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Though low-cost promotional items, such as pens or mouse pads, may not close deals for independent sales organizations when agents give them to prospective clients, they can keep an ISO's name in front of clients, says Donna Embry, senior vice president for Payment Alliance International, a Louisville, Ky.-based ISO. "The most useful items that people interact with might make a company more top of mind," Embry says. Fast Transact Inc. distributes such desk items as carpal-tunnel pads, document holders and mouse pads with the company logo on them, says Terry Roberts, director of software integration for the Lacey, Wash.-based ISO. "We want the name in front of people all the time in something they use all the time," Roberts says. "We do mouse pads because clients constantly look at them" on their desks, he says. High-end, experiential gifts are more likely than low-cost items to close deals when given to clients, says Roberts (CardLine, 9/4). Alternatively, some ISOs believe merchants are affected minimally by promotional gifts and take more notice of ISOs if sales agents can accurately answer their questions (CardLine, 9/3).
