The Profitable World of Specialty Advertising

         
         
         
         
               The Profitable World of Specialty Advertising
         
               How many pens do you have imprinted with the name
          of your bank, insurance agent, dentist or someone else
          you do business with?  How many refrigerator magnets,
          calendars, matchbooks, or key chains?  What about caps
          or T-shirts with the name of a product or service you
          use?
               An advertising specialty is any item used to
          promote someone's product or service.  Since people
          love free gifts, they're an inexpensive way any company
          can get people to remember their name and create
          goodwill.  Smart businesses have used them since the
          very beginnings of commerce.
               If you're going to go through the trouble of
          trying to sell something, doesn't it make sense to
          offer something every business needs?  Every single
          business needs printed items such as envelopes,
          business cards, and business forms.  As a dealer,
          you'll be able to offer these absolute necessities --
          and make a whole lot of money in the process.
               There's a lot of money to be made in advertising
          specialties and printed necessities.  First there is
          volume.  Businesses order multiple products, by the
          hundreds and by the thousands.  Second is repeat
          business.  Your customers give the pens away or use up
          the business cards, and then they call you and order
          more so you can make even more profit.
               Back in 1894, while Grover Cleveland was still in
          office, a small printing company opened in Cincinnati
          called The Cincinnati Printing and Paper Products
          Company.
               In 1923, two men, E.C. "Dutch" Kaeser and William
          J. Blair bought that company and formed what is today
          one of the largest specialty advertising companies in
          the country, Kaeser and Blair, Inc.  They had a simple
          strategy that became the backbone of their success:
          sell products by mail through a network of individual
          and independent dealers who sell directly to
          businesses.
               Today, they've got a beautiful new building in the
          Cincinnati suburb of Batavia, a mainframe computer, and
          24 toll-free 800-lines for dealer support.  Sales have
          risen to $15.5 million, and they've got dealers making
          anywhere from a few hundred dollars a month to more
          than a hundred thousand dollars a year.
               Every time you sell one of their products, you
          receive a percentage of the sale price as your
          commission.  The average is about 24% of the sale, and
          orders are often hundreds or thousands of dollars.
          It's easy money, too, because K & B does all the
          processing, credit checking, shipping and delivery.
          You just take the order.  Commissions are paid weekly.
               For more information on becoming an advertising
          specialty dealer, write to Kaeser and Blair
          Incorporated, Dept. 2001, 4238 Grissom Road, Batavia OH
          45103-1669.