Dear Fellow Industry Professional:

I want to thank you for visiting www.oopps.net, the website for the Organization of Promotional Products Salespeople (OOPPS), and for taking the time to read this letter.

My name is Ross Silverstein, and I am the Founder and President of OOPPS.  I am also the Founder, President & CEO of iPROMOTEu.  The purpose of this letter is to explain the origin of OOPPS.

The mission of OOPPS is to inform and empower promotional products salespeople who work for distributors, either as employees or independent contractors, so that they can make decisions that will enhance their careers and their earning potential.  Through OOPPS, I hope salespeople will get the information they need, the voice they want, and the influence they deserve.

After founding iPROMOTEu, I sought to reach iPROMOTEu’s target audience – small to medium sized distributorships and successful salespeople who wanted to start their own distributorship.  I was frustrated with the difficulty I faced in trying to market iPROMOTEu in a cost effective, efficient manner.  I quickly learned of the deep paranoia that is pervasive in this industry – especially among the owners of medium to large sized distributorships that have a sales force.  In order to prevent their salespeople from leaving to join another distributor company or to start their own distributorship, I learned how these owners effectively, if not blatantly, conceal information from their salespeople in order to keep them from becoming aware of other career opportunities within the industry (or any empowering information).  Moreover, and of considerable disappointment to me, was the realization that the established industry leadership organizations have chosen to act in concert with these paranoid distributor owners by supporting their protectionist agenda and activities.  For example, the established industry leadership organizations, through their rules regarding tradeshows and through their publication guidelines, support these distributor owners by refusing to allow the dissemination of information that, while beneficial to the salesperson, could be detrimental to the distributor owners.  This state of affairs struck me as being plain wrong. 

With estimates of as many as 150,000 promotional products salespeople working in the industry, it was surprising to me that no association, organization or other entity existed whose primary, if not sole, purpose was to advocate for and to serve the interests of these salespeople.  Instead, the established industry leadership organizations seek to serve all constituencies – the distributor, the supplier, and the salesperson.  While these leadership organizations are successful in some respects in effectively addressing certain industry matters, it simply is not possible for these established industry leadership organizations to seriously and meaningfully serve all of the needs of all of the industry’s constituencies.  For example, it is impossible to fully advocate for and serve the interests of both distributors and suppliers regarding industry tradeshow matters.  It also is impossible to equally serve distributors and salespeople in matters concerning salesperson recruiting and compensation.  Apart from theory, though, the practical reality is that distributors, and not salespeople, are the customers of these established industry leadership organizations.  Clearly, these organizations are motivated economically to keep their customers satisfied.  With regard to industry associations, the reality is even clearer.  The industry associations are mandated to serve their members.  Again, their members are, among others, the distributors, and not the salespeople.  It could even be argued that associations would be acting contrary to their express purpose if they were to serve any non-member group (i.e., salespeople) in a manner that was considered to be detrimental to their distributor members.

After years of unsuccessfully trying to change the ways of these established industry leadership organizations, I finally gave up.  If none of these leadership organizations were willing to step up and advocate for the salesperson – the largest constituency within the industry – then I would do it myself.  I founded OOPPS as a vehicle, not just for iPROMOTEu, but for all other industry entities as well, to reach out to industry salespeople.  I wanted OOPPS to be a repository of information beneficial to salespeople; I wanted salespeople to be able to communicate with and learn from other salespeople; I wanted iPROMOTEu and the various franchise organizations and all sorts of other distributor companies to convey their message to salespeople so that salespeople could become better informed about career options; I wanted suppliers and other industry service providers, including tradeshow organizers, to be able to reach out and market directly to salespeople.  I wanted to create an entity that would inform and empower industry salespeople.  OOPPS is that entity.

Now, some people may try to denounce OOPPS simply because its Founder also happens to be involved with iPROMOTEu.  These people may argue that OOPPS is a marketing vehicle for iPROMOTEu.  To these people, I have the following responses.  First, either OOPPS is a good idea or it is not.  The individuals behind an idea do not make the idea “good” or “bad”; the idea has to have merit in and of itself.  I believe firmly (and I am confident that most people, if they look at OOPPS objectively, also believe) that OOPPS is a very good idea.  The fact of my involvement should not be determinative and, in fact, should be irrelevant as to whether OOPPS is a good idea.  Second, so what if some salespeople, after visiting the OOPPS website, decide to affiliate with iPROMOTEu?  As I’ve written elsewhere, while iPROMOTEu may benefit from an informed and empowered salesperson population as a result of OOPPS (by the way, other distributor companies also will benefit), it does not logically follow that OOPPS itself is bad for the industry.  Throughout history, the prospect of financial gain or some other meaningful benefit, has routinely been a catalyst for companies creating something that is good for a larger population.  It would be foolish to denounce all positive innovations that can benefit a large group of people just because the founding entity behind the innovation could also benefit in some way.  In fact, without some sort of financial or other type of motivating factor, many important innovations likely would not have become a reality in the first instance.  Third, OOPPS is a vehicle accessible by all industry entities.  Certainly, iPROMOTEu will use OOPPS as a means to disseminate its message to industry sales professionals.  However, OOPPS will be a platform open to all.  Large distributor companies, franchise organizations, trainers/coaches, tradeshow organizers, and other service providers will all be able to use OOPPS to reach out to salespeople.  OOPPS is not, was never intended to be, and will not be, an instrument for the sole benefit of iPROMOTEu.  Other industry entities are allowed to advertise with OOPPS and to rent the opt-in OOPPS email database.  All industry entities have similar opportunities to benefit from OOPPS.

In closing, I’d like to repeat what I’ve written elsewhere:  “Ignorance is debilitating; it stunts one’s personal and professional growth and it deprives one of opportunities.  Information and knowledge, on the other hand, are empowering; they are confidence-builders and they can help one identify, if not create, and pursue opportunities.  It is hard to argue that a better informed and more knowledgeable populace – in any industry – is not a good thing.” 

In a free market, capitalist economy, information and competition are good.  Together, they force efficiency and innovation.  Industry participants that choose to evolve and adapt, and are capable of doing so, will survive – and thrive.  Those that do not, however, will fail.  The promotional products industry is no different than other industries in this regard and it is not immune from the inevitable winds of changes.  OOPPS is a catalyst that will force change within the promotional products industry.  The changes, I believe, will be important and positive. 

I hope this letter helps clarify the reasoning behind the formation of OOPPS.  Again, I appreciate your visiting the OOPPS website and taking the time to read this letter.

Sincerely,