Over the course of this month, we’ve been talking about understanding your PROMO goals and building a plan for your annual PROMO spending. And although there are many events or activities that you purchase PROMO specific to that event or activity, it’s also important to keep your PROMO cupboard stocked with a variety of items you need day to day or for opportunities that come up when you don’t have a lot of lead time to place an order.

This month, we talk about what you might want to stock in your PROMO cupboard. Just like your pantry at home, where you have some key items you want to always have on hand, your PROMO cupboard should have a variety of items that:

·         Get you through your day-to-day needs,

·         Cover times when you don’t have time or enough warning to shop,

·         Seasonal items that you only stock at certain times of year, or

·         Items that aren’t economical to buy only as much as you need.

How many items you stock, how much you spend and how often you replenish all depend on the goals you established and how you use your PROMO.

In some organizations, it may also be important to have a certain number and type of items that are readily available and extra stock or items that only certain people have access to. Refer to your PROMO goals to find the right balance, are you trying to give a lot of items out or are they being reserved for certain circumstances.

Let’s talk about some of the items we keep stocked in our PROMO cupboard.

1.       Day to Day Items

In your home pantry, you likely have things like flour, sugar, pasta, snacks, and other things you regularly need over the course of the week or month because you don’t want to always wonder if you have these items when you’re planning day to day meals. Of course, because of the business we’re in, we love giving away PROMO and always want to have items available to share with customers when they come to see us. Here are some of the items we always have stocked at reception:

·         Pens - Our sales team give out more pens with their individual contact information on them than business cards and we’re never searching for pens when we need a customer to sign something or they want to make note of something;

·         Notepads, post-it notes, etc. – Not only does it help when a customer wants to write down some information but each time they use the notepad, they see our branding and have our contact information on hand; and

·         Something to amuse children who come in with their parents – it can be hard to get a parent’s attention if they’re worried about what their child might be playing with or if they’re bored so we try to always have items that can amuse children when they come in.

·         Other items in the $5ish range we switch up from time to time so that there’s something new every month or so (and something rotated back into the line up can be considered new again).

We also keep a stock of items in the $20-40 range. We often have a small selection of items to choose from and keep these items in stock because:

·         It’s less expensive to purchase more at one time than finding something each time you think the need will come up (and more importantly, I probably won’t feel like I have the time to do it and miss the opportunity); and

·         You can’t always predict when that special customer will pop in, when an employee goes above and beyond, or you want to welcome a new employee to your team.

2.       Gift or Donation Items

Donation requests often come close to an event date and they’re generally looking for a door prize or auction item. And even when they come in early, they generally sit in the to-do pile until they become urgent. But when you have a stocked PROMO cupboard, you can fill the request right away and it doesn’t even have to hit the inbox and you make sure it’s something branded. The type of items we have in our PROMO cupboard include:

·         A range of mid to higher end items that can be used individually or bundled together.

·         A variety of branded bags to use when bundling items together.

·         A variety of items to create something appealing for various types of events – some items for children, technology, outdoor items, etc. (If you place one of these types of orders every few months or order a couple of extra items when putting in other orders, you can diversify your cupboard.)

Many of the same ideas work for gift items but you also want to consider the most frequent type of items you need gifts for. Some common ones are:

·         Finding out an employee or customer is having a baby, grand-baby, getting married, etc.;

·         An employee or supplier achieves a personal milestone you want to recognize or really helps out to save an account or goes the extra mile for you;

·         A friend of family member helps out with an event or activity the business is doing; or

·         Going away present for an employee, supplier or customer (especially if maintaining the individual relationship could be key for you).

3.       Seasonal Items

Just like you might stock more chocolate or baking supplies around Christmas or s’mores supplies in the summer, it’s also good to mix it up with some seasonal items. Not only does it freshen up your supplies but are also helpful when you attend seasonal events and activities. Here’s a few seasonal items we think about each year:

·         Golf items in the spring – balls, tees, ball markers, etc.

·         Outdoor/Camping items in the summer

·         Toques and other cold weather gear in the winter

·         Christmas items for handing out in December

If you don’t have a PROMO cupboard now, it can feel like a big job and investment to get it going, but it doesn’t have to be. Just look at making a different type of order each month/quarter to continue to diversify the type of items you have. It’s just like stocking a new house for the first time! Sometimes you have the money to do a big shop and cover most of the bases. Sometimes you just add one item to each of your next shopping trips.