51 replies to this topic

[djoctagone]

I would love to talk to you about Indoff.

We offer our Promotional Products Partners 60% of the profits, offer ESP Web for free for Partners selling Promo exclusively and give them total freedom in what they sell, how they sell and whom they sell to--no sales managers dictating what you need to be doing.

The total freedom Indoff grants is the best part.

If you're wounded because of constant disagreements with your management, and you want to work the way you want to work because it works for you, Indoff is the company you need to check out. Five years ago, I was one of those wounded salespeople . . . and then I healed at Indoff.

We're a national distributorship with Partners all over the U.S. and in Mexico, and our Promotional Products division would love to have you.

Other benefits include: W-2 employee status with benefits and 401(k), $250 annual marketing budget, preferred pricing with scores of quality vendors, Partner share on supplier rebates, free websites for company stores or niche marketing (RSS & web 2.0 enabled), email account and Intranet support, Ariba-enabled, freight discounts, full financial backing (no responsibility on your part with payments and collections) and a customized ESP Web like no other in the industry.

Send me a private message so we can arrange a time to talk that's convenient for you. Or call after 8:00 am CST: 877.237.7327. OK to call on weekends after 10:00 am CST.

[bromsey]

Please email me.

[djoctagone]

I should clarify that in keeping in line with the 60% commission rate, Indoff also gives 60% of supplier rebates to its Partners. For example, if you end up giving 12% of the business to a rebating supplier, Indoff allots 12% of the rebate for you and gives you 60% of that amount.

As far as I know, many of the other national distributors do not share supplier rebates with their sales staff.

[AdmanGR]

Just curious, if Indoff does less than $5 million in total industry volume as reported to ASI, what are the typical rebates that your producers enjoy?

Is Indoff really offering any serious $ due to these rebates??? $5 million in revenues isn't really all that much in the grand scheme of national distributors, but I suppose you could earn some decent rebates if you only focused on a handful of suppliers, huh?

I wouldn't ask if I knew the answer. Interesting concept.

[djoctagone]

In the past, Indoff (a $125 million company) has split amongst the Partners (within one of its other divisions) a five-figure supplier rebate.

To answer your question specifically--no, Indoff is not at the present moment distributing a large amount of rebate dollars to its Promo Partners--mainly because each Partner's business is so diversified (our top Partners tend to use 100 - 125 ASI suppliers a year).

But Indoff assures its Partners that they will, and that they will continue to do so on a 60% basis to keep in line with their commission rate. I can't forsee that deal ever changing.

So, yes, if one focuses on a select group of suppliers, one can really reap the benefits of supplier rebates at Indoff. However, given the total freedom Indoff grants its Partners to succeed in their local marketplace, there is no command from Corporate to use only rebating suppliers.

But if you do . . . ca-ching!

[AdmanGR]

Thanks for the clarification.

[djoctagone]

Indoff recently changed their policy regarding ESPOnline. The subscription (along with ACE) is now free for Partners that sell promotional products exclusively, and subscription fees are reviewed on a case-by-case basis for Partners that sell primarily for another Indoff division but are also authorized to sell promo.

(Our most successful multi-division Partners get ESPOnline & ACE for free. Indoff's other divisions are Material Handling, Office Interiors and Office Products.)

[AdmanGR]

That's a nice bene Scott!

[tmertz]

Scott,

You also failed to mention that your reps can use DistributorCentral free of charge.

[djoctagone]

It's been talked about elsewhere on this forum, but if you're tired of having to deal with all of the sales tax issues in each and every state (see this thread for a prime example), consider joining Indoff.

Because we have a presence in every state, we charge sales tax on every order--eliminating the need for suppliers to charge our customers sales tax or for our customers to go through the hassles of paying use tax.

Best of all, it's all taken care of by Indoff's online order maintenance system.

Indoff gives you time to sell instead of wrangling with PITA admin.

[djoctagone]

I just got $6.05 on my commission statement from a supplier rebate, because Indoff gave me 60% of that supplier rebate based on my share of the volume.

I realize that's chump change, but if I increased my business with that rebating supplier by a thousandfold, Indoff's deal would not change, and I'd have $6050 in my bank account.

[AdmanGR]

Scott,

Consider joining up with us - sounds like you are highly motivated by cash incentives!:) If that's the case ~

sell 500K = 10K bonus
sell 750K = 15K bonus
million = 20K bonus / million

Doesn't matter which suppliers nor does it have anything to do with rebates - just successfully sell to help your clients and you are rewarded in the above fashion. Oh yeah, 65% split to you every day paid by direct deposit on the day of the sale.

The Downer- ESP investment is $60 / mo - my abacus says that's OK though :D

[djoctagone]

There's been discussion elsewhere about the value of niche marketing and focusing solely on niche markets with your web presence and the importance of blogging to organically increase search engine optimization.

Indoff provides niche marketing sites enabled for blogging FREE of charge to its Partners and does not reduce the 60% commission rate for sales generated on said sites.

These niche marketing sites are tied to Indoff's online order entry system and thus, when orders are received, very little admin time is spent keying in data for the order, because the order is practically already written. This comes in mighty handy when processing sales for apparel.

Once you fulfill an order from your niche market, you're free to call on that customer in any manner you choose and sell them anything that falls under the promotional, recognition and incentive industry.

[Pam O'Rourke]

I've been at Indoff Inc. since August 2002 and I'm too happy to look at any of these other distributors. Remember that 1099's pay about 14 % higher tax rate overall and I can't see the benefits of having to file Quarterly taxes or paying someone to do it. I'd rather be out selling!

No hassels. High tech support systems. I do apprecaite ESPonline; it's up all the time on my computer (and laptop) and I have fingertip access to our Indoff special pricing with ESP. Great UPIC rating so our vendors love us! And Indoff has not changed their compensation plan in 37 years.

Really bad situations are few and far between, but when they do happen, you want someone that'll be on your side. They helped finance my $3000 commission hit (over 6 months) on an unacceptable order that the vendor refused to cover -- instead of socking it me in one deduction.

It's hard to discount happy reps (actually we're know as Partners at Indoff)!

[djoctagone]

Those niche marketing sites I mentioned two posts above use the same platform as company stores.

All of my company stores are currently decorate-on-demand, and because there's no risk in carrying inventory, I'm willing to offer the stores to my customers completely free of charge.

Indoff provides the platform for me free of charge, and I still get 60% commission on every sale.

And, as mentioned above, I'm spending far less time keying in data and am able to focus on more selling and tagging threads on Distributor Talk.

[djoctagone]

Indoff's credit score with ASI CreditConnect is 96 out of 100. They deem 81 or greater to be low chance of late/no payment.

I worked at a supplier where they refused to ship orders on scheduled ship dates because the distributor was slow to pay their invoices.

It's nice to know that Indoff isn't going to object to you setting up one or ten new vendors for a project. They'll do whatever it takes to get you to provide a solution to your customers . . . even if it requires vendor deposits, pre-payment, etc.

[djoctagone]

royster13 said:

Scott you can go on for ever about "free" ESP but nothing is free.....Indoff pays for esp and takes that out of the margin between cost and selling price of products....Margin you do not get is a cost to you so your "free" esp is not really "free"...

Actually, Indoff was giving a 60% commission split to their Sales Partners before they adopted ESP Online as a research, presentation and purchasing tool.

Now that they're offering it to full-time Promotional Products Partners for free, they're still granting 60% commission split to their Partners.

A lot of that is due to how we've cultivated ESP Online to become a purchasing tool, and not just a research and presentation tool.

[ProPrinters]

Consider doing it yourself. YOu sell an order with 10K profit you keep 10K, you get to use distributor central free.

[djoctagone]

ProPrinters said:

Consider doing it yourself. YOu sell an order with 10K profit you keep 10K, you get to use distributor central free.

Thanks, but no thanks. Indoff offers far too much for me to even consider doing it on my own. I happily give them 40% of my profits for all of the aforementioned things (and more) they provide.

[djoctagone]

There's never been a better time to join Indoff.

Starting June 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, all new Indoff Sales Partner W-2 employee hires in Promotional Products will receive a 70% commission rate for their first 12 months of billed orders. After that 12 month period ends, the Partner will revert to the standard 60% commission rate.

Furthermore, Indoff has implemented a generous override program for Partners (including new hires) that participate in Indoff's referral program. No mentoring required--just refer the name(s) to Indoff. If Indoff hires the person(s) you refer, you'll earn a 10% override on his/her gross profits for 12 months.

We're still providing the most customized ESP Online in the industry for free (we'll be switching to ESP Web soon, and will continue to provide it for free).

We're still hiring Sales Partners as W-2 employees, with eligibility for health, dental and 401(k).

We're still sharing supplier rebates with Indoff Sales Partners.

We're still providing our internally developed e-commerce platform for free to our Partners. Whether it's used for niche marketing with great SEO or for company stores, there's still no reduction in the commission split to the Indoff Sales Partner.

Find out why we're one of the Best Places to Work in the Industry. Toll free: 877.237.7327 or scott dot mueller at indoff dot com.