THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23
1 - 2:30 pm
Opening General Session and PSDA Annual Membership Meeting
Conference Education
2:30 - 3:30 pm
Pricing Models for VDP - Kate Dunn, president, Digital Innovations Group
Pricing models for digital print and VDP are different then standard print orders. Your company dedicates a lot of extra work and time to these jobs and you need to be certain you are getting paid for the work performed. This session will show you how different companies have structured their pricing models for VDP and digital print and teach you how to develop your own pricing so you don't leave money on the table.
Double Your Promotional Product Sales in 90 Days - Don Sanders, founder, sellpromoproducts.com
With so many products available to sell in the promotional products industry, it can be overwhelming to know which products are the right ones to offer your customers. This session will take the guess work out of selling promotional products and provide valuable tips that are certain to provide a return on your investment within the next quarter.
Estate Planning for Family Businesses - Leon B. Resnick, president, Resnick Associates
In this session you will learn what should be a part of your succession planning checklist, the realities of the current estate tax law, how to establish common estate planning goals, the most economical way to pay your estate taxes, what the difference between revocable and irrevocable trusts are, and much more. These tips will alllow you to save money on your estate taxes and avoid mistakes that can cost you a bundle.
Generate Inbound Sales Leads - Robert Crabtree, president, Distributor Growth Partners
Leveraging technology, referral systems, word of mouth and other lead generation tools will increase the amount of prospects that take action and express interest in your business. Learn new techniques to boost your inbound leads to attract viable, hot prospects to your company.
4 - 5 pm
Guarding your Business and Non-Business Assets from the Taxman - Leon B. Resnick, president, Resnick Associates
In Part II of this must-attend session for any family-run business, we'll discuss how you can stop paying unnecessary taxes, the importance of valuation and how to assure you are receiving a quality valuation and how to craft buy/sell agreements and the differences between buy/sell designs. This session will also feature case studies demonstrating where real life family businesses properly used these principals to save their business and maintain family harmony.
The Truth About Buying and Selling Eco-Friendly Print - Debra Rizzi, partner, Rizco Design
Providing your customers with eco-friendly solutions does not mean that ideas need to change or budgets need to increase. The impact comes from making sustainable production choices and partnering with printers who understand how to manage your orders within the budget set for that project. Learn how one distributor made the change to offer green solutions without impacting their customers' budget and how they got more business as a result.
Latest Trends in Selling Digital Print - Kate Dunn, president, Digital Innovations Group
Become a digital printing sales expert. Digital print has been a topic of great discussion over the past years and this session will dive into the important details on how to make it successful for you. Sales reps will learn hot buttons items to get their customers to purchase digital print, including secret tips to help you close the sale.
PURLs 2.0 - Kip Lady, sales manager, Kael Direct, LLC
All PURL campaigns are not created equal. There is a right way and a wrong way to set up and sell these campaigns. This session will teach you the best way to work with your customers to determine which type of PURL campaign will generate the greatest ROI for them and how to set it up for maximum success.
6:30 - 8 pm
PEAK Opening Reception
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24
Conference Education
8 - 9:30 am
Print Vendor or Marketing Solutions Provider? - Steve Lance, partner, PS Insights and Paul Kurnit, partner, PS Insights
Being a print vendor will get you jobs one at a time. Being a marketing solutions provider will get you multiple jobs, repeat engagements and long-term relationships. How do you make the shift? Where do you begin? What services and benefits do you need to provide to give your company credibilty in the marketplace? It's all about staffing, services and strategic alliances. We'll explore all three and talk about what you need to develop in order to move your company in the direction all your clients are already heading.
Get Listed at the Top of Google, MSN and Yahoo - Robert Crabtree, president, Distributor Growth Partners
SEO, SEM and Pay-Per-Click. You’ve heard the terms, now learn what they are, the differences between them, and how you can begin using these strategies to achieve search engine rankings on page one. It is possible to rank with the major online companies today. This session will give you the tools to make it happen.
Building Your Brand Identity - Bruce Cameron, president, Front Line Marketing
Your brand is your most lucrative asset. This session will teach you how to own your brand identity, what makes a company 'loved' by its customers and how you can successfully generate brand awareness. We will also discuss the benefits and pitfalls of re-branding.
10 - 11:30 am
Sell Commercial Printing Today - Harriet Beckman, president, Whitman Printing
Commercial printing is one of the hottest products in today's print market. If you have yet to jump into selling commercial print or are just beginning to dabble in it, this session is for you. Here we will teach you how to be a part of this growing business, what types of applications are available and in-demand and what types of customers are most apt to buy commercial printing.
Marketing Through Social Networking, Blogs and YouTube - Bruce Cameron, president, Front Line Marketing
In today's digital age there are many opportunities for you to market your company to customers beyond traditional print, TV and radio, many of which are free. Join us for a 101 on how you can capitalize on Web 2.0 to reach a broader audience and entice more customers to interact with your company.
Web-to-Print Success Stories - Willie Brennan, owner, Custom Print Now
Join two of your industry peers for their best web-to-print sales success stories. Learn first hand how they began offering this service and what they do to maintain and grow the business. You'll walk away with an understanding of the types of products and programs that lend themselves to web-to-print success and the start of your own web-to-print action plan. Learn the secrets of success from two leading distributors.
50 Trends in 50 Minutes - Steve Lance, partner, PS Insights and Paul Kurnit, partner, PS Insights
Join us for a fun, fast-paced session of the latest news, the newest ideas, and the radical and practical thinking that will impact your daily work and your long-range strategic development. Sometimes brillant, sometimes ludicrous, occasionally crontradictory or contrarian, "50 Trends in 50 Minutes" takes a look at some new B2B and B2C opportunities that could be just what your business needs! How will the shift in consumer-centric marketing affect your business? How does The Long Tail differ from The Blue Ocean theory of market development? What are the latest trends in our industry? How will these affect the key decisions you have to make in the coming weeks, months and years?
12 - 5:30 pm
Expo Open
Show Floor Education
1:30 - 2:30 pm
Credit Card Processing - Credit card orders will increase your revenue stream. Join this session to better understand the best credit card processing deals for small businesses and how to calculate your real processing costs versus the cost of lost opportunity for not accepting credit card transactions.
Proactive Sales Management - Want to be a better sales coach? Join us and learn sales tactics to better manage your team, drive their performance, and what motivates the latest generation of sales representatives.
How to Sell Series: The Healthcare Market - The How to Sell Series will dissect selling techniques for different vertical markets. This session will teach you how to successfully penetrate the healthcare market to increase your sales through this distinct vertical.
Operational Costs and Profit Margin Challenges - Small changes can have a big impact on your bottom line. This session will teach you less obvious ways to reduce your operational costs and improve your profit margins. A great session for COOs or other professionals charged with keeping overhead costs in line.
Postal Knowledge for Sales Reps - Timothy S. DiSalvo, vice president of marketing & sales, Applied Business Systems, Inc.
This session was designed to provide sales reps with product specific knowledge that can be shared with their customers. There is a lot of money to be saved and earned if you know the paths through and around the new postal regulations. Join this session and get up to speed on the fundamentals.
2:45 - 3:45 pm
Contact Management - ACT! Users - This session will dissect the latest tips and tricks for ACT! users to make certain you are using it to its full potential. Get an understanding of how other distributors use this application to develop sales penetration and to ensure client satisfaction. We'll help you work through the areas that have been the most difficult to implement and enforce, as well as teach you how to surmount the challenge.
The Hows, Whys and Whens of Starting a Blog - Blogs have long been used to provide information to an online audience. But, When used correctly, they can also be very powerful marketing tools for you business. This session will teach you how to create a blog that attracts a following and generates interest among readers, what blogging can mean for your business, where to host your blog and how to get the word out. We'll discuss the difference between traditional blogging versus Twitter and vlogging.
Tips for Greening Your Office - There is more to greening your office then big ticket items such as solar power, wind power, hybrid delivery trucks that can have a great impact on your bottom. Small changes make big impacts. Discover how implementing ten, simple action items in your day-to-day can transform your business to an eco-friendly environment...and the PR plug you can get from being eco-aware.
Benefits and Perks for Sales Representatives (an owners only session) - This session will discuss the most cost effective compensation packages for today's sales reps. We will review how the products and accounts they sell may change their compensation mix and overview a mix benefits that will motivate your team.
Lead Generation Through 2009 - Generating leads becomes more challenging each year. This session will discuss what technologies are being used to help sift through information and bypass gatekeepers to building up a book of qualified leads.
4 - 5 pm
How to Make 60% on Promotional Product Orders - Don Sanders, founder, sellpromoproducts.com
This session will focus on the five most neglected points of a selling promotional products: personal visits, follow-up, effective prospecting, setting limits on customers, and showing an appreciation to everyone. After attending the session, anyone who consistently uses these principals will become a high-volume promotional products salesperson.
Contact Management - Goldmine Users - This session will teach Goldmine users how to evolve their program, integrate it with other applications, and overcome hurdles and obstacles that may make implementing and enforcing Goldmine policies and procedures a challenge.
Online Ordering Systems for Small Distributors - Spend the time to learn how to evaluate, select, and implement a system that is not only right for your business needs today, but will carry your company into the future. This session is designed for small distributorships (less than $4 million in annual sales) and will focus on systems that can be implemented with smaller budgets.
Sales Horror Stories - Join your fellow print distributors in a telling session where they reveal their worst sales nightmare. This session will teach you how to overcome negative sales experiences in order to stay on track and complete the sale.
I Never Dreamed I'd Sell This - Listen to veteran print distributors as they discuss the products and services they never believed they would add to their portfolios which have surprisingly enhanced their businesses and revenues.
5:30 - 7:30 pm
Evening Reception
sponsored by
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25
8 - 9 am
Keynote Speaker
Charlie Pesko, founder & president, InfoTrends
9 am - 1 pm
Expo Open
Show Floor Education
10 - 11 am
Must See Products - Steve Antkowiak, president, Piedmont Graphics
Hear first-hand from your fellow members what products are being displayed on the show floor that cannot be missed. You will get an insider perspective of what the latest and greatest products are that you need to enhance your business, which new products are being sold by your vendor partners, and how to navigate the Expo floor to find these products to start making money.
The New Pantone GOE System - Pantone recently introduced a new color system that offers variations from the original. This session will teach you the key differences between the two to eliminate confusion and avoid transactional problems.
Keeping Your Website Fresh to Generate Repeat Visitors - Dynamic websites refresh their content on a regular basis to give visitors a reason to check back often. Adding simple embellishments on your home page can create an interaction with your users and even prompt them to make your website their home page. Learn how to add these features to your site and get a better return from your online presence.
Green: The Facts versus the Fallacies - Going green is not just the catch phrase of the decade. This session is designed to dispel the myths behind the green movement and sift through the green-washing to get to the core of what businesses really need to do to make an impact on the environment
How to Specify Commercial Printing - Learn the fundamentals of specifying a typical sheet-fed commercial print job from an expert. This is a great session for those who are new to the order entry for commercial printing and want to know how to accurately detail a client's job to ensure satisfaction. Walk away with a great check sheet to ensure you don't forget to review the basics when you return to the job.
11:15 am - 12:15 pm
Increase Your Label Sales - Label sales continue to be one of the top growth markets for the printing industry. Learn which product features are continuing to drive this growth, where product applications for these features are typically found, what the future holds for label sales, and new technology issues that are impacting labels.
Using Colormunki Design - Colormunki is the latest solution developed to maintain color quality and accuracy. This all-in-one device captures any color from Pantone PMS and GOE libraries, image libraries, or spot colors from any surface and includes color control functions for calibrating displays, projectors and printers with spot color optimization. Learn how this tool can make your customers' designs perfect from proof to purchase.
How to Sell Series: Retail Market - Willie Brennan, owner, Custom Print Now
The How to Sell Series will dissect selling techniques for different vertical markets. This session will teach you how to successfully penetrate the retail market to increase your sales through this distinct channel.
Secure Rx Pads - Patient safety, security, and insurance issues have been changing the way prescription pads are designed. At this session, you'll learn the latest regulatory changes and updates affecting this product line, security design basics, and individual state requirements.
Designing for Variable: Tips and Tricks to Help You Get the Most of Your Variable Data Campaign - James Lockman, owner, Working Words & Graphics
Exciting mail pieces are often created and simply handed off to a mailing house for labeling. Adding personalization to that mail piece drastically increases the likelihood that the recipient will read the mail, but what if simple personalization isn't enough? This session will delve into the dos and don'ts of designing for variable data. With Adobe Creative Suite and your favorite database application, you can create mail that responds to your data set and increase the return on your investment. You will learn how to set up a data set in Filemaker Pro, export data for use in InDesign and Photoshop, and create a mail piece that responds to the data.
Conference Education
1:15 - 2:45 pm
Add Creative Services to Your Company - From copy writing to photography, graphic design to web production, customers can require more capabilities then one company can generally provide. This session will demonstrate how successfully partnering with the right freelancers can extend the amount of creative services you offer your customers without employing a full time, in-house creative team.
Enhancing Your Customer Service Skills - Bruce Cameron, president, Front Line Marketing
This session will focus on CSR communications with customers, as well as sales reps and management. Learn some suprising information on what can negatively affect your skills and how to fix it, as well as some new techniques for overall better service and understanding. You'll learn how to improve your skills in listening, talking in person or over the phone, taking control of a situation without sounding too forceful, dealing with upset customers and much more.
Selling Green Products the Right Way - Fred Weil, president, Image Group of Georgia
The bandwagon is painted green today, but who knew it was such a gas hog? In this session, you'll learn the difference between green products that are truly eco-conscious and the ones that have just been green-washed. Learn how you can avoid the perception of being a vendor who is just capitalizing on a marketing trend.
Tools for Cross-Media Workflow - Using Adobe Creative Suite - James Lockman, owner, Working Words & Graphics
Many companies are faced with the challenge of designing across a variety of applications - printed pieces to PDFs to websites to mobile phones. Learn how Adobe's Creative Suite 3 Design Premium ties it all together and allows for easy file management that multiple people can access without damaging the integrity of the file or the design.
