Advertising Specialties Orange County with Kathy Ahluwalia of Beach Trends

Kathy: I’m Kathy Ahluwalia with Beach Trends. I sell promotional gifts or I call them tools to help your business grow. We all know you send out a gift, get the business, perform the service but then what? How do you get repeat business? Well I’ll tell you how. You write a nice thank you letter. You put in a free gift. Either this beautiful pin from Beach Trends, this piece of chocolate, or a nail file that saves a girl’s life when her nail is chipped.

Business Growth Innovators Member: I can attest to that.

Kathy: Exactly. Then you call up and you do your follow-up call. You ask them how they liked your piece of chocolate, know your service, and you ask them if there is anybody else that can use your services because they have this pin or piece of chocolate or this nail file, they say why yes. Joe there needs your services. I’ll give him your number.

Here’s his information. We’ll set something up for you. And it goes on and on, so on and so forth until you’re rich. Right? Then Joe’s friend John has a really big client but he’s doing business with somebody else and maybe he has a contract.

What do you do? Well I’ll tell you what you do. You get a better gift. You offer something that is not in the contract and pretty soon you have the contract and the sale all because of the bigger gift. I called up to see if a customer wanted to re-order his pins one day and he said, “Oh, I’m sorry. We now have a contract with Staples.” Well that crushed me and I did what any self respecting sales rep would do and I cried.

No. I asked him if I could stop by anyway and I am pretty proud of myself because I walked out of there two hours later and two gifts later with a pretty good size sale and a promise of my own contract all because of a bigger gift. How do you get the big client? Maybe they’ve been doing business with someone else for years or maybe they have a contract. Well I’ll tell you, you do whatever it takes.
I didn’t really think that was funny.

Let’s recap. You get a gift, a good service, you give a follow up call, and you ask for more business. Pull something else out of your hat or your bag. If you don’t have a bag, you can get them from me. I don’t intentionally walk into a place and decide to bribe a customer to buy something from me. It just kind of happens like this. Dennis? The other day I was playing golf and I shot 42 on the back nine. You’ve seen me play. That’s pretty good.

Business Growth Innovators Member: Yeah, that’s pretty good.

Kathy: I owe it all to this new ball I was using, Nike Crush. I got some in the car and I am going to run out and get you some.

Business Growth Innovators Member: Cool. All right. I know what all my friends are getting for Christmas.

Kathy: It has a long hit and a soft feel on the green. It was great. I know it’s the ball.

Business Growth Innovators Member: I know it’s the ball.

Kathy: And Gill.

Business Growth Innovators Member: Did you look for a new putter?

Kathy: I’m done with you. Gill it’s your turn. The other day you were talking about, did you know you can get that book that you like with your own cover and logo on it and hand it out as a Christmas present to your clients? That is after you give them a water bottle when they get dehydrated and a towel when they get sweaty and a journal to keep their notes on their progress.

Really good things you could give out. Who likes music? Everybody likes music. You could carry download music cards and start talking about your favorite song until your customer or your potential customer that you’d like them to hear this song and here is a music download card. Let’s see. Terry Bruce, carpet guy, and I forget, carpet guy’s name.

Business Growth Innovators Member: Pat.

Kathy: Pat and John Thomas. You all go into people’s home. You can say, after you give your quote, “We’ve been having rolling blackouts. I want you to have this flashlight so that you’re safe when it gets dark. Or I noticed your toilet paper roll was loose. Here is this little screw driver in case it happens again and I tightened it for you.

” You know you go the extra mile and they really appreciate it and they remember you. But you have to develop your own technique. I have the tools or the bigger gifts you need to do that to get the job done. Thank you. Any questions?

Business Growth Innovators Member: What was the name of the golf ball again?

Kathy: Nike Crush. There are a couple of Nikes that are really good this year. My 88 year old mother helped me with this speech and she had a question. She says, “Now Kathy, you don’t call up and ask them how they liked their piece of chocolate.” And I said, “Well Mom, you haven’t tasted my chocolate. So give it a try.” Thank you very much.

I love to create, I love to see the results of my efforts in profits rolling in for you. My clients send me pictures, thank you cards (from my website) and keep me informed of problems, which are usually the Bottom Line, and I can help.

Beach Trends
714-593-1113
Huntington Beach, CA 92646
www.beachtrend.com