INTERESTED IN STARTING YOUR OWN
PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS BUSINESS?

INTRODUCTION:

The truth is no one really comes to this business in a vacuum (without prior knowledge). Most that come to us have learned about the promotional products business from seeing various Franchises or Business Opportunities presented at trade shows around the country, or from their own reading and Internet research.

What you have no doubt discovered is that there really is a great opportunity within this industry to make a lot of money, have a lot of fun and build a successful business. 

Yet there are many competing voices trying to give you their version of the truth of this industry. Our voice is a bit different. Because DFI is not a franchise or a traditional “retail” business opportunity, but instead a consultative model, our concern is that you become fully educated BEFORE you make your decision. That’s why we are happy that you at least found us in your research process. It is far better to know all your options before you pull the proverbial trigger. Hindsight is always 20-20, and like I mentioned in my Intro Audio, I hear from many people who were regrettably premature in making their decisions, who now, with 20-20 vision realize that they should have chosen Distributors First.

But you have also likely discovered that that this industry can be quite difficult to get into on your own, and not just because of the high costs to buy the business. It’s like no one will really tell you the whole story of how to do it.

FRANCHISES:

You are probably aware that you can buy franchises in our industry for $35,000 - $70,000 - $150,000 or more with on-going royalties… (But who wants to spend that much money, especially with having to pay the yearly on-going royalties?  And in today's economy who has that much to invest?)

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY COMPANIES:

You probably have come across business opportunity companies who want to sell "hobby" printing equipment so you can print from home – with investments exceeding $20,000 - $40,000 or more as well. But why would you, especially when printing is inefficient, messy and time consuming and the orders can be easily brokered out?

Buying hobby equipment in a business opportunity package means you are essentially becoming a "hobby" manufacturer, a "hobby" printer. When you can earn as much as 70% by learning how to broker your orders (placing orders factory direct) how much more can you really make as a manufacturer when you consider production time and the amount of money you have to have tied up in inventory?

The number one complaint I hear from people who have invested $20K - $30K - $40K for these kinds of “hobby-printing” business opportunities is that they rarely, if ever use their equipment.

For two reasons:

1. This method of printing is really quite inadequate to produce commercial results.
2. It is much more profitable to broker the products to suppliers with commercial printing equipment, which frees up more time to sell more orders.

It makes no sense to invest that kind of money on equipment that you really will not use. That’s what 20-20 vision reveals.

DEALERSHIPS:

On the cheaper side of the spectrum, you have no doubt found companies who will set you up to be dealers for them, where you have to split all your profits with the house for the privilege of selling promotional products for them. (But believe it or not, this ultimately is the most COSTLY * way to get into the business…)

You can start selling promotional products quickly – because our program gives you the “insider sources” used by industry professionals for every phase of your businesses.

Now you can deal directly with the suppliers (no middlemen), keep all the profits with no profit sharing (with us or anyone) and you are building YOUR business. It’s that simple.

1.		HIGH COSTS TO START UP YOUR BUSINESS: As the industry’s only wholesale alternative, our program has been designed around a true “wholesale” approach without sacrificing any support needs for new distributors. There are no franchise fees or on-going royalties. The entire program costs less than $12,000* – just a fraction of the cost of other gateways in the industry. With this approach, quite literally only a few orders (instead of hundreds of orders) will give you a 100% return on your investment, making your business profitable very quickly! * And if you choose to participate in our “Model Distributor” program your costs will be even less to get started
2.		GETTING PROPERLY CONNECTED SO SUPPLIERS WILL SELL TO YOU: Our program gives you TWO industry-recognized “distributor” numbers through PPAI* and SAGE which makes connecting to suppliers easy and automatic. (* Promotional Products Association International, the industry’s “not-for-profit” trade association.)
3.		FINDING THE RIGHT PRODUCTS: Our program includes outstanding industry-leading product & supplier research tools that will connect you to over 850,000 products from over 4,500 industry suppliers.  Create custom product presentations for your clients with the included presentation manager.   Enjoy your own “state-of-the-art” custom distributor website (your words, your way!) that will give you and your clients full search capability 24/7 to make presenting, ordering & selling promotional products easy. Plus, you will have lifetime customer and marketing support from one of the finest support teams in the whole industry; people who can handle your technical, customer service and marketing questions.

If you are anywhere on the list below the odds are strong in your favor that you will have great success in the promotional product business:

I am an entrepreneur and I have always thought that this would be a fun business to start and own!   I am a direct sales professional & know that I could be very successful building a promotional products business   I have lots of contacts in my business community   I am retired and looking for something to supplement my retirement and to keep me active   I can devote at least 5 hours a week to my new business

You are standing on the threshold of a wonderful industry. Our “Wholesale Alternative” independent gateway program for new distributors will deliver to you…

Many people believe that they can enter this industry on their own, that they can do it themselves, with no help, with no support from anyone.  This is true.  You can also teach yourself brain surgery in your kitchen if you choose.  But you're going to start at square one, and it's going to take longer to achieve the results you want, because you won't have the benefit of all the cumulative knowledge that comes with partnering with others who have "been there, done that".  People who understand what will work and what does not.  Companies that exist to help you do it right from the start.

To that end, there are six major “gateways” to the promotional products industry, including Distributors First. Four are franchises. And all six afford their customers great opportunity to build and grow in any direction within the industry.

All of the cited companies, including Distributors First each host an array of products and support services to help their clients meet their investment objectives with the common ground that each also offers a way into the promotional products industry.

But the core differences between “us” and “them” is summed up best with the understanding of what we call “retail” versus “wholesale”. When you buy retail, you get the packaging, the bubble wrap, the box.  And you pay for it!  When you pay retail, the structure is designed to provide more benefit to them than to you.  But when you buy wholesale, you get what matters most without the overhead.  You're not paying for the fancy presentation on the shelf.

It's really pretty simple actually!  We are a small company by choice - lean and efficient.  We can afford to work on smaller margins with our structure.  We understand that knowledge is power, not packaging.  That you're interested in building your business, not paying for the bloat in ours.

Fact is we deliver a fully supported, complete program to you for less, simply because our structure is different and because we require less to run our company.   And we sell wholesale, not retail.  That is a better choice!  But what we do NOT skimp on is our support.  And before you leave we hope check out our REAL PEOPLE testimonials page to see what we mean.

EXPERT KNOWLEDGE AND FIRST CLASS SUPPORT

OUR PROGRAM INCLUDES membership in PPAI / UPIC, and SAGE.  That means you are fully licensed as a distributor in the eyes of every supplier in the industry.   OUR PROGRAM INCLUDES your product and supplier research software & tools   OUR PROGRAM INCLUDES graphic and presentation software for professional presentations   OUR PROGRAM INCLUDES client, order and artwork management software & tools.   OUR PROGRAM INCLUDES your own website and shopping cart under your domain name.   OUR PROGRAM INCLUDES comprehensive training and education materials from leading industry trainers   OUR PROGRAM INCLUDES product catalogs.   OUR PROGRAM INCLUDES lifetime support from one of the best teams in the industry - technical, customer service and marketing support   By phone, by email, through our distributor member website we offer outstanding business coaching to help you grow.

WHAT DON'T WE OFFER?  HIGH RISK

From a risk management perspective and an opportunity assessment perspective, We believe that wholesale is the only way to go. It certainly makes the best use of your money as you start this business.

The point is to help you get into the industry, and give you the direction to grow and expand your business any way you choose...

We have the perfect structure to do this better than any one else in the industry. And we have the reputation of turning out successful promotional products distributors… Which is the whole point, isn’t it?

SO WHAT ALL IS INCLUDED?

  Introduction    |    Home    |    Program Detail  |   Real People   |  Summary    |   Contact