Hi Everyone!<\/p>\n
I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and didn’t pass out in a tryptophan-induced coma face down in a Jell-O mold. ; )<\/p>\n
As we enter the last month of 2009, it’s a natural time to look ahead and\u00a0try to prepare for what 2010 has in store for\u00a0us. In that vein, I’ll be moderating a Webinar\u00a0this Thursday, 12\/3,\u00a0from 2 p.m.-3 p.m.\u00a0(ET) called, “Get Ready for 2010: Top\u00a0Sales and Market\u00a0Trends.”<\/p>\n
My whip-smart panelists are three of my favorite people in the industry, all of\u00a0whom are at the helm of distinguished supplier companies and each of whom is on this year’s Counselor <\/em>Power 50 list.<\/p>\n My pal Bonni Shevin-Sandy is the executive vice president of Counselor <\/em>Top 40 supplier Dard and this year’s Counselor <\/em>International Person of the\u00a0Year. My girl knows her\u00a0stuff, and\u00a0is so savvy when it comes to finding new markets\u00a0into which to sell that the international and custom division of Dard,\u00a0of which Bonni is president,\u00a0was up double-digits in 2009.<\/p>\n Bill Korowitz,\u00a0president\u00a0of Counselor <\/em>Top 40 supplier The Magnet Group, is a new friend of mine. He’s very much the renaissance man — a trained economist\u00a0as well as a guitar aficionado (he’s been known to stay up til 2 a.m. jamming, with his amp cranked “to 11″<\/em>). Bill has one of the driest, most sardonic wits I’ve come across in some time and is equally astute at reading sales and marketing indicators\u00a0both for our industry and the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n And last but not least, we have Ira Neaman, owner of Counselor <\/em>Top 40 supplier Vantage. Ira is one of my oldest friends in the industry, and the person who — when I was new to the ad specialty business nearly 13 years ago and knew nothing about imprinted apparel — was patient enough to give me many in-depth tutorials. Still, to this day, when I have an apparel-related question and need someone to explain the intricacies to me, Ira — who was one of the youngest people ever to graduate from Harvard Business School — is first on my list. For that reason, I have always called him my wearables “Yoda.” As apparel constitutes the largest category of product sales in our industry, Ira the Yoda is an expert on the latest trends and applications. Learn from him, you will.<\/p>\n If you’d like to listen in to the Webinar this Thursday to hear Bonni, Bill and Ira discuss such topics as keeping your company competitive in a down economy, where industry sales will be in 2010, new growth markets for ad specialties and the smartest thing companies can do in the upcoming year to be successful, click on the link below to register.<\/p>\n