Here’s why tariffs aren’t the problem. Because there’s always someone who’s buying. Sometimes it’s harder to find them. Sometimes it’s easier to find them. So if, as a result of tariffs or anything else, it’s going to be harder to find people, we understand that. But it doesn’t mean that business is over and it doesn’t mean that we can just sit and stew, because that just doesn’t work.
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David: Hi. Welcome back. In today’s episode, co-host Kevin Rosenquist, and I’ll be discussing the fact that tariffs are not the problem. Welcome back, Kevin.
Kevin: Good to to see you, David. How you been?
David: Been doing great. Great to see you as well.
Kevin: Yeah. We’re talking about a topic that is in the news a little bit these days. You introduced the topic as tariffs aren’t the problem. What do you mean by that?
David: Yeah. I mean, if you’re watching the media, you would think they are, but…
Kevin: Yeah, I would say so.
David: What I mean by that, and I’m not saying they’re not a problem. What I’m saying is they’re not THE problem. Okay, difference in the title. Tariffs aren’t the problem. Okay?
The reason this came up is I was having a conversation with someone in the promotional products industry who was talking about some of the issues that she was dealing with, and she mentioned the tariffs, and how the tariffs really had her very concerned.
And I said, well, it’s understandable because it creates a level of uncertainty that people are generally not happy with. I said,
Kevin: Sure.
David: How many orders have you actually lost as a result of the tariffs? And she said, well, none. I’m like, okay. Well that’s a good start, right?
If you haven’t lost any orders so far as a result of it, that’s a great way to start. And we just talked about the fact that everyone is dealing with this, everyone in the United States, anyone is dealing with this. And so, we’re on an even playing field with any competitors, right? Because any competitors that we have are likely dealing with this as well.
When we focus on things that are not the problem, like the thing that’s actually keeping us from getting clients or getting reorders, or getting referrals, when we focus on those things, we’re going to be a lot more productive in terms of being able to accomplish more things in less time, without focusing on the things that are not the immediate problem for us.
Kevin: I mean, are business owners using tariffs or other external factors as as an excuse, if maybe they’re having poor sales or things like that?
David: Probably not consciously, I don’t think they’re consciously using it as an excuse. But it’s easy to see it happen. And it’s not just tariffs. Anytime anyone is concerned about the growth of their business, not being able to get enough new orders through the door, not able to get enough new customers through the door.
Whenever they’re not doing that, they’re looking for reasons. And when you think of it logically, you’ll look at the reasons that are actually happening. Well, what are the reasons this is happening? But when there are any sort of scapegoats in the market, people are likely to look at them, or point to them, or express concerns about them.
Very often the concerns are about the things that could happen, that might happen, that could potentially happen, as opposed to what is actually slowing them down right now?
Kevin: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think, it’s dangerous to blame outside forces, like tariffs, instead of addressing in ternal issues. Because if you do that, you’re going to potentially either ignore or downplay maybe some internal issues that you might have within your company. Is that a fair assessment?
David: Yeah, and it’s just not productive. When we’re having interactions with clients, and let’s say a client does raise the issue that they have concerns about pricing or they have concerns about how tariffs are going to impact their pricing and all that sort of thing.
Obviously, you need to address those questions. But if you go into a client meeting or a client conversation, thinking in the back of your mind, “oh, I hope this doesn’t come up,” or “I’m really worried about this,” then you’re not focused on the things that are going to advance the dialogue, and get things moving forward.
I think a lot of times it’s important for us to realize that we need to give them more important things to think about. Give them something else to think about other than the potential problems that they could run into as a result of doing business with you. We want to really help focus on the results they actually want.
What are they trying to accomplish with this promotion? Because if the promotion itself is really not going to do anything for them. Then they probably shouldn’t spend the money, right? It’s gotta accomplish something. And until we understand what is supposed to accomplish for them and then gear our conversation toward helping them address those things, we’re always going to be left to whatever they come up with in their minds. Just like what we come up with in our own.
Kevin: Right. Now, obviously, you know, speaking specifically to the promotional product industry, a lot of stuff comes from China. A lot of stuff comes from, just other countries in general. Are there times, I mean, have you seen cases where tariffs have impacted sales?
David: Well, I’m sure it has. I haven’t had any clients come to me directly and say, ” I lost this huge order because of the tariffs.” No one has said that to me at this point, but there’s an aspect of this that people lose sight of as well, and that’s the fact that a lot of times, in the promo industry, the goods that are being purchased from overseas are the blank goods.
Right? So that’s kind of on the low end of the cost spectrum. These companies, the suppliers in the industry are importing the goods and then they’re decorating them, and that’s where a lot of the margin goes, right?
So, since the tariff is just on the products that they’re importing, in a lot of cases that can be a very small number.
And in the promo industry in particular, distributor margins are kind of obvious. In the industry, everybody kind of knows what they are. And supplier margins are another thing. Nobody really talks about that, like what they pay for the actual cost of goods. I think that’s one of the other concerns, is suppliers, in some ways, don’t want people to see what they’re paying for the blank goods, because then that sort of gives ’em an insight into what they’re charging for that stuff.
And that’s not a condemnation of anyone. That’s just the way business is done.
Kevin: Yeah. Yeah. It’s kinda like a, not trade secret per se, but kind of in that realm a little bit.
If a tariff or anything anything else, outside forces, pandemics, whatever, impact sales, have have you seen sometimes where the response to that is even more important than the tariffs themselves? Or, more impactful?
David: Oh, absolutely. When you mentioned COVID, I mean there were some people who just gave up at the beginning. They were just like, okay, I can’t sell anything right now.
When they convinced themselves of that, they weren’t reaching out to anyone. They weren’t selling anything. even if they could have, right?
Because, when you’re thinking about business that you’re potentially losing, well, are you losing it because you approach people and they said, no? Or are you losing it because you didn’t approach them, because you were afraid they’d say no? I mean, fear is just such a killer of sales because it kills sales that haven’t even been attempted.
Kevin: Yeah. I think we’ve talked about this before, the stoic approach of “control what you can control” and try not to worry about the things you can’t control. How can businesses shift a focus from what they can’t control to what they can?
David: Well, I think if you look at what your daily activities are likely to be, if you have a to-do list, or if you’re working from a calendar, which is much better than a to-do list, right?
Because to-do lists are just overwhelming. It’s like, well, no, I’ll do this. I’m not going to do this, I’m not going to do that. Right?
But if it’s on your calendar, if you say, “okay, 8:00 AM I’m doing this, 8:30, I’m doing this, nine o’clock I’m doing this.”
If you create a little structure in your life, it will require you to focus, as long as you actually follow through on what it is that you say you’re going to do.
The types of things that cause the most business to be lost, in my view, is the time spent on that level of thinking, that causes you to be thinking instead of selling. And not taking action instead of taking action.
So I think that’s really gotta be the primary focus.
How many people am I interacting with today? Or how many new leads am I bringing through the door? How many conversations am I having? I mean, that one metric alone, how many conversations am I having is a big one.
If I’m putting out some sort of advertising… an ad, an email broadcast or something like that. How many people did it go out to? Because if I send out one email to a hundred people, it’s like, okay, well at least I tried to initiate contact with a hundred people today. That’s something, instead of nothing.
And a lot of this, in my mind, becomes binary. I’m either doing it or I’m not doing it. I am making calls. I’m not making calls. I am sending emails. I’m not sending emails. I am attending networking functions. I’m not attending networking functions.
When you spend your time sitting in fear, instead of standing and walking with purpose, and introducing yourself, and meeting people, you just have no shot if you’re not doing those things.
Kevin: I want to give you some props from the beginning of your answer to that question because the calendar over the to-do list. What a great tip. it seems small, but that’s hugely impactful.
David: Nearly everything I’ve ever said in a podcast or in a live presentation has been about stupid things that I’ve done in the past. Right? I mean, none of it is like, “oh, yes, well, I just use a calendar instead and it works much better.” No, of course. You know, I had the to-do list, and still have the to-do list. I just don’t work from it anymore. Instead, I use it to pull things from, and drag them over to my calendar. But yeah, I mean, that was a big one for me.
None of this is particularly intuitive. I mean, you hear the idea of a “to-do” list and it’s like, “okay, well I have things to do. I’ll go to my to-do list and do it.”
Kevin: Yeah, I got stuff to do. Sure.
David: Yeah, exactly. But it’s one of those small hinges that swings big doors, if you actually follow through on it.
Kevin: You mentioned that people are fearful, or they’re living in fear. Do you find that it almost becomes like an apathetic kind of thing where it’s like, “well, I can’t do, now anyway. I’m not even going to bother.
David: Some people do give up. Yeah. They’re just like…
Kevin: Yeah.
David: …and the frustrating part is when they’re giving up based on what they’re afraid might happen, as opposed to what has actually happened. As I said, when I’m talking to a client, and she talks about tariffs, and how that’s going to impact her business, and I ask, how many did you lose? And she says, “zero.” I’m like, “okay, when that starts happening, let’s address it.” But in the meantime we can talk about some things we can say in response to that.
Anytime you have any fear about something that’s going on, you can prepare some answers that are designed to address that. Right?
Because if you’re afraid it’s going to happen. Alright, well bullet-point out 10 things you could possibly say, or questions you could ask, to change the course of the conversation. Or to get them thinking more the way they need to think in terms of creating results for their people. Because there’s always someone who’s buying right? And it’s easy to forget that.
There’s always someone who’s buying. Sometimes it’s harder to find them. Sometimes it’s easier to find them. So if, as a result of tariffs or anything else, it’s going to be harder to find people, we understand that.
But it doesn’t mean that business is over and it doesn’t mean that we can just sit and stew ‘ cause that just doesn’t work.
Kevin: Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. Sit and stew is not the answer. For sure. So if someone legitimately does feel like external pressures are dragging their business down, what should they do?
David: Well, again, I think if you look at what those external pressures are, I would say write it down first of all. because when you have this stuff all just rattling around in your head and you’re not actually trying to structure it, and organize it, and think through it, it’s just overwhelming.
I do hear that a lot. People feel overwhelmed. And usually they’re feeling overwhelmed because they’re not actually addressing the issue. They’re addressing what they think is the issue. Or they’re addressing something that they think might be the issue. And when you’re doing that, yeah, that’s debilitating because it’s like a spiral.
When you’re in a situation like that, write it down, okay, what’s the biggest concern I have? Right? And then what happens if that comes true? And you could write that down. I’m going to lose business, I’m going to lose customers. People are going to do this.
Whatever it is, write ’em all down and then look at it. And on the other side of that, say, alright, what if it doesn’t happen? Well then all this, then all this thinking is wasted. Right? Okay. So that’s kind of an easy one. But also, okay, if it happens, what’s my response? Right. So if these things start to happen, what will be my response?
If people start canceling orders or they tell you they’re not buying, or they tell you that the price is too high, what are your responses to that? Because if somebody asks you that question, or somebody says that to you, and you don’t have a response, okay, you weren’t prepared. But if somebody else asks you that question after the first person did, and you haven’t figured out a response, and you haven’t systematized that and prioritized that as the way that you’re going to answer it? Now, it’s all on you, right?
Because now it’s not just being complacent. It’s also being lazy. Right? And that’s not a good combo either.
Kevin: No, that’s like the worst combo, complacent and lazy. That’s not going to get you very far
David: No.
Kevin: For sure.. Alright, well thank you so much for joining us and thanks David for being here. How can people learn more?
David: You know what? I’ve got something a little different for you now, Kevin. If you go to TopSecrets.com/shift, you can download a pdf that will give you some thoughts on how you can shift in terms of where you are in your business to where you want to be.
Because whenever you’re looking to grow, there are going to have to be changes that are made, changes in terms of how we prospect, changes in terms of how we target, in how we communicate, lots of that type of thing.
It’s a quick two page PDF, but you can download it for free at TopSecrets.com/shift.
Kevin: Awesome. Well, thanks a lot David. Great to have you and looking forward to talking with you again.
David: Alright, thank you, Kevin.
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