cinderella at a character dinner (mind you the buffet food was surprisingly good) or watching my 4 year old, Jack, soar down 5 stories on Splash Mountain “whooping-it-up” with both small little hands in the air (see below he is the one in the red hat with the Mickey ears).

It was a crazy, busy week and continued to reinforce to me the importance of “smelling the roses” and enjoying every bit of our day. Now I’m back from fantasyland and looking forward to reinforcing our customer service and adding value for our customers. JM

Atlanta and Dallas Are Upon Us

Joe Millman — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 15:17:00 GMT

This time of year is so exciting for me as we ramp up to show all of our new collections into the marketplace. It is a‘re-start’, a refreshing kick off, and a segue into what will be a fantastic 2011.

Whether you had a miserable, a So-So, or a fantastic year all goes out the window when the bell tolls Dec 31^st at midnight. This fresh start is hopefully a continuation of a re-birth that you’ve experienced in our gift and home industry after some trying years. If it is not a continuation for you (whether you are a buyer or a seller) then do something about it. Be Proactive, Plan for your meetings, and most importantly add value to your customer/partners.

If the product you create is remarkable, success should happen. If you take your remarkable product and couple it with a remarkable team success will happen.

I look forward to seeing everyone at market and having a season filled with lots of sales and lots of smiles. Sometimes the smiles are more important then the sales, because if you are not smiling you are certainly not selling.

Happy Holidays.

The 5th P: Patience

Joe Millman — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:42:00 GMT

Last year I wrote about the 4 P's of Selling (Prepare, Plan, be Proactive, and Persistent). The final 'P' is Patience. I just came off the world wind 14 day tour of the Atlanta-Dallas trade show circuit. It was very encouraging to see the optimism in our industry and all of the orders that were being written.

I had patiently been prospecting old customers and 'soon to be' customers (like the optimism?)....many of them showed up at the shows and we are off to what will be a successful 2010 together. Remember, being patient does not mean sitting idle in the wings "hoping" that the next order will come. It entails being proactive from a marketing and sales perspective. We as sales people must add value in our products and make sure our customers are well taken care of from a customer service perspective.

A huge thank you to my current customers and members of my team who were critical in a very successful trade show season.

Can't wait for February and March Sales!!

Happy Selling -

Share that Warm Fuzzy Holiday Feeling Today

Joe Millman — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:04:00 GMT

I work with 1-800-Flowers on special projects and I can tell you that they are one hell of a group! Yes, they are a large public company but they do a fantastic job of welcoming their colleagues and customers into their "family." It is this family atmosphere that they foster that can give you that "warm and fuzzy" over the holiday season.

Jim McCann, CEO of 1-800-Flowers.com, writes "As we get ready for one of our busiest holiday seasons, I encourage each and every one of you to reach out and share that Warm Fuzzy feeling with all those you care about. Remember, it's that connection that makes this season so special for all of us."

Enjoy the holiday season with your loved ones, colleagues, and those in your life that continually bring a smile to your face. You can make the holiday season come alive by passing on the Warm and Fuzzy .....Happy Holidays. JM

As a Customer How can you Succeed More, Profit More

Joe Millman — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:48:00 GMT

I believe I have some very successful customers! They succeed in areas where others fail. How do they succeed and profit more then most?

It all starts with a great team, an accommodating assistant, and open communication. If it is good news-- tell me; If it is bad news also tell me, as that is what I am going to do for you. Take your loyal partnerships and make an effort to expand on them. When there are collections that are performing ask for line extensions. If you have specific margin requirements, discuss them as they should not be a secret. The customers that discuss margin, sell through, best sellers etc are always selling more then the ones that want to be secretive.

Look for that great new vendor/supplier, as you never know where that next winning collection will come from. If a vendor has called you, emailed you, been quietly persistent with you invite him or her in for a meeting. I bet more times then not, you'll learn something and perhaps find that next winning collection. If I look back over past years successes, many of them started with one buyer taking a chance and believing that our products would sell. Many times that buyer was called-- five, six, or seven times before I could get an appointment. Thankfully, for both of us, I made that seventh call!

It reminds me of that "cold call" I made to a gal 12 years ago. I was hesitant to make it, was very busy building my business relationships, and did not think that I had much time for 'outside interference.' Well, I eventually made that call and today have two beautiful children with that gal I cold called 12 years ago. Thank goodness I made that call!

Happy Selling and Happier Buying- JM

Independent Garden Center (IGC) Show - WOW!

Joe Millman — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:44:00 GMT

I have had a chance to decompress after attending the IGC show, www.igcshow.com at the Navy Pier in Chicago August 18-20. The vibe and atmosphere at the show was unlike any I have seen at our gift/home shows over the past 3 years. Buyers were excited, have had good selling seasons, and in general were very up beat. This show focuses on the Garden Center and has vendors from high end pottery to seed and mulch vendors. NAPCO, www.napcomarketing.com really stood out here as we showed most of our resin statuary collection which was very well received.

The management team did a phenomenal job of getting the buyers to visit the "new resource" vendors in a TEMP section as they had to walk through our room to attend the many seminars that were offered.

Overall, a great success with lots of orders and many leads for our sales team to follow up on. We have already received residual orders from the show and reps have booked appointments from the leads we provided to them. See you at IGC 2010. JM

Atlanta Gift and Home Show July 2009

Joe Millman — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:27:00 GMT

Back home after a solid week in Atlanta. Expectations were low for this show as the summer show is notoriously slower then the winter (Jan.) show. This show debuted NAPCO's 2010 Spring and Garden collections. If you are a retailer visit us to see all of our newest collections at http://napcomarketing.com/. The collections, collectively, were extremely well received both by our representatives and customers.

The showroom was more open this year and inviting-- nice work Greg and his team! At the end of the day (and there were some long days) we came away blowing away our Summer 2008 sales numbers which is both gratifying for the design team, sales team, and everyone in between who works so hard to get our products to market. We've got some real nice momentum moving through the 3rd quarter of the year.

I attended a seminar by Mr Ted Teele, CEO of Onecoast, who always seems to be at the forefront of our industry. The seminar's top line focus was "How can we as vendors and rep firms help our retailers?" Ted has some great ideas on how this can be done today and more importantly in the years to come. Learn more about Ted's company at http://www.onecoast.com/index.asp?.

After the seminar I was speaking to Beth Lang from Alexa's Angels, http://www.alexas-angels.com/trade/login.php, who was telling the group how their Twitter page had grown exponentially over the past month. Kudo's to them for beginning to use all of the social media websites to spread the "alexas angels love." Very cool product!

Our next big push will be at the IGC Show at the Navy Pier in Chicago August 18-20th. The Independent Garden Show, http://igcshow.com/igc2009/public/enter.aspx, is put on by Mr. Jeff Morey and his wife Cheryl. They have created a great following of independent garden centers and a focused show for the vendors. I look forward to telling you all about our experiences. If you are going stop by and visit us in the TEMPS section, booth # T 22-24.

Happy Selling. JM

Dallas Gift & Home Show June 2009

Joe Millman — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:10:00 GMT

Regrouping after a solid 8 days in Dallas...Traffic was way down (don't care what the mgmt company says.) and once again appointments drive the show. Two highlights for me at the show:

1. A neighbor (friendly competitor) brought two of his better latin american customers over to us to introduce them and see if we could assist them. Here is a competitor introducing us to a customer, not concerned about us as the competition but more concerned that his customer is well taken care of and works with great companies. It is these types of individuals in our industry that continually succeed and by helping others, ultimately helps himself in building relationships, loyalty, and trust. Gracias Mario, tan amable de usted-- I won't let you down!

2. Sometimes you find yourself working along side individuals in your organization that you just marvel at..perhaps it is their experience or their long term relationships they've held with customers for decades (yes-- decades!). It is that "Yes" attitude which is always exemplified and gets us through the rough times. It is not ironic that this individual and these types of individuals continue to be the M.V.P.s of their respective teams. If you are one of these people-- you know it, and if you are not one of these types of people they are the ones you want to be using as your benchmark.

See you in Atlanta. JM

Customer Pledge to You

Joe Millman — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:17:00 GMT

JM's CUSTOMER PLEDGE TO YOU:

1. Have the BEST Attitude.

2. Give the BEST Service.

3. Be the friendliest.

4. Strive for perfection.

5. If there is a problem, I'll fix it.

6. and Most Importantly: Create a long lasting mutually beneficial partnership with you and your organization.

4 P's

Joe Millman — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:17:00 GMT

For those of us in the marketing and sales arena, we have all heard of the 5 P's of Marketing: Product, Positioning, Place, Price, and Promotion and how important these are to the life cycle of our products and businesses.

I like to expand on this theory in my 4 P's of Selling: Prepare, Plan, be Proactive, and Persistent! If you can prepare for every sales call like it was your last one, and plan out your upcoming meeting/sales call with thoughtful questions you will sell more today then you did yesterday.

Don't wait for the orders to come to you-- be proactive and go out there and get them. Y es, in this economy there are still plenty of customers out there writing orders. Finally be persistent (or quietly persistent) and prove to your prospective buyer that you can be their best supplier partner.

Happy Selling! JM

Balance

Joe Millman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:22:00 GMT

It is important in life to balance family time with work time. I find that when I am well balanced my professional life is more successful and my "home" life is incredibly rewarding. Both go hand in hand.

Last week, my family spent time in Naples, FL visiting my folks. It was a great time to unwind, allow the grandparents to hang with their grandchildren, and to think. The extra time I get to "think" or "brainstorm" when I am out of the office always pays dividends when I dive back into my work life. It is important once in awhile to put down the blackberry....although I find it harder and harder these days. The 6 days away were fantastic. Thanks mom & dad!!

Atlanta Gift Show Jan. 2009

Joe Millman — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:33:00 GMT

I have had a little over a week to reflect on this past gift show in Atlanta. Going in, I think my colleagues and I had relatively low expectations as we are dealing with one the most challenging macroeconomic environments in my career. Surprisingly, or not, we came away with lots of projects and a good deal of "paper."

Again, I credit part of our success and for sure my success by being able to consistently book appointments for the show. I like to average atleast 10 show appointments-- 12 is better as I know I will get some walk-ins also. We, as sales people, need to become important enough to our buyers so that they do take the time to book appointments with us.

If a buyer says that they will just "drop by." I know that we are not yet important to them and I work to become important to them over the next 6 months.

Quick thoughts: it looks like the bottom has dropped out of the 'home' category and garden, christmas, low priced giftables, and sentiment continue to trend higher.

Off to tackle some more projects and become more important to our best buyers.

Mt. Rainier Adventure

Joe Millman — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:05:00 GMT

On Sunday July 20, 2008 I summitted Mr. Rainier in Washington State at 8:15AM. The summit push took us 5.5 hours which was 30 minutes quicker then we had budgeted.

Atlanta Gift Show July 2008

Joe Millman — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:42:00 GMT

I recently returned from the Atlanta Gift Show. In my 13 years in the business, and 10 going to Atlanta this summer show was by far the most poorly attended in my experience. Who can blame our independent retailers as they ride this middle ground before the big Christmas push and the all of the negativity in the media? Couple that with real life issues in increasing energy costs, inflation, and of course gas prices-- doesn't make for a well attended show.

BUT, with down turns comes opportunities and there certainly were retailers there and retailers writing business. In my view, the key to any successful show is how many appointments you can realistically book. A customer who says "I will stop by" does not count. A confirmed appointment with a date and time counts!

This is only a numbers game...the more you can book as a vendor the more business you are going to write- plain and simple. You have to give a reason for your customers to come and visit you as they ARE visiting other vendors. Why them and not you? Probably because you are not giving them a good enough reason to spend their time in your showroom.

It is more difficult to book appointments these days, that I agree. But if in the past you could have a successful show with only 7 appointments well now you have to book 14 appointments to realize those same dollars. My show was great, with lots of orders and lots of projects in the cooker.

Speak soon.
JM

Stop Talking Start Doing

Joe Millman — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 20:10:00 GMT

This is one of IBM's most recent mottos and I feel it is one to live by. Be it in your personal life or your professional life--nothing happens by just sitting around. It is like traveling, the hardest part is to "just go"