November/December 2007

Get With the Program

What makes a successful apparel program? We've got the lowdown on how to get your client to sign on the dotted line the first time, and then keep ordering.

By Elaine Wong

So, you've sold lots of apparel programs in your career as a sales professional, and you think you're pretty much a whiz at your job by now, right? Think again.

Even if you’ve built up a stable base of clients, that success doesn’t necessarily mean you’re giving customers what they want – or more importantly, what they need. If the manager at your favorite nighttime restaurant gives you a call, it might be because that’s his once-a-year-routine, or – more likely than not – because he’s run out of stock. Either way, it’s up to you, the sales-savvy expert, to identify and come up with apparel combinations that stay up to speed with a business’s ever-changing priorities.

This month, Wearables asked distributor and supplier experts to throw in their two cents on what makes a successful apparel program. For pointers on how to deliver a uniform package that’ll rock your clients’ socks – and result in both parties getting more for their dollar – read on.

"If your client's selling logoed apparel to the public, then it's important that you present her with some kind of brand-name product - Nike, Adidas, Cutter and Buck, for example - that consumers can associate with."

Gary Thorne, River’s End Trading Co.

1. Ask questions first; listen next. To accurately assess your clients’ needs, you’ll have to first hold off on the sales pitching and do some real listening. Encourage your customer to provide feedback on how well existing programs worked (or didn’t work) by asking questions that really get to the heart of the matter.

“As salespeople, we’re very good at talking and not listening,” says Jack Murnan, a senior sales rep with AKWA, a supplier located in City of Industry, CA. “You can’t just walk in and assume that you’re going to show your client what you think is best for his business, or what the hottest and greatest new item you’re carrying is. It may just be that your customer isn’t looking for what you’ve got in your hands.”

To determine what kind of apparel program your client’s seeking, try narrowing down the program’s end-users. “Is the program for internal use or is it going to have more of a retail presence?” asks Dan Jellinek, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Atlanta-based distributor CorpLogoWare. “If your client’s selling logoed apparel to the public, then it’s important that you present her with some kind of brand-name product – Nike, Adidas, Cutter and Buck, for example – that consumers can associate with.”

Other factors to consider include a company’s male-to-female ratio, home laundering requirements, durability and working conditions, says David Bebon, executive vice president and special markets director of New York-based Capital Mercury Apparel. For instance, “are the end-users wearing the clothing outdoors or indoors? Do they come in contact with soil or grease?” he says.

As long as you’ve researched the company, the flow of your questions should come naturally. And, doing your homework can pay off from the moment you walk in the door, Murnan says. “You could just cold call, but when you walk in there, the potential client’s not going to know who you are or what you do, so you’re not going to have a lot of credibility,” he says. “Even if it’s a hamburger joint, you want to know if they make the biggest and juiciest burgers in the city. If so, then you have something to go on.”

2. Give ’em an image (or ego) booster. By that, we meant a private label collection, where employees get to wear shirts, pants, jackets – you name it – with the company’s name sewn on the inside tag. It’s enough to make any employee proudly wash, iron and don their custom-made uniform pieces and take care of it while on the job.

“It’s a way of elevating the product’s perceived value to another level,” Murnan says of offering customers private label brands.

Not only that, but the cost involved in removing and replacing a supplier’s labels with the client’s is fairly minimal. “Ninety percent of embroiderers out there will charge you a quarter to switch out the labels,” Jellinek says.

Here’s the Catch-22, though: A private label must be capable of generating visibility and recognition in the industry. If not, it’s probably not worth the investment, Murnan says.

There’s also the problem of minimums and turnaround time. At AKWA, for example, private label orders start at minimums of 144 or more, with a four-to-six-week turnaround time, which is pretty fast when compared to off-shore orders (1,000 pieces and a 90-day production and delivery period).

The simple nuts and bolts answer? “Is your client potentially a large-volume user and can he wait for the service to be provided?” Murnan says. “If not, he’s not a candidate for a private label collection.”

3. Offer clients options that look good across the board. That’s size and color wise. The former is especially true, as the Joe Smith or Jane Doe you outfitted on your last visit may now require a larger or smaller size. In this case, it may prove invaluable to do another company fitting, and in a range of sizes.

“For women, that’s extra small through 3XL or 4XL. For men, it’s small through 5XL. And tall sizes, because some Americans are tall, and others are getting taller the other way,” says Becky Blair, marketing coordinator for Dunbrooke, an Independence, MO-based supplier.

Equally important is the company’s color scheme throughout the various levels of management. “This can be achieved with different fabrications within the company color palette. It can be contrasting or reversing colors when it comes to tops versus bottoms,” says Mark Goldwater, a sales and marketing manager with Houston-based Sierra Pacific Apparel.

4. Men and women’s styles should be consistent. There’s no sense to an apparel program if men’s and women’s styles have no degree of cohesion. To ensure that companion pieces carry a unifying theme, try setting up a presentation where customers can see how the men’s and women’s garments look when paired together.

In some instances, the garment doesn’t even have to be the same. “You can have a men’s regular piqué polo knit shirt, but you might want to use a 1x1 rib knit for a woman,” Blair says. “It’s a more feminine material, but you can make it complementary in color.”

But don’t let a set color scheme prevent you from coming up with flexible options. “You can have six different colors of garments with the company’s tone-on-tone logo as a similarity factor,” Murnan says.

5. Keep ’em looking fresh. Leave it up to the customer to decide when to reorder and you’ll probably be met with worn-out, laundry-faded shirts that should have been replaced a year ago. While there are no hard and fast rules for when to make another sales call, six months is probably a good time frame to go by, Bebon says.

“Ask your client if she wants to reorder so she has some fresh, crisp product to go into the second half of the year with,” he says, adding that some garments start to fade after 30 to 50 washings. “Shirts are very disposable, so we’re not talking about a major expense here.”

At the same time, “you don’t want to be a pest and drive your clients crazy,” Murnan says. He recommends approaching each customer differently, based on their order histories and company calendars, as clients may also need apparel for special events. Each customer is different, he says.

“I have clients who may be very hurt if I don’t see or call them every two months,” he says. On the other hand, “I have other people who will only see me at 10 a.m. in the morning, on a Wednesday. Maximize your efficiency as a sales professional by getting to know your customers’ habits.”

Blog as an Apparel Expert By Ken Hein Promotional products companies have officially entered the blogosphere. Ad specialty companies are among the many businesses that are increasingly launching their own online commentaries about the industry, their business and other topics. This is a great way to get your name out there as an expert on apparel programs – and to stay in touch with your customers and reach new ones. At Bobbylehew.com, the director of operations for Oklahoma City, OK-based Robyn Promotions, writes about all of the different ways Yahoo!’s company store gets it right: offering excellent product images, an easy-to-use search tool and limited text. Mark Trotzuk, president of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Boardroom Custom Clothing, uses his blog at Ecoapparel.ca to educate buyers about eco-friendly products. A complicated subject to be certain, Trotzuk uses his blog as a reference source regarding all things green. And there are numerous others typing away their thoughts online. There are 100 million blogs littering the Internet, so why become one of the masses? For Lehew it’s the benefit of showing off his know-how. “The tool is valuable if you use it in a niched way,” he says. “We do company stores, so my blog helps separate me as an expert on the subject.” A Wall Street Journal report about small businesses leveraging blogs highlighted a small marketing and copywriting firm in Boca Raton, FL, called Get it in Writing. Because of the blog, the company’s Web site went from 100 unique visitors a month to 150,000. A quarter of the company’s new business now comes via the Web and it drove sales up 18%. It showed similarly successful results for an accounting firm. Lehew, who draws about a hundred visitors a week, likens blogging to free advertising. For weeks, anyone who typed the term “Start a company store” into Google was presented with his blog as the top choice. “You can build in copy that makes it friendly for search engines,” he says. Technorati tags such as apparel store, company store and e-commerce also help draw viewers. However the real value lies in directing prospects to the blog. “At a glance, they can say this guy obviously knows what he’s talking about,” Lehew says. Emboldened by his success, Lehew’s company launched a new blog in August called Robynpromo.com. The company’s not alone in its multi-blog strategy. Oshkosh, WI-based 4imprint offers a series of blogs at http://blogs.4imprint.com. The company’s president, director of e-commerce, marketing head and merchandising team all chime in about everything from their favorite new products to their charitable contributions. Having a targeted subject matter like company stores or environmentally friendly products is key, Lehew says. “If it’s too broad, it just gets lost. I threw a couple of my earlier blogs away and started over by getting real niche about it,” he says. “I’m just starting to see some fruit from it now.” Ken Hein is a contributing writer based in Basking Ridge, NJ.

ELAINE WONG is a staff writer for Wearables. Contact: ewong@asicentral.com.