Bruce Fox Blog

Estimated Read Time: 5 minutes

Do you know DYR? Bruce Fox is well known for its custom awards, recognition, and other custom items, but have you heard about our DYR product line?

When you stop by our website, you will see right on the homepage that there are two sections: Custom Work and Logo & Go. The custom work is, obviously, the highly custom and unique pieces that we create from scratch.

Then, the Logo and Go option takes you to our Design Your Recognition (DYR) site. Here you will find a product line that has more “stock” options that tend to be more budget and timeline conscious.

Estimated read time: 8 minutes

Onboarding is a hot button topic right now, along with employee engagement and retention.

Why is that?

Simple, employees are expensive. Yes, they are the driving force of your company and the soul of what you do, but they are also one of the most expensive investments. The time and money you pour into one employee adds up, so you want to keep them for as long as possible – ROI, right?

Estimated read time: 10 minutes

Venue decorated to the nines? Check. Food that is delicious and impressive? Check. Speakers and presentation lineup ready? Check.

Awards that have a “wow factor” to be given out?  Gosh darn it.

Estimated read time: 13 minutes

You hear it every year, “What’s your New Year’s resolution?” Then people stammer out something that they want but will only half-heartedly try for. Do you know how much the gym is flooded in January, but yet it goes back to normal just a few months later? Maybe a few people will stick it out and succeed, but the majority of people give up.

So rather than giving you another useless New Year’s resolution and try to inspire you to do something that will never become a habit (which is what is needed to succeed in one of those resolutions), we will give you something to try, to experiment with. Because let’s be honest, that’s what the New Year is about. Trying out new things, keeping what we want and discarding the unpleasant.

Estimated Read Time:  13 minutes

In the last 48 hours, we have received countless emails. Everything from the 6 PPAI and ASI promotional emails we get per day to typical spam, while other emails are relevant to current projects or are leads. Then there are the emails that go down a rabbit hole that makes you wish you could be on whatever Lewis Carroll had.

What emails are these? Don’t worry; we can give you examples because we have emails like these metaphorically piling up to our eyeballs.

Estimated Read Time: 7 minutes

True or False: Promotional products are a form of advertisement or marketing.

If you said false, then you have two options.

1. You can click off this article and read something that aligns more with your views.
2. You can read on with an open mind.

Estimated read time:  9 minutes

How do you approach sales? Do you think if you can sell one product, then you can sell anything?

So if you sell apples, then do you believe you can sell oranges, bananas, and pumpkins the same way? All you have to do is throw everything in a catalog and say, “Here you go,” with a little bit of background knowledge and pull out your famous “salesperson” persona?

If that’s how you approach sales, and want to continue doing so, then stop reading. Walk away and stay in your bubble… far, far away from here.

Read Time: 3 Minutes

Photo by Nine Köpfer on Unsplash

Being a promotional products distributor usually means wearing lots of different hats. Therefore, a lot of skills are required of promotional product professionals in order to have a successful business and bank account. Among some of the more obvious ones: perseverance, resourcefulness, and a lot of patience.

Read Time: 6 Minutes

If you’ve somehow managed to never fall victim to bad design (I don’t believe you) then it’s at least certain you’ve seen it. The example that always comes immediately to mind is an eye sore of a building in nearby Louisville (picture above) called the Kaden Building. Is is perhaps, the ugliest building I’ve ever seen and I involuntarily curl my lip in disgust every time I pass it. Who designed this building? None other than Frank Lloyd Wright.

For anyone that doesn’t know who Frank Lloyd Wright is, it’s worth taking a second to pull him up on Wikipedia. He’s a famous American architect who designed over 1,000 structures including his most famous, the Fallingwater house. Over 500 of those designs were actually created. And in fact, your town, like mine, might even be the “lucky” home of one of his designs. The thing is, while Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs were inarguably beautiful, they were crap.

Hey, let’s go to the beach!

Sure, lemme just grab a few things.  Can’t just go to the beach unprepared.  Let’s see…towels, sunglasses, lotion, something to read, phone (can’t escape entirely), iPod and headphones.  Chairs and umbrella.  Football and paddle game.  Boogie board.  What else?  Cooler!  Beverages, ice…we’ll need to stop off to get some.  Snacks, of course.  Wallet, hat…and a wheel barrow to haul it all out there.

We all have “The Beach List”—essentials that enhance our seaside experience.  But, as a promotional products pro, do you have the same kind of list when it comes to providing awards to your customers?  Are you making the best of the opportunity?  Do you know how you can make the experience better for your client and the award recipients?

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the answers—your customer probably doesn’t know either.  But here’s a cheat sheet to help you along.  When you share these ideas, you might get a “I didn’t think of that” or two: