Najla's Notes

Custom Logo Printed Promotional First Aid Kits

And why they will help your customers remember you…

The most notable benefits of using Custom First Aid Kits to promote your business or organization are increased brand awareness, since quality first aid kits are kept longer than other promotional items and are often refilled and kept for continued use. Another benefit is the positive association of your company with the recipient, as first aid kits are associated with health and safety. 

Imprinted first aid kits come in all price ranges to fit almost every budget and they come in multiple styles and themes for client sector alignment such as outdoors kits, golf, sports, tradeshow, and automobile themed kits.

One of the most common promotional first aid kit styles is the General Purpose Promotional First Aid Kit, which can be decorated with your company logo or organization’s message. These kits usually contain items such as an ice pack, rubber gloves, 3x3 sterile gauze, bandage strips,  first aid burn cream,  alcohol wipes,  antiseptic wipes,  wet ones antibacterial wipes, tweezers and a first aid quick reference card. Depending on your budget, you can use the brand name version of many of these items, or go generic. You also can customize what goes in to each kit, allowing you to manage the cost of your custom kit.

Some other promotional first aid kit styles are travel first aid kits, automotive, and golf  – which can include not only first aid items, but divot tools and tees, convention and tradeshow first aid kits, kits for disaster preparedness and cold weather promotional first aid kits.

So if you’re planning a special fundraiser, promotion, event, or giveaway and want to keep your business name and message in front of your customer year-round, a promotional first aid kit is the answer.

To help determine if custom logo First Aid Kits are right for your next promotion we would be happy to create a free virtual sample of any of our kits with your logo. For more information on this free service please visit: http://www.CorporateGiftPromotions.com/FirstAidKits

Business Holiday Food Gift Ideas from CEShoppes

Every year just before the holiday season, we have customers ask us how they can get their business clients excited about the gifts they send out, as a thank you for their continued business.  If you are getting lackluster results with your holiday gift selections here is an idea that you should consider.

One of the best gifts you can send to your clients at the holidays is a food gift. You should plan on purchasing the very best tasting items that are made when ordered, and have not been sitting on the shelf for months at a time.  What many people don’t realize is that the food items you find at the membership clubs and big box stores have been sitting on a warehouse shelf for 6-7 months before you purchase them. If this is how you have done your holiday shopping for the past few holiday seasons, your customers and employees will be surprised when you present them with fresh - made when ordered, food gifts.

The exciting thing about corporate chocolate gifts is that they can be molded and engraved just like fine crystal.  You can even add not only your logo to the chocolate, but in many cases you can add chocolate industry theme designs to the chocolate assortments, creating that WOW effect you have been looking  to achieve.  Recipients are wowed by the intricacy and level of detail, and often rush to show their gift to others in the office, saying, ‘This is too beautiful to eat’. Eventually they do eat the chocolate, and break into the rich taste of great milk or dark chocolate. Most importantly, they’ll remember the message and who gave it to them.

Other food gift ideas are show on our gourmetfoodgiftpeople.com website. We have even added steaks, chicken dinners and fresh live Maine Lobster to our offerings at the request of customers who wish to have more than chocolates and cookies to send this holiday season.

If this information was of interest to you, and would like to see the video that accompanies this article visit http://www.gourmetfoodgiftpeople.com/chocolate/ChocProductvideo.asp?Vcode=1009
or sign up to see our videos on corporate chocolate gifts at http://www.GourmetFoodGiftPeople.com/Chocolate

How To Save Money on Logo Chocolate Gifts

One of the questions we frequently hear is can the buyer keep the logo chocolate mold when buying company logo chocolates, because they paid the set up charge? The answer's that when you order chocolate from a catalog or internet site, the original chocolate molds have already been made by the factory and the master plates are already made. When you add your logo or text, a little plate, the dimensions of the logo or text is made to fit nicely in to the master plate and this is how your trademark or message is added to the chocolate. The chocolate mold plate, made with your emblem or message, wouldn't be helpful for any other purpose as it was only made to slot in to the master chocolate plate for the item you are ordering this time.

If you re-order again later on in the year or next year, the same chocolate item, your plate should be made available to use again without paying an extra set up fee.

But if you decide to go with a different piece of chocolate, something that will require your brand to be bigger or smaller in comparison to the piece already made or formed differently than the first to fit in your original mold, you quite likely will need to pay another set up charge. When you want a range of chocolate logo gifts in different price points you need to make use of combined quantity pricing.

When you choose more than one chocolate or candy and nut gift featuring the same size chocolate center-piece you can get a quantity discount. This way you may have different gifts at different price points for your workers and clients, but only pay for the set up charge one time.

(See TR24 and TR28, as well as TR8 and TR16. The SQ series also has the same size chocolate centerpiece as the item numbers mentioned above SQ4, SQ16, SQ32, SQ64 and you can also mix and match the FB16, FB36 and the FBTR.) Please note, that you will probably need to meet the minimum order for each size you select, but this will help you save money in the long run by not having to pay for multiple set up fees.

If this information was of interest to you, and would like to see that video that accompanies this article see our Chocolate Logo Combined Pricing Video

Best Chocolate when buying Corporate Logo Chocolate Gifts

As a company that sells logo chocolate corporate gifts all year long, we receive many questions about the taste of the chocolate and the chocolate shelf life.
We decided to put together a continuing series of short question and answer articles in regard to purchasing logo chocolate gifts.

A buyer asks, "What is the most preferred chocolate used when purchasing Corporate Chocolate Gifts"? 

ANSWER: The two preferred types of chocolate are fine Belgian Chocolate and Premium Swiss Chocolate.  Both are a higher grade of chocolate than found in the local supermarket and are also should be available as a Kosher Certified option.  You should be able to purchase all logo chocolate gifts in either milk or dark chocolate and sometimes white chocolate at no additional charge.
A buyer asks, "How long is the shelf life of the chocolate?"

ANSWER: All premium chocolate products should have a shelf life of over 1 year. It is not recommended to refrigerate chocolate, rather simply store the product at room temperature, not over 72 degrees, and keep away from direct sunlight and heating units. 

Some examples of the chocolate corporate gifts that are used for a variety of occasions would be: logo chocolate foil wrapped chocolate coins and foiled squares, chocolate business cards, chocolate wrapper bars and mini chocolate confection boxes make great tradeshow giveaways. 

Another great idea for marketing your business would be to give out full color logo chocolate wrapper bars, where you can include a coupon inside of the wrapper to promote special products or provide discounts to your customers. These would make great promotional give-always either in store or out on sales calls.

A great chocolate corporate gift would be the edible chocolate box- yes, you can eat the box. First, you take off the chocolate top and eat the truffles or confections inside. Then, you break apart the chocolate top and eat it too.  Finally, you break apart the bottom and sides of the box and share it with your co-workers.  If you have never eaten a chocolate box then you really should try it at least once. It is an experience that people will remember and talk about – so if you are looking for a corporate gift that provides the WOW Factor – this is it!

If this information was of interest to you, and would like to see that video that accompanies this article visit http://www.gourmetfoodgiftpeople.com/chocolate/ChocProductvideo.asp?Vcode=1006
or sign up to see our videos on corporate chocolate gifts at http://www.GourmetFoodGiftPeople.com/Chocolate

What Everyone Needs to Know about their Corporate Logo

Part 2

In our last installment we discussed maintaining a standardized corporate logo and vectored artwork. This article relates to how it all is put together - to maintain your corporate brand.

Fonts, Outlines and Curves:
When a logo is created in a commercial program special fonts may be used and held in the original logo file. When the file is converted to an EPS format for factory printing it is important to convert all the fonts to "outlines" or "curves", depending on the program used, so that the factory does not need a copy of the font. This also maintains the intended and approved complete style of all fonts and art used in the logo for marketing and legal purposes.

It is also very important to make sure to have a copy of any fonts that were used in a logo or layout so they can be duplicated or matched in later or similar work

PMS Colors:
All colors should correspond to a standard Pantone or PMS color. The colors for your logo should be listed in the art file that you provide all factories for contract work. It is important to note that some factories charge a fee to "exact match" colors, but most can "close match" standard colors at no charge. Please check with your company to find out if you need to exact match color when working with decorated products. You can see a simple PMS color chart at our link:
http://www.corporategiftpromotions.com/colors/

Black and White:
It is very important to keep a separate version of your approved logo in Black and White, for any engraving or 1 color reproduction projects. Engraving is like printing in one color. When you provide your art to a factory for a one color project, you can instruct them on a case by case basis what color you want it to be printed. Also, when any two lines intersect it is important that a "break" be visible so that the logo can be viewed with the appearance of the correct line in "front".

 


Proofs:
It is always important to require an image "proof" of what your logo and any additional text will look like on a particular product before final production, unless you are ordering an exact reorder and an image proof was required and approved during the initial order. CEShoppes requires proofs for all orders - it is just in your best interest.

What Everyone Needs to Know about their Corporate Logo

Part 1

As a company one of the most important marketing tools is the corporate brand and the corporate brand is represented by the corporate logo. Because of this there are a number of extremely important things everyone should know about maintaining a corporate logo when dealing with factories involving products decorated with their logo.

Maintain a Standardized Logo:
All approved logos should be maintained in a fully "vectored" EPS format along with a viewable version by all PCs or Macs such as a JPG or TIFF format file.
Logos are created using commercial programs such as Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw and the raw file can be used to create other versions such as JPG, BMP, TIFF, etc. One of those files is called EPS and is most often required by commercial decorators and screen printers. Vectored EPS files maintain clean lines with all the parts of the logo, no matter how big it is sized.

Example: 



In most cases office and home configured workstations do not have the necessary software to properly view and modify vectored EPS files. It normally requires one of the programs listed above. Changing the name of a file from mylogo.jpg to mylogo.eps manually or with a program not properly equipped to modify EPS files will not change the file to the correct format.

Vectored PDF formats:
Fortunately, over the past several years commercial graphic programs have developed the ability to make "vectored" PDF files. A vectored PDF can be viewed by a normal workstation using a browser and when opened with a commercial software application can be used for commercial decorating and imprinting... so everyone can view and verify the file that will be used for the project. This can prevent errors and save time valuable time.

IMPORTANT: If you do not have a PDF viewable version for your art on file you can e-mail your VECTORED EPS file to artwork@ceshoppes.com and request a FREE conversion. This is a service CEShoppes provides upon request for all customers at no charge. Please note if your EPS file is not vectored this service will not convert your art to a vectored format. In our next installment we will talk a bit about Fonts, PMS color and proofs - until then . . .

A Sales Contest Happy Ending (Part 3)

This part is the very best. The contest was a huge success. My friend who had encouraged me to run the contest had also promised me an effortless answer to my sales-meeting-blues. He was right! I didn't have to say anything disciplinary to get everyone, and I mean each-and-every AE, in the conference room both early and waiting like eager beavers.

However that was really just the gravy! The real win was the sales increase we accomplished with the contest. If I didn't experience it for myself, I would have never believed the results we attained. Nearly 2/3rds of the AEs hit the top level, and all but a few reached one of the other two levels. Let me translate what that meant in return on the investment terms: $4 to $1.

I can now call myself a believer in sales contests. I run a contest (with a new theme and different objective) at least three to four times a year. You will have fun, your AEs will thank you, and your leadership team will be singing your praises!

Download your FREE copy of the eBook "Sales Contestology, 7 Step Guide to Contest Design" (You are welcome to pass this free offer to your friends and colleagues too).

The Sales Contest Big Announcement (Part 2)

Finally, the morning came when I was to announce the sales contest. Two other people on my management team and I came in early to decorate the conference room with balloons, streamers, and confetti. At each cubicle I put a mouse pad on the desk, which was imprinted with the contest's name. I even provided a breakfast spread that was ready when the AEs arrived. The excitement in the air was almost awe-inspiring.

I began my presentation by saying, "In this contest, there will be no losers. Everyone will win!" I can't think of the right word to describe their faces. It wasn't surprise or bewilderment, it was more like, "Ohhh-Kay….what's the catch?"

I said "I know what you are thinking and there is no catch. I simply want to give everyone the opportunity to receive a prize for their performance, and here is how it's going to work."

I explained that there were three levels of performance, each level equated to an incremental increase percentage over their monthly sales goal and that, based on what they sell in the next 30 days, would determine their reward.

At this point my assistant pulled down the screen, dimmed the lights, and turned on the projector. When the anticipation was at its peak I revealed the website which pictured all of the prizes. There were over 100 brand-name merchandise items at each of the three performance levels.

Just then, one of the senior AEs (whose performance had been slacking lately) said, "Can you click on that top level? I want to see what I am going to win." That's all it took. After he made that comment, the room erupted into a collective roar and challenges were being tossed every which way. I couldn't have scripted it better.

(To be continued Next week) But to see how you can implement this sales contest on your own, Download your FREE copy of the eBook "Sales Contestology, 7 Step Guide to Contest Design" (You are welcome to pass this free offer to your friends and colleagues too).

A TRUE BELIEVER: A Sales Saga with a Happy Ending! (Part 1)

I thought you might relate to this story . . .

Typically before starting a sales meeting, and prior to diving into the housekeeping issues, I have to stand there waiting for latecomers to drag in, nudge people to stop cur-chunking on their BlackBerry® and have the wonderful pleasure of looking at "less-than-enthusiastic" faces staring back at me. If you have ever run a sales meeting, then you can picture the scene vividly, can't you?

I want to share with you how one week's meeting got some astonishing results that have changed everything ever since. When the meeting began, I stood up and made an announcement that caught everyone by surprise. I announced that very soon I would be running a Sales Contest. I didn't say much more than that on the topic.

When questions started flowing in, I simply said, "I will provide all the contest details, and answer your questions prior to next week's meeting. If you are interested, be here fifteen minutes early."

The entire next week was a lot of fun for me. Let's just say that the rumor mill was cranking! Each day Account Executives were taking guesses at what I was going to announce. I heard conversations in cubicles, emails were being circulated, and there may have even been a wager pool running.

(To Be Continued Next week) -- To find out more about the Sales Contest Download your FREE copy of the eBook "Sales Contestology, 7 Step Guide to Contest Design" (You are welcome to pass this information with the free offer to your friends and colleagues too).

The book you’ve been looking for, it’s Free

If you read my last blog post you know that I wrote about an exciting ebook on sales contests. When most people think of a sales contest they think in terms of winners and losers. A business associate of CEShoppes, Mark Repkin, wrote a powerful book on how to put on a sales contest where there are only winners!

Most people define "contest" as a competition, usually but not always based on skill, awarding prizes to a limited number of winners and offering nothing to the vast majority of participants. That type of contest is the most common, but it's NOT the most effective way to motivate behavior within a sales force or sales channel. Winning and losing suggests an element of chance. In order to be effectively motivating, a contest must reduce or eliminate chance or luck from the equation. Attaining rewards must be based on the performer's own ability to exceed a predetermined goal.

The eBook, "Sales Contestology, 7 Step Guide to Contest Design" is an easy read with some great graphics. It provides practical advice on designing and implementing a sales contest to drive results.

You can download it FREE from our CEShoppes website - just click here:

Let me know what you think.

P.S. Since the authors are only allowing us to share this for a limited time, grab it now while it's FREE!

P.S.S. If you think that one of your colleagues or friends would benefit from reading this eBook, you are welcome to forward this email to them with compliments of CEShoppes.