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Mitch Silver
Printable Promotions (asi/299458)

When Mitch Silver hands you his business card, you may yearn for a hot dog and a box of Cracker Jacks. Why? It’s a baseball card, featuring personal stats on the back like his favorite places to travel and favorite shows to watch. Something else you’d learn from his card? Silver eats lots of vegetables – but they’re usually on top of his pizza.

“People buy from people they can relate to,” says Silver, the VP of marketing and sales at Printable Promotions.

Silver’s array of creative work shows his strategy is working. Over the past year he’s worked with clients like TDG Aerospace on projects including LED shirts and attire with holographic transfers. He’s also done die-cut cover notebooks and custom-shaped Post-Its for an online K-8 charter school. Then there are the gifts he came up with to help make a day-long annual physical visit easier for C-suite executives. The common theme? Silver does nothing cookie-cutter.

And, despite his company losing a major client this year, Silver managed to attain 6% growth and converted five target clients into actual customers after years of courting.

“I’m about relationships and the long game,” Silver says. “I’m not necessarily here to close the sale today, but by interacting with you and you learning to trust me, ultimately I’ll earn your business in the long run.”

Silver says it takes eight to 10 touchpoints to get a buyer’s attention. He’ll start with an email, and then a month later, send the potential buyer an article they may be interested in. After another month, he’ll send a photo of his family on vacation and ask if the buyer is going anywhere this summer.

“You have to stay connected with a client in a variety of ways so you are at the top of their mind when they think promotional products,” Silver says. “Each of these touch points needs to be personalized in some way to build a one-on-one connection with a client.”