When it comes to promotional items do you prefer to deal personally with a salesperson that can assess your business and make suggestions based on your individual needs and/or market or do you prefer to purchase online?

Finding someone who is absolutely honest in this day and age, when it comes to promotional items, is pretty darn hard. ( After all,

selling you, is their business ) I remember when we were interested in buying ad space on a plastic telephone book cover. I guess

we were fortunate that the guy who made those covers happened to be a neighbor. He was very honest about who should and who should

not pay big bucks to be on that cover. He knew the area that we lived in at that time and knew it would be a waste of money. Our son

P.J. is more or less in charge of our advertising and promotions. ( Many would call that a big mistake right there! ) Anyway, P.J.

will take a chance on almost anything within reason. Now this is extremely hard for his mother and I to admit, but our son has

won way more promotional battles than he has lost! ( I guess we would feel better if he had a degree in business rather than

teaching ) Mike, if this isn't enough, PM me and I'll give you P.J.'s E-mail.

Tried both and honestly prefer online. I think the brick and mortar or mom and pops are looking for a 20,000 direct mailer order. I am too small to be a priority to them. Never had a problem with online, quicker and cheaper. Usually prefer to buy local but in this case doesn't make sense for me.

As with any physical item I'm buying, I like to hold it and get an idea of its quality. On everything from business cards to logo'd Tervis-type insulated cups, there are a thousand ways to make something cheaper and sell it for less...and I never want to hand my customers/ prospects anything cheap!
Wink, I've noticed that with the phone book covers as well as the fridge magnets: a good percentage of those companies who advertise there are no longer in business the next year.

Yeah Dave, that's more towards my line of thinking. I like to hold and check out an item to ensure that the item I am giving to the customer will make repeated impressions and has a reasonable amount of usefulness. Good pens, day planners, magnetic calendars, mugs, etc., have always done well for me. I would consider the phone book covers and mailings more towards traditional advertising which could open up a whole new can of worms.

So, what products do you use to consistently promote your services? Do you also use products to reward your customers for their repeat business? If so, what products do you use as a "Thank You" for their business? Does anyone also use follow up thank you cards? Annual Christmas cards or calendars? Do you have a particular supplier you prefer?