I'm one of those award shops in Southern Cal that has a laser engraver. Only the larger or older shops have two or more. Some don't need a 2nd but they buy a new one when it's time and hold onto the old one as a back up (good plan).

Selling to Promotional Products retailer requies you to sell at wholesale prices. When selling wholesale, the retailer should be supplying camera-ready artwork. That rarely gives you a file ready to engrave and you end up doing retail work for wholesale prices, especially from the retailers who don't do any in-house production. This type of retailer rarely knows much about our business.

I won't sell a personalized product to a third party seller unless I am given the right to speak to the buyer and get all artwork approved by them. Mistakes are much more frequent when selling through others. Big orders that are wrong are big losses.

Most corporate awards focused shops sell promotional products tp thier customers and join ASI or PPAI as a reseller. This works well if it's part of the business plan but I suggest taking the time to get to know something about embroidery and pad & screen printing as well as clothing before selling too many promotional products. Mistakes can be very costly.

Rebecca,
I would have to chime in here in agreement that trying to become an ASI vendor as opposed to a producer might dampen your spirit and be a bit discouraging, but then again, Einsteins parents were told he was dumb and would never amount to anything and he was put in special ed classes......so what do I know.
Have you considered approaching some of the specialty gift stores in your area? That might be a better route for you to get your product out ( I'm a poet and didn't know it, cause my feet are long fellows..... :O  :O )
Another avenue, would be to produce at night and do the craft fairs during the day.......
Just random thoughts from my cluttered mind.
Toss them back if you want :D 

Thanks for your feedback. I've talked to a distributor in the industry and he seems to say I could control what I take and don't take. And, that I have a good product for it. Yet, all of you are closer to fitting in my shoes, and response seems to be directing me to try something else. Needless to say, I'm undecided.

I really enjoy craft fairs, but loading and unloading our products (they can't be stored in a trailer because they are heat sensitive) for each one is a real whip. With it being just me during the day, I'd have to hire someone and my profits just aren't high enough at the smaller ones to afford it. It's a lot of time for several hundred dollars profit (at a small one). The craft fairs have brought additional business by word of mouth and that is good.

I hate cold calling and that's what I feel like I am doing going to stores asking them to resell my product. My husband says it's not, what do you say? I'm not a salesperson. I enjoy networking when there is an event or situation where it is expected or accepted. But, not selling outright.

What do you think?

You are funny. I really think it WILL work, but I so respect my husband I don't want to go out on a limb if he is not with me. I really want to do it, but there is wisdom in counselors. I have health issues that flare up under stress and if it is mentioned that ASI will bring that, then perhaps I am better building more slowly by "cold calling". I may get in over my head and that's no good either. Better to face the fear, ya know! I really believe in my product, but those around me aren't sure. The rebellious part of me jumps out and says "I'll prove you wrong, let me at it. And, don't get in the way!". More importantly, I really enjoy the products we carry, especially the tributes/plaques. That counts for something, right?

Let me know how the cold call goes, I may just have to answer that challenge. :) 

Rebecca

Thanks. I agree.

You sure do live in a place I would love to be right now. ;) 

Membership fee is $750 per year. But, you also have to pay for advertising within the organization. I was going to do the trade show in Dallas for $2000 booth fee plus expected $1000 in martketing display materials. So, you're looking at $4000 just to get started.

I'm working on numbers of how much I could possibly produce in a month to see how much it would take to pay it off.

Thanks for the positive note.

I see nothing wrong with what you want to do. The problem as I see it is that you are ill prepared to do it. You need money to be a sucessful supplier in most cases. You generally would need more than one slow engraver.

If you are sure it will work, borrow the money and do it right. If you are not sure it will work, grow your business slowly and take the big step later.

Both ASI and SAGE provide a means for their distributors to rate suppliers. If you are late with your production schedule or fail in other ways to be fast and competitive, the distributors will give you bad ratings and when that happens very few will do business with you. So you have to be prepared to compete not only in price, but in reliability, customer service, and product quality.