ASI Introduces ASI SmartSales at Chicago Show

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TREVOSE, PA – July 20, 2011 –The Advertising Specialty Institute today offered a sneak peek of its upcoming ASI SmartSales, a customized solution for maximizing sales and revenue opportunities, to the industry at its annual trade show in Chicago.

Under planning and development for the last year, the sales and marketing tool will help distributors and decorators close more sales and increase profits with modules dedicated to sales management, marketing campaigns and revenue-generating capabilities. ASI expects the rollout of the new service to begin in the fourth quarter.

ASI SmartSales represents a multimillion-dollar investment by ASI. The business platform will leverage Oracle’s cloud-based technologies with all of ASI’s products to create a unique, highly secure platform consisting of a hybrid implementation of cloud and locally hosted software and databases.

The new technology will include the core ASI services vital to members’ success, allowing them to access ESP for comprehensive product sourcing from 3,400 suppliers; ASI ProfitMaker, which provides ERP and financial management capabilities; ASI LogoMall; their own company websites; exclusive ASI research; and the latest professional development resources available for BASI/MASI certification.

ASI introduced its powerful new technology platform to members via video demonstrations during its three-day trade show in Chicago, which attracted an estimated 4,000 attendees and 680 exhibitors to the McCormick Place convention complex. The show ends Thursday. Click here to watch the video.

“Our goal as an organization is to make our members more successful, and that translates to helping them make more sales at higher profits,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI. “ASI SmartSales will make that happen by helping distributors and decorators market themselves, identify hot prospects and put a process in place that helps them focus on key opportunities and top accounts.”

Using ASI SmartSales, distributors will have a complete contact and lead management system that will help them close more business and provide accurate forecasting. Every individual salesperson in an organization will be able to easily send out personalized e-mail campaigns with tracking and analytics.

ASI expects to announce general rollout plans to distributors in September, with initial availability anticipated for the fourth quarter. Expect an announcement shortly about a customized Oracle-powered technology platform designed exclusively for suppliers.

ASI distributors with ESP who are interested in being the first to receive ASI SmartSales when it becomes available should e-mail smartsales@asicentral.com or visit www.asicentral.com/smartsales. Members who want to sign up for ESP and ASI SmartSales should call their ASI account executive at 800-546-1350.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest education, media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of over 26,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties. Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to ASI distributor firms. Distributor firms use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain nearly every product in the industry from more than 3,200 reputable suppliers, to locate supplier firms and to market services to buyers. ASI provides catalogs, information directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and offers e-commerce, marketing and selling tools. Visit ASI at www.asicentral.com, and on Facebook, Twitter , LinkedIn, YouTube and the CEO’s blog.

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