Mini Stretch Speaker Tube

I found a really cool MP3/MP4 speaker today. It is the Mini Stretch Speaker Tube. The stereo mini jack can connect to iPods, MP3/MP4 and CD players.

The portable shape lets you carry it around in your pocket, you purse or your backpack.

Minimum qty is 1000 pcs and includes a 1 color imprint for $5.50 each

Product Size:1.4” x 1.4” x 6”

Imprint Size: .98” x .71” (Speakers), 1.18” x .39” (Center Docking)

Custom Color is available

Normal Production Time is 60 working days

Customer Service...is it a lost art?

What is customer service to you? Is it just a voice on the other end of a phone just saying yes and no or how about “sorry but there is nothing I can do” without exhausting all avenues first? Or maybe it’s the sales person that just makes eye contact when you enter a store, no smile, no hello…nothing!?
Well, I’ll tell you one thing, none of comes close to what I would consider customer service.
Where has true “Customer Service” gone these days? What happened to the greeter at my local Wal-Mart asking me if I would like a buggy? Now they just stand there and glare at me when I walk in the store, sometimes I’ll get a smile or even a hello. But it has been a while since I heard “Welcome to Wal-Mart” with a smile. I’m not picking on Wal-Mart…I love wali-world, it’s like that everywhere. When I walk into my local video store I do get a hello or a good afternoon but it is so sarcastic that it almost sounds like “great another freaking customer just walked in”.
I was on the phone the other day with a customer service representative from one of the nations largest overnight parcel services trying to explain to them that I needed to get my hands on a package. All I got from calling the 1-800 # was “sorry, there’s nothing I can do”. I knew that the package was going to be delivered to the local hub so I called late in the day to see if I could get them to hold the package instead of loading it on the truck and that I would just pick it up. Well, the woman kept interrupting me and wouldn’t let me explain the situation and told me to call up there at 5:00 am to see what could be done. I was so frustrated by her continued interruptions that I finally gave up and just said OK thanks and hug up.
OK…first of all, I know I called late in the day and that she was probably ready to go home, but come on…isn’t her job to listen and to at least try to help instead of telling me that I have to all at 5:00 am. The perception she gave was that she didn’t have time to help so I had to call early in the morning to make it someone else’s problem. I don’t get paid to be inconvenienced but she get’s paid to blow me off and that’s not right.
What I don’t want is a sales person following me around the store asking me if they can help me every two seconds or a waitress or waiter asking me if they can take my order before I have even had a chance to look at a menu or before they take my drink order. I just want a little common courtesy and common since.
In my business I try my absolute best to ensure that my customers/clients are satisfied with every aspect of doing business with me. I make sure they get what they what when they want it and if for some reason I am not able to accommodate them then I explain the situation and voice that I did everything humanly possible to try to make it happen.
If it matters to them then it should matter to you! Give them the same time and respect that you would expect if the shoe were on the other foot.

TSA Approved Laptop Bags

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TSA Approved Laptop Bags

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New Items from PPAI Show

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New Items from PPAI Show

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It's not just Screen Printing anymore

The world of screen printing has evolved to a level that teeters on CRAZY! Some of the techniques available to me now are so much more than just placing a shirt on a board, laying a screen over it and rolling ink to display an image.

We now have automated printing presses. Some brands allow you to print up to 18 different colors at a speed of 1400 pieces per hour...WOW...eat your heart our Mr. Sulu! Combine the new technology with a creative designer and you have, in some cases, works of art...or lets say they can print works of art.

Discharge printing is a process that actually removes the garment dye which brings out the original color of the fabric. Pigments can be used introduced to the process to bring out the most vibrate colors in any ones design.

Soft Hand printing uses either plastisol or water based inks to deliver a very light and "soft" fell to the printed image

High Resolution Halftone prints at 85 LPI (Lines Per Inch) which produces high resolution images and gives them photo realistic designs

High Density gives any garment a 3 dimensional effect. They use special ink formulations and combine that with a thick stencil for a heavy ink deposit with very precise edges and visible ridges to give the design a profound and pronounced effect.

The craziness doesn't stop with just the four listed above! You still have, full color, puff, faux leather, antiqued metal, specialty print placements, gradients, crystalina, flock transfer...take a deep breath...water based, over sized, high gloss, distressed, foil transfer and faux transfer...SHEEEWWW!!

Like I said the world of printing has changed dramatically since I started in the business over 8 years ago. And all for the better I might add. With the ever evolving and ever changing world of printing I am able to bring a design to a whole way of existing.

A Phone Call

Last Friday I received a phone call from a prospective customer. Normally this wouldn't surprise me but this one did. She told me that she is a member of a local Church and that they are having a Women's conference in April and would love to have a gift to hand out to the attendees. Last year she said one of the ladies in the congregation hand crocheted 200 book marks as their gift...I'm thinking to myself how can I beat that...but this year she was thinking that she wanted a magnet or some other gift/giveaway with their logo imprinted. No Worries! I can handle that!
I asked about budget, she didn't know.
I asked if she knew about how much she wanted to spend, she didn't know but said that she wanted to be careful with the Lords money. Being a church I'm sure they have a small budget what ever it may be. Plus I don't think I could live with myself if I charged them full price for what ever gift they do choose. I mean come on...it's a Church.
What she said next made the hair on my arms stand up!
She said she opened the phone book and the Good Lord lead her to me!
Really, the hair stood up on my arm and I had a rush of...emotion...becuase I didn't know I was even listed in the phone book. If it is listed then it is just the name of the company and phone #. Which means she skipped over all of the other larger and more colorful advertisements to find me.
HOW COOL IS THAT!!
I pray every night for God to give me strength to be the best I can be and to give me guidance with my business...and for her to call and say that just gave me chills all over!

The Good Lord works in mysterious ways and I know he is extremely busy with all of the other problems in the world than to worry about whether or not I'm making money...but...to me at least...it seems he's been listening.

Eco-Friendly Bags

ECO-FRIENDLY BAG AND HOLDER

Eco-Friendly Bags come in so many different shapes and sizes. A lot of the time the only thing that does make a Bag Eco-Friendly is that it is reusable. Which does help with the amount of Plastic bags that we accumulate at a grocery store. Especially with the, trying to be helpful, cashier ends up placing one or two items in ONE plastic bag instead of filling them up.
I guess you could say that the only bag that is 100% Eco-Friendly would be if it come from 100% Organic Cotton...which of course drives up the price.
Either way, if you are using Eco-Friendly or 100% Organic bags then you are doing your part to help the environment.
If you would like to include Eco-Friendly or 100% Organic bags into one of your Company Promotions...then I can HOOK YOU UP!
For instance, the bag shown in the picture is an Eco-Friendly Non-Woven Reusable Grocery Tote that comes in a variety of colors.
Price for 150 to 500 pcs with a 1 color imprint is $1.70 each.
The Set up fee is $50.00

You can even purchase a handy dandy bag hook which makes it a lot easier when trying to tote 3, 4, 5 even 6 bags to your car while fumbling around trying to find you keys.
Price for 72 to 1008 pcs with a 1 color imprint is $2.85 each

For more information on how you can purchase these items either together or separate please contact me
I would love you help you help Mother Nature!!

List Caddy

The List Caddy

The is the perfect promotional product for a Grocery Store, Pharmacy or Speciality Food Store.

The List Caddy is a shopping aid that fits on the handle of your shopping cart and allows you to have both hands free.

Comes in several different colors and we can also match your Corporate PMS color at a higher quantity.

Price for 250 pcs with a 1 color imprint is $2.45 each

Price for 500 pcs with a 1 color imprint is $1.85 each

Set up fee is $62.50

For more information on how you can order please contact me.

Snow

I love snow days!
As a kid it meant a day or two out off from school. We would wake up early in the morning to see how much had fallen then plan our day. The sheer excitement of the of a whole out of school playing in the snow was felt not only by my sister and myself but also by my mom. She was just excited as we were about the day because she would have a day off of work to stay home with us. We would go sledding, build snowmen, have snowball fights and bake! Robyn and I would go outside and play for a while then come back in to the smell of all kinds of cookies baking.
Patrick street where we lived would pretty much shut down. All of the kids and parents would meet at the corner of Patrick and Moncure street where the sledding hill was. Some days we would have the parent come out and start a huge bon fire right in the middle of the street and we would spend all day out there sledding and playing around. I remember one snow day Franklin Rick pulled us all around with his bronco with a knee board tied to the back of it. IT WAS SOO MUCH FUN!! We would also walk down to Eden Drug to get a grilled cheese sandwich and french fries.
Now that I'm a little older I still love snow days but they usually mean sitting on my couch with my files and my laptop working instead of at my desk. It is still considered a snow day to me so I have to be brazen in some aspects. No sledding, but sometimes I still make time for a snow angle or two.

Cell Phone Charging Station contact.

As I mentioned earlier today I was in Las Vegas for my annual trade show where all of my vendors displayed all of their latest and greatest items for 2009.

The Cell Phone Charging Station is one item that I found that is really cool! With the cord wrapped around the station it keeps people or in my case animals from tripping over the cord.

It comes is several different colors.
Green (displayed)

Black

Royal Blue

Red

White

Pricing includes a 1 color imprint

Minimum QTY is only 50 pcs

Price is $2.75 each with a one time set up fee of $50.00

Contact me for more information on how to order

Working

By the way Rod...that's my boss...I'm no longer sitting on the couch. I am sitting at my dest working ;-)

A new year

I realize that the new year is already well into it's 19th day but I have just returned from my trade show in Las Vegas where my company MadeToOrder has energized me with new possibilities for the company. We discussed new ways to reach out to our current customer base as well as cultivating relationships with a new customer base.
So...I'm sitting here on my couch watching the Today show and expanding my knowledge of the web...like blogging. I guess you could say this is my first blog and I'm looking forward to writing more. I'm planning my day, like cleaning and reorganizing my office, Oh...and what I'm going to cook for dinner tonight. I love to cook so that is usually one of the first things I think about...got to plan ahead!
Tonight I think I'll make Chili. It's cold here and they are calling for 1 to 3" of snow tonight so Chili sounds like the perfect cold and gloomy day food!
But first I've got to get my day going with writing up a couple of orders, clean the office, organize so that I can begin the "new year" with a clean slate.