The next obstacle

The next obstacle I ran into in sales was developing a competitive edge. I have managed to build great relationships with buyers. I have also developed relationships with great companies to represent to the retail buyers. However there are so many companies doing the same thing that it just comes down to the lowest price. I noticed the there are three things that make a difference in adding value to your product. 1, you have what everybody wants and nobody else makes. 2, you have a patent that nobody else can get around. 3, your products is licensed with a recognized brand name. I decided to go to Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. Maybe I could find licenses for my clients making their products more valuable and also making myself more valuable to my clients.

I signed up for some classes at the Licensing University. Most trade shows offer lectures and classes for a price, they are well worth it. I also heard from a client of mine that the show was very meeting oriented, so I started reaching out to every major exhibitor. I managed to schedule meetings with Paul Frank, Lucasfilm, and Yo Gabba Gabba. Also my client that was attending let me join in on his meetings with Hasbro, Mattel, and Sanrio.

The first class I had was Intro to Licensing. The class was great! Especially Jennifer Campbell a VP from Sanrio who was on the panel. By the end of the class I had a good idea of how things worked, the terminology used, the expected format of meetings, as well as tips and tricks to help you along. I immediately ran to my room and started putting together a presentation in the format that was expected for my upcoming meetings. I had my first meeting with Lucasfilm for Star Wars. I delivered my presentation and it went great! Lucasfilm was interested in my company holding a major part of their license. From there I went from meeting to meeting and by the end of the three day show I was well versed in licensing and made some great contacts in the industry.

One of my classes was about the importance and value of social networking. Erick Schwartzman had me sold! This is something I need to know how to do. I immediately sold my company on the value of this knowledge and we signed up for his three day boot camp in L.A. August 17-20th. Which brings me to my blog. Although I dont know all the ins and outs of social networking I figured I would get my feet wet. I joined all the sights Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Mixx, and started this blog to track my progress and transformation into the new me. My hopes are not only to make myself more valuable professionally but to find new passions and interests along the way.