The Challenge
Salesman Andrew Horn faced a few challenges creating and sourcing promotional materials for Kings River Packing’s employees, growers, and customers.
We want to give our growers and employees high-quality items that they can be proud to wear. All of the promotional stuff that Smith does for us is really good quality, and it’s all done right.
Kings River Packing is an eighth-generation, family-owned citrus grower and packer based in Sanger, California. During peak season, the company employs more than 700 workers who help process over 5 million boxes of fruit per year. Kings River Packing’s citrus is distributed throughout the United States, Canada, and Korea.
Salesman Andrew Horn faced a few challenges creating and sourcing promotional materials for Kings River Packing’s employees, growers, and customers.
“The main thing about Kings River Packing is that we pride ourselves on quality,” says Andrew. “But you can’t tell that story very well if you’re giving out t-shirts that are cheaply done or embroidery that doesn’t look right. When you give an employee a sweatshirt to wear — not only to the packing house, but also out in the community — it has to look quality.”
Andrew found that not all printing services providers delivered the quality that Kings River Packing expected. “Before we started using Smith Promotions, we experienced a bunch of problems with things being printed incorrectly. And sometimes service wasn’t always great. You never knew what you were gonna get when you tried to order something.”
A large assortment of blank hats, shirts, and sweatshirts is available for printing and embroidery from a wide array of suppliers. Trying to choose the right high-quality item can seem daunting. “In the past, I would have to do a lot of legwork myself,” says Andrew. “I’d have to find the quality shirts or hats that I wanted — before I could even have them printed. It just took too much time and effort.”
Andrew now partners with Smith Promotions in Visalia to provide Kings River Packing with quality promotional items.
Smith Promotions’ high standards in workmanship and professionalism have given Andrew peace of mind when ordering promotional items. “We want quality to translate into every part of our company. We want to give our growers and employees high-quality items that they can be proud to wear,” says Andrew. “All of the promotional stuff that Smith Promotions does for us is really good quality, and it’s all done right — so we can feel good about that.”
Smith Promotions has streamlined Andrew’s search for quality items for screen printing and custom embroidery. “There are so many options out there that I kind of rely on Smith to help me weed through all the different options and come up with something that will fit what we’re looking for. I can tell Rob what I’m looking for, and they’ll hunt stuff down for me and present me with options. A lot of time is saved by not having to go out and find the items that I want — which leaves me more time to do my job.”
The owners at Smith Promotions are always just a call away. “I remember this one time, it was like a Friday at 3:00 and we needed shirts the next Monday. So I called Rob in a panic — like, ‘Is there anything you can do?’ And he just said, ‘Yeah man, we’ll get it done.’ And I think he worked over the weekend to get them done. That went a really long way with me, that he would do that for us.”
I could tell that Rob did good work just from talking to him. He wasn’t super flashy and didn’t over-promise. So I gave Smith Promotions a shot, liked what they did, and liked how they did business. And they’ve always done a great job for us.