Guess what? We sell paint

I was talking with a friend the other day, who was asking how business was going. After a brief discussion, he asked me about my networking efforts."Give me your elevator speech," he said.

"We sell printing and advertising specialties," I said. "Basically, if your name or logo goes on it, we can print it."

"That sucks," he replied (I told you we were friends, at least up until then.)

"You might as well say that you sell paint.""Paint?" I questioned. "I never said anything about paint."

"Of course you didn't. And a painter doesn't sell paint either. He sells a mood, a revitalization, a new look to a room or house. You can buy paint almost anywhere; that's not what he's selling. He's selling the entire service. He's selling the fact that you can look at a tiny swatch of paint, and he'll work with you to redesign a whole new look for your room or house. You'll trust him to come in, not leave paint stains on your carpet, and paint your walls to make the room look new and different. You're buying a lot more than paint -- that's what you have to get across to your customers, too."

Wow. I really, really hate it when he's right.

Especially that right.

So we tried to come up with something that encompasses all that we do. With over 700,000 items available, not to mention our experience in sales, marketing and graphic design, it's pretty tough to condense everything to 30 seconds or less. But here goes our new, revised elevator speech.

"We develop solutions to your marketing problems, and create ideas for your next sales meeting, promotion, trade show or giveaway involving all phases of printing, promotional products or corporate clothing."

Let us know what you think. Just don't ask us about paint.