Thursday, January 28, 2010

I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore…

Thank God.

The higher up powers at Heritage thought it would be a good idea to send Jodie and I to Paper School. Why? Because she and I knew nothing about paper. Nothing. Well other than critical terms like “when it’s shiny that like means it’s glossy”. (NOW you see why they sent us!)


Jodie works as sales support assisting all our account reps and account managers…the entire sales team, and she also helps me out with marketing projects as well (she’s a busy gal). Apparently they didn’t want to send us on the trip alone because paper school can get “crazy wicked wild”…so Curtis (VP of Sales) went to meet some clients as well. (He doesn’t need paper school.)

You learn a lot about co-workers when you travel together. Like for instance when Curtis tried to navigate through the city with the gps application on his iphone.

We were in the car a total of 4.5 hours and got lost 4 times (you do the math)! This caused my blood pressure to sky rocket and it caused Jodie to actually dig out a paper map! (Ahhh, thank God for the old fashioned paper map!) We did bond on the trip, which is normal after you yell at someone “that gps is a piece of…” ahem, well you get the point.

Our three largest paper vendors are Xpedx, Clampitt & Unisource. (We love them all.) Since Curtis was headed to Kansas we hit the Xpedx paper school, and we learned so much!

How paper was made, poor paper formation, all about uncoated, coated, felt, text, cover, opaque, newsprint, parchment, vellum, linen..the list goes on and on (really on, and on). It was fascinating, and now Jodie and I are testing our knowledge by feeling paper and trying to guess what it is! We're getting better.....

I think our sales team has a combined printing and paper background of like 185 years…so they have been kind enough to work with us and pass on their wisdom. (Patience young grasshopper, patience.)

If you need more info about paper, or aren’t sure what paper to use or what effect you want…..ask the professionals! (That’s US!) Use that combined experience of 185 years, we know what we're talking about!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

ASI@PPAI

Our ASI team just arrived back from the PPAI Expo in Vegas (lucky dawgs). The PPAI (Promotional Products Association International) Expo draws thousands of suppliers, distributors and industry associates from across the country, around the globe.

At the show there are convention rooms and rooms and rooms full of gidgets, gadgets, chotchkies, and thing-a-ma-bobs!
Our team walked for hours & hours meeting new vendors, getting new ideas and seeing the hottest new items on the market! They were exhausted….but they were in Vegas so I don’t feel sorry for them! It’s Vegas you’re supposed to be exhausted, right?

They left the show with tons of samples & ideas and they also ordered items that will be arriving over the next few days. Their carryon bags were full as they arrived at the airport, and I can only imagine the baggage security check point at Vegas was running slower than normal after that show. People with bags full of lollipops, hand sanitizers and ink pens shaped like windmills. But then again I’m sure that’s not the strangest things the baggage folks have seen at the Vegas airport. Yikes.

So if you’re in need of some new promotional product ideas or have a marketing campaign coming up that you want to stand out, give Denise or Blake a call and they will help you find the perfect items!

Oh….I almost forgot, have you seen our new website yet??? (We’re pretty excited about it!) If you haven’t seen it, you need to! AND… you need to take our quick survey too. Deadline to take the survey is February 17th, the winner will receive roundtrip airfare for TWO! If you win…you could fly to Vegas yourself! Click HERE for the website and HERE for the survey! Good luck.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

New Year...NEW LOOK!

Today I am shedding tears of joy.

Why, you ask?

It's here. It is finally here. Heritage has a NEW WEBSITE! (Insert thunderous applause.)

Tell your friends and family, shout it from the rooftops, "Heritage has a new website!" (Okay...why am I the only one on the roof?)

We are all FLYING HIGH with excitement over this new website, and we want you to CLICK HERE to check it out. Then after you've checked it out, CLICK HERE to fill out 10 questions about Heritage and what you learned from our site. (Don't worry these aren't ACT questions, it's simple stuff, I promise!)

What do you get out of it???

Well, I'll tell ya!


After you've answered the questions you'll be entered to win 2 plane tickets to anywhere you wanna go! (Well almost anywhere...you can fly anywhere with Southwest, and that's a lot of places!)



I know you've got questions...go ahead, ask them.

Q. KJ, all I have to do is check out the amazing Heritage website, and then answer 10 really easy questions, and I am entered to win?
A. YES!

Q. Can I tell my friends and family to take the survey?
A. YES!

Q. Can I take the survey 872 times in one day to increase my chances of winning?
A. Uh, NO. Sorry, you can only take it once.

Q. I work at Heritage and only read your blog because you email it to us each week and pretty much force us to read it. Can I take the survey and win the plane tickets?
A. Awww, thanks for reading! And sure...you can take the survey, but you won't be qualified to win the tickets. (And neither can anyone else who lives at your address. Sorry.)

Q. What's the deadline to fill out this super easy survey?
A. February 17th! I will announce the winner on our blog Thursday morning, Feb 18th!

If you have any questions that I didn't answer, you can email me at info@heritagesolutionsok.com.

Go check out the website, take the survey and you could be the winner! Good luck!