Giving promotional gifts in business has become a key part of the sales process, especially for corporate customers. Within almost any business environment you will see office and desktop promotional items, especially within reseller and channel distribution offices where a supplier will be trying to ensure its brand identity is prominent.

But why are promotional gifts so popular these days? Official research shows that business gifts tend to be seen almost five to six times in any working day. Within an open-office environment they may be seen by any key decision maker, influencer and potential prospect. Cumulatively this can have an almost critical-mass effect.

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Ink is not created equal. Scanning through the isle of pens in your neighboring office supply store will result in a wide selection of ball point and gel ink pens. Ballpoint ink is oil based, thick and pasty. Gel ink is water based and becomes liquefied when the ink is disturbed. The small balls in ballpoint pens are insufficient for gel ink pens. Amazingly, gel pens are gaining notoriety among everyday writing instruments.

You must be extremely careful to use specific types of ink for their intended purposes. For example, the type of ink recommended for use in a fountain pen should be used just for that. If you use ink that is not recommended for your fountain pen, you risk the chance of ruining your pen’s filling system.

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1) When meeting your consultant for the first time, or meeting the clients to whom they refer you, first impressions count. Always ensure you dress appropriately for the interview. Rather dress for the position you want to attain one day, then dress for the position you are applying for.

2) Although the forms you are asked to fill in seem lengthy and perhaps a repeat of information contained in your CV, these should be filled in with as much detail as possible. Refusing to fill in forms given to you by your consultant is worrying, as it makes us presume that you would do the same to a client should you be asked to fill in forms there.

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Formica brand laminate, although highly durable and commonly used can easily be damaged or stained if it comes in contact with the wrong chemicals or abrasives.

If you are not sure which chemicals or cleaning agents are suitable for use on Formica counter tops or any decorative laminate, it is best to consult with the manufacturer in order to avoid damage. The following is a list of substances which may corrode, discolor, mar or in general damage Formica counter tops: anything containing sodium hyperchlorite, bathtub and tile cleaners, ceramic cooktop or oven cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, coffee pot cleaners, chlorine bleach, rust lime and scale removers, and/or metal cleaners.

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Buying a purebred dog is not something that should be taken lightly and not all breeders are equal. To make sure that you get a good quality dog that will be healthy and happy, you need to do some research and shop around.

The Pomeranian breed standard is to weight no more than seven pounds, but there are many Poms out there that weight 12 or even 20 pounds! While these may be great dogs and make good pets, they are not to the standard and you should not be paying the full price for a dog that will grow to this size. But how do you know how big a puppy will be?

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Writers are a special group. They work to draw up large, tottering buckets from their creative wells and pour out new characters, ideas, situations, and images to delight, inspire, and transform their readers. But what happens to the well when the environment doesn’t support writers? It dries up. Or, worse still, only provides just enough creativity to make the writer confused and uncertain about where to go next.

When it comes to writing, the writing space is not merely an office, it is a writing environment, and the old saying that you are a product of your environment is especially true. Therefore, if your environment is cramped, dusty, and cluttered, how can you write your best? Can you create brilliant articles when you are uncomfortable and ill at-ease because your back is to the door? Is it enjoyable to work on your book when your desk is poorly arranged and you have to strain to see the computer screen?

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WD-40 Faces a Growth Challenge

WD-40, a well-recognized brand faced the growth dilemma — the chairman put out a goal to grow the business by $100 million from new products (or product innovations) introduced during the next three years (Gary Ridge, Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2006). This would be difficult for a product like WD-40, which has been in existence for over 50 years. What could be new? In order to meet the challenge the WD-40 Team Tomorrow looked for new and/or underserved customers. They knew that WD-40 was present in many households, but primarily a mainstay of the garage — where it is used to solve a variety of problems. According to the web site WD-40 fulfills five basic functions:

1. CLEANS: WD-40 gets under dirt, grime and grease to clean. It also dissolves adhesives, allowing easy removal of labels, tape and excess bonding material.

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Advertising through promotional mouse mats is one of the best ways to generate interest in your company among your audience. Mouse mats have a larger space to hold a decent amount of advertising content. They take up a prominent place on your customers’ desks and enforce the name of your business in the minds of your customers as long as they are used.

What are mouse pads and why are they used? Mouse pads or mouse mats provide a special surface with more friction that enhances the movement of a computer mouse. Mouse pads are advantageous to computer users mainly for three reasons - they enable working at a higher speed, more precisely, and at complete comfort. Remove the mouse pad from under your computer mouse and try working. See how your comfort and efficiency drops.

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