"Binders & Portfolios: Keep It Together"

By Charlotte Thomas
Advantages: 2004JULY

Take a closer look. These products are more than meets the eye, with some special effects and cool customization available. And that goes for the inside, too. Let your clients know that sometimes, you can't tell a binder by its cover.

Say you're getting bids to remodel your kitchen. One company's guy scribbles the bid on a piece of paper and hands it to you. The other encloses the bid in a personalized folder with a sales sheet of previous jobs and some references. Which company will you choose?

"Even if the second company is higher priced, their presentation shows professionalism, quality, and suggests commitment," observes Dennis Weir, president of Rata USA Inc. (asi/80720). He uses the illustration to point out the difference a sharp folder or binder can make to a business - whether it's a multimillion dollar corporation or a small contracting firm. Often a quality presentation is the deciding factor.

"Presentation products project a professional image and suggest that much time and effort went into a presentation and that a company will be there to stand behind their products or services," adds Dave Spangenberg, sales manager for the folders division at Carlson Craft Business Solutions (asi/43920).

Information Packaging

Of course, presentations are just one use of folders and binders. When you start looking at the big picture, you'll find there isn't a business that doesn't use them. No matter how automated and digitized things are today, people still want binders and folders to keep organized.

So why do distributors often overlook them as imprinted products? According to Glenn Nickow, president of General Loose Leaf (asi/56403), this niche shouldn't be an afterthought when it's a business necessity. Look at it as selling "information packaging." The information is what goes in the folder or binder, which is the package. That information could be anything from sales presentations to safety manuals, price books, catalogs, hotel guest directories, real estate sales sheets, etc.

Why walk out of a client's office and leave an order for the office supply stores to pick up? You are just as capable of selling binders and folders and have a lot more to offer clients in terms of custom shapes, sizes, colors and imprinting. It's one more thing you could be selling to make yourself more valuable.

If your clients go to the "big-box stores," they're not getting "solution providers," notes Craig Palubiak, CEO of American Loose Leaf (asi/35555). No reason not to point out to a potential client that if his company truly wants to have an image, their folders and binders send a powerful message of quality and professionalism.

Ivan Fishman, president of All Book Covers Inc. (asi/34262), puts it this way: At retail, your clients will get the basic "no-brainer vinyl" that isn't personalized and certainly doesn't offer the variety of shapes, colors and sizes that distributors can offer.

Sure, anyone can go to the "big-box office supply store" and get a standard binder with a clear overlay and insert their own cover sheet. However, they haven't done a cost analysis, taking the cost of printing the sheet and inserting it. Why not point out to a potential client that customized binders aren't only a marketing tool, they can also be more cost-effective. "Distributors are not just commodity suppliers," Palubiak adds.

Find The Inroads

Just by approaching different departments in a corporation, distributors can find multiple buyers for binders and folders. Human resources uses binders for their policy manuals or employee benefits. Sales uses them for meetings and reports. Marketing, for presentations. Engineering, for technical drawings. Get the idea?

Wendy Farrell, the marketing manager for Gemline (asi/56070), says their padfolios with interchangeable components on the inside make great employee rewards or items to generate sales leads.

"Binders and folders are purchased by every company regardless of sales volume, number of employees or market focus," notes Eric Folger, vice president of sales at Leeds (asi/66887). If that's not enough incentive, once distributors get the order and demonstrate their capability, chances are about 50% will get repeat orders.

Also, think technologically. Companies who sell their products and services over the Internet are becoming a big market for distributors. End users download information from a company's Web site and guess where they put it? Custom binders and folders provided by the company to their clients. "If your client is driving its customers to its Web site, you can sell them binders to hold their information," suggests Palubiak. "Every day that customer picks up that binder, it represents your client." He says this is a huge trend that's gaining momentum. Other companies, like banks, are also giving away ring binders as a marketing tool.

And as promotional products salespeople are more than order-takers, binders are more than covers. "You can convert that office supply purchase into a promotional purchase," suggests Michelle Mitchell, vice president of marketing at Fey Line (asi/54040). A distributor can take care of all the needs of an end-user looking to buy binders and folders - from the custom imprint to providing the materials inside, the tabs, the extra pockets and inserting the materials too. The outside cover, whether it's a binder or folder is only one part of what that customer could be looking for. For the savvy salesperson, it's an opportunity for more than one sale. Mitchell recalls a ring binder they did for a conference. Along with each binder, recipients received a tote bag, a name badge, bottle of water and stadium cup.

Inside Out

Before you go selling binders and folders, you have to find out what the client plans to put in them. Though it seems like it wouldn't make that much of a difference, the contents should determine the total look of the folder. Will the folder be used in a corporate setting or outdoors? Construction companies would need a tough, durable folder that wipes clean. Poly-binders are used for schools. For a luxurious look, foam padded covers are great for corporate sales meetings or hotel guest directories.

If you're going for durability with real marketing punch, suggest leather with an embossed logo. It will stay around for a long time. "We're seeing more upscale binders and folders," says Weir. "Customers are looking at binders with padded covers, sewn edges, metal corners and personalized with a foil stamp."

The selection of materials for binder covers runs the gamut of textures and looks from suedene to French calf to using fabrics that match the décor of a hotel room or restaurant. "We do that all the time," says Fishman. "Supply us with the materials and we'll make the product."

General Loose Leaf will take four-color artwork and trap it under a clear front cover for a full four-color look in a small quantity order that looks like a million dollars.

And that's just the outside. The inside presents more choices in ring sizes and shapes and tabs, extra pockets, etc. One distributor, for example, requested a binder with a pocket to hold a DVD. Another explored the possibility of adding a sound chip so when the binder was opened, end users heard the presentation.

"There's a lot of tweaking we can do to serve particular needs," Weir says. It's not out of the ordinary to make modifications, such as inserting special pads and custom pens. Binders can even come with removable rings allowing them to function as padfolios.

On that note, padfolios can virtually become portable offices, with interchangeable components like PDA holders, pen loops, places to put sticky notes, removable business card holders - even clocks.

Custom is a big selling point of binders and folders. But the beauty of this promotional niche is that you don't have to do much to get a custom look. Just put a sewn edge on a binder or add a brass corner or some foam padding and your client's got something that's unique without paying a lot. "You don't have to be totally different to have something off the wall," says Fishman. "Sometimes all you need to have is a basic item and add a little something to it."

Charlotte Thomas is a contributing writer for Advantages.

Used with permission of The Advertising Specialty Institute copyright 2005