Michael Cornnell

Michael Cornnell
Judge OK's Taylor Corp.'s Purchase of Standard Register

A Delaware bankruptcy judge has approved Taylor Corp.'s purchase of Standard Register and its assets. According to the Dayton Daily News, the sale still needs approval from Standard Register's outstanding creditors, which is the final approval needed to make the sale official. However, since Taylor Corp.'s bid is $2 million higher than the only other bid for the company, which the creditors' committee also approved, it is plausible to assume that they will accept this bid as well.

Taylor Corp. already owns several other major print and promotional product companies, included ADG Promotional Products, Navitor and Label Works, and Amsterdam Printing. Its winning bid for Standard Register was reportedly around $307 million. Check back in on www.goprintandpromo.com for more on this story as it develops.

My Trip to the Million-dollar Club

Proforma, a large print and promotional products distributorship, was kind enough to fly me out to write about its annual Million Dollar Club event. It's a three-day celebration of all Proforma's owners that have passed the $1 million mark in sales for the year. It's held at a different resort every year. The 2015 event was at the beautiful oceanside Terranea resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. While there, I spoke with high-earning Proforma owners, as well as their support staff and supplier partners, to figure out how and why these distributors were able to break the million-dollar mark in sales.

A Personal Touch

It's no wonder that personal care products are a popular product category, given their distinctive connection to human sensation. If your clients are interested in attempting some sensory marketing, here are four items to help campaigns reach the next level.

Finding a Niche

It's hard to deny that it's been a tough couple years for continuous and multipart forms. Once a massive cornerstone of thousands of businesses the world over, forms have since declined in popularity due to the rise of online alternatives. Whether it's for reasons of speed, cost or even marketing, more and more businesses are replacing their forms with online options.

Winning on the Web

A strong website can do so much for your business. It can draw in new prospects, strengthen relationships with current clients, even act as a venue for your buyers to purchase your products directly. But for all that to happen, you have to build it well. Looking to get started? Below are nine ways you can improve your website and make it into the lean, mean, selling machine it needs to be in 2014.

Driver's Ed

America is nation of drivers. There are more than 254 million cars in the country, more than 196 million people with driver's licenses, and nearly four million miles of road. What do all those numbers add up to? That you should be selling to the automotive market.

Fourth Quarter and Holiday Selling Guide

This is your last chance to grab your clients' 2014 budgets. Your last chance to make your numbers for the year. Your last chance to beat them. Your last chance to wring every cent of profit out of this year before moving on to the conquest of 2015.

A Better Mousetrap

Document security is no joke. Forgers and counterfeiters grow more sophisticated every day, and if your document security can't keep up, you could lose out on business.

Overcoming Objections

Sometimes people say "no." Great for the existence of free will, anti-smoking campaigns and getting television abominations like "Dads" cancelled, but not always good for your bottom line. It should go without saying that that little two-letter word can be bad for business, and yet here we are talking about it. Why?

At Home & Abroad

Where you get your product matters. Margins, product quality and shipping speed all depend on where a product is made. Any changes to the rules and trends of manufacturing locations, then, could have an impact on your business.

Sunny with a Chance of Event Marketing

Event marketing season (spring and summer) is here, which means there’s no better time to brush up on your outdoor event skills than right now. From 5Ks and fun runs to tailgating and branded beach incentives, we’ve got the products you need to keep your clients having fun in the sun.

Ads on NBA Jerseys: An Inevitability?

The NBA may be stating that they're no closer to on-uniform ads than they were in 2011, but that doesn't mean they won't show up eventually.

Selling Big with Technology

Recurring sales, sometimes called "annuities" because of predictable and cyclical occurrence, are an important part of the print and promotional industry.