How much is loyalty worth?

Thank you for the support and positive comments posted to the Blog last month. I really enjoyed reading each comment. This promotion far surpassed all of my expectations and currently is the most successful advertisement for our Company. Please enjoy the statistics….increased traffic to our website by 30,000 hits per day for 5 straight days, 106 comments, and generated 75 orders for the self promo toy pack which will put 1,875 of our toys into the hands of people who now have a reason to sell and buy Artistic Toys. I know there are some distributors that may have been frustrated with technology, but after it’s all said and done I know it will be time well spent. I hope this Blog will be the glue that keeps us connected as well as provides opportunities to help us grow and learn from each other.

We received 93 votes on the distributor poll that asked “What would you like to hear about in the next blog? It was a tight race with Distributor Incentives surpassing Industry Problems. The goal of this post is to deliver on what was promised; however, it would be irresponsible if I did not first mention the crisis that was unveiled this month in China with the recall of millions of toys by Mattel and Toys R US. Due to this global concern I have decided to incorporate product safety testing into Distributor Incentives. It is also important to mention that Artistic Toy has received written confirmation from its Chinese suppliers that they are not using hazardous materials, including lead based paints in the manufacturing process. At present there is no knowledge that warrants concern over the quality or safety of any toys manufactured with the Artistic Toy label; however, we have ordered independent testing on a sample of our most popular products to be 100% certain and calm the concerns of our buyers.

Artistic Toy has developed a 3 tier program for its loyal distributors. A loyal distributor calls Artistic Toy first when a customer needs a plush toy. The loyal distributor understands payment terms and all the details needed to process an order. Objectively, this Distributor evidences loyalty through sales order volume. Subjectively, this Distributor is on a first name basis with our office staff and has probably shared at least one story about their dog, grandchild, or last doctor’s visit. The best distributor relationships usually started with a flying toy to the back of the head at a tradeshow.

Since Artistic Toy strives to be on the cutting edge of innovation, there will be objective, subjective, and technical requirements to be eligible for loyal distributor incentives. The objective measure will be your sales volume. The subjective measure will be the story you post to the Blog telling other distributors about your experience working with Artistic Toy. The technical requirement will be measured by checking to see you are subscribed to this Blog, enrolled to our catalog mailing and email list, as well as registered on our website. We promise to be selective in our communications and we will not burden you with undue information.

The loyal distributor incentives are designed to make doing business with Artistic Toy seamless and easy. The benefits will include things like free shipping on requested stock toy samples; free custom toy prototypes, flexible payment term programs, special advertised prices held for the full fiscal year, and free toy safety testing. I also encourage you post a comment and let me know about things you like about working with us or your other best suppliers. We will do our best to incorporate those things into our procedures or programs. The 3 program levels will be called Silver, Platinum, and Gold and the qualifying sales amount will be set annually for each distributor company. This year, distributors who sold over $5,000 will qualify for Silver incentives, $20,000 will qualify for Platinum incentives, and $50,000 will qualify for Gold incentives.

If you want to confirm your 2007 sales volume with us, please post a comment with your Company name and first and last name. All distributors who meet the objective requirements will be sent a letter asking them to meet the subjective and technical requirements with a detailed description of all the benefits ready for them to enjoy.

Please use this example as a template for your Blog to be eligible for incentives:

ABC Promo Co – Jim Socci, DOB Sep. 7. Thanks for the Birthday card. Your Company is really thoughtful and takes time to know its Distributors. At first I wasn’t impressed with your Company because you hit me in the back of the head with a toy at PPAI Vegas, but since we recently worked together on a 10,000 pc parrot order, the initial pain and embarrassment was comforted with your customer service and delivery. Please send me a confirmation letter that includes my Artistic Toy annual sales volume and the Loyal Distributor Incentives that I am eligible to receive.


If you are reading this Blog and saying, “How does this help the distributor who is not doing big business right now and needs help getting to that next level?” Easy…log onto our website, locate the Best Selling Toys Pack - S2138 select button that says order sample, complete form, include “SEP BLOG” in promotion code field and you will receive a pack of our best selling toys for free.

Truly,

Jim