Buttonwood Technology Group, L.L.C.

We decided to give exhibiting in Vegas a miss this year…Here are the three reasons why.

1) We’re Lost in the Chaos

There are over 1,200 exhibitors on two floor in Vegas.  While the idea of 13,000 potential customers is attractive, the reality is that most people have time to visit somewhere around 75 exhibitors.  Since everyone stops by the big guys and their friends that eliminates around 50 or so…which leave us fighting for traffic with 1,150 other exhibitors to be one of the remaining 25 booths they visit.  Statistically speaking we have about a 2% chance of you visiting our booth which translates into about 250 new visitors. The reality from past years would suggest these numbers are high.

2) We Get A Poor Return on Our Investment

With our 250 projected visitors we start to look at the ROI.  For us to go to Vegas costs around $10,000.  Between booth space, pre-show marketing, collateral, hotels and other stuff it all adds up quick.  So for our projected 250 new leads we will spend around $10,000…which gives us a cost of $40 per lead.  The reality is most of those leads are unqualified so the true cost is closer to something between $80 and $100 per lead.  This a VERY expensive was to generate unqualified interest in our product.  Email marketing for example is closer to $50 per lead and those leads are from qualified distributors who are interested in learning more about and evaluating our product.

3) Exiled to Siberia

PPAI puts all the business service companies way up in the back of the second floor exhibit hall. By the time a distributors makes it back to see us they have already used up a lot of their ability to take in information.  Most of the interactions we engage in are with tired people who are looking forward to the end of their day.  When we try to have a conversation about eCommerce and Internet strategy they look at us with a kind smile and eyes that say “I agree this is important but I’m just not going to understand it right now.”

I wanted to explain why we’re not exhibiting in a public and honest format – I hope our reasons make sense and that no one feels slighted or unimportant because we’re not on the floor this year.  I’ll be in Vegas and I have a ton of fun and exciting meetings with suppliers and distributors who really want to learn more about Buttonwood.  If you want to meet up in person for any reason shoot me an email and we’ll try and figure something out.

Good luck and have fun!

Buttonwood moved offices over the New Year holiday…

New Mailing Address:
(Great Service that electronically catalogs  and archives our mail
and automatically deposits checks into our bank account.)

228 Park Avenue South
Suite 38330
New York, NY 10003

New Office Address:

270 Lafayette
Suite 1402
New York, NY 10012

Phone and fax stay the same!

Happy New Year and All The Best for 2010.

Remember to Always Have Fun!!

So the release says Buttonwood is the second industry research provider to include QCA…actually Buttonwood was first!  Confidentially….it seems like SAGE threw some sort of fit and insisted that they get to be first.  Not that it really matters but these little industry intrigues are mildly entertaining so I figured I’d share them with you!

I’ve included the release in its entirety on the home page since no one has actually published it yet!  If anyone has comments feel free to share (click on the comments link to the left) …this whole QCA debate is only going to become more interesting…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BUTTONWOOD ADDS QCA ACCREDITATION TO SEARCH TOOL

Buttonwood Technology Group is the second industry research provider to include the QCA Certified Icon in search parameters for its online research tool.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS (December 11, 2009) – As Quality Certification Alliance’s efforts to improve the promotional products industry’s capacity to provide safe and compliant products continue to gain traction, New York, New York-based Buttonwood Technology Group has chosen to add the QCA Certified Icon to search parameters for its online research tool. Buttonwood joins Carrollton, Texas-based SAGE – Quick Technologies, Inc. in supporting this revolutionary industry initiative.

“We continue to hear comments from both distributors and suppliers about how much confusion there is around the topics of regulatory compliance and product safety,” said David Verchere, CEO of Buttonwood Technology Group. “Including the QCA Certified Icon in our search parameters helps Buttonwood connect the distributors whose clients expect a high level of regulatory compliance and product safety with those suppliers who have the ability to provide these products.”

Regulatory compliance continues to affect the promotional products industry on an ever-increasing degree, and all signs continue to indicate additional requirements in the coming years. In the past,distributors and their end-user clients frequently addressed the issue via indemnification agreements rather than actual performance standards. Today, however, these agreements are no longer sufficient. An industry standard of compliance built upon independent, third-party audits gives both suppliers and distributors the ability to be more proactive in addressing the changing regulatory environment.

“The topic of product safety is here to stay, and there is clearly a need to identify companies that are compliant with regulations so distributors can quickly access their product offerings,” said Damian Want, senior vice president of Tustin, California-based Logomark, Inc., a QCA founding and accredited member company. “Buttonwood Technology Group’s enthusiastic support of QCA is another important step in this direction.”

About QCA:

Chicago, Illinois-based Quality Certification Alliance is an independent, accreditation organization whose mission is to elevate the standards by which industry firms that import and/or manufacture promotional products provide consistently safe, high-quality, socially compliant and environmentally conscientious merchandise. The QCA Seal of Approval is granted to member companies who complete an independent third-party audit and comply with stringent standards, which are based upon a combination of state and national laws, international standards and industry-accepted best practices that are recognized for their strength and effectiveness by QCA members, the promotional products industry and the end-user clients.

QCA was formed in July 2008 by 14 companies that import and/or manufacturer promotional products. Currently five companies have met the rigorous qualifications to achieve QCA Accreditation—Barton Nelson, Inc.; BDA Inc.; Gemline; Leed’s; Logomark, Inc.—with the balance to complete the process before year-end. D E (Denise) Fenton serves as executive director – compliance, and Brent Stone serves as executive director – operations.

For more information, visit www.qcalliance.org.

And for additional information on Buttonwood Technology Group, visit http://buttonwoodgroup.com or call 212-897-4040.

On Tuesday we launched the upgraded version of our new supplier/distributor relationship management system.

Now distributors can send requests to suppliers across the Buttonwood platform to activate their business relationship with a supplier.  This means that suppliers will have a better understanding of which distributors are using Buttonwood and  distributors can have their special pricing with each supplier reflected on their websites.

This new systems works just like a Facebook friend request.  Now that we’re “officially” linking a distributor and a supplier across the Buttonwood platform we can do interesting stuff like create offers and incentives that distributors can use to help with their sales and marketing efforts.

Look for new and exciting features in 2010 as we help distributors and suppliers grow online sales  across the Buttonwood platform….and happy Friday!!