Business Development Strategies for Manufacturers that Make Sense
Struggling to turn conversations into customers? In this episode of Stop Being the Best Kept Secret, we break down business development strategies for manufacturers that make sense with one of the most passionate voices in U.S. manufacturing, Dan Bigger. Dan also discusses his role in the family business, Glimmer Glass Gifts.
Dan brings over 20 years of hands-on experience in manufacturing and business development. He has helped companies grow by building pipelines, opening new markets, and creating powerful customer relationships. Whether it is through sales, social media, or networking, Dan is known for helping manufacturers get found, get connected, and get growing. He is also the co-founder of the #USAMfgHour Twitter chat and a fierce advocate for U.S. manufacturing.
In this episode, Dan will share simple, effective strategies for business development that actually make sense. No flashy gimmicks, just real talk about what works in today’s manufacturing world. We’ll cover relationship-building, sales process improvements, and how to create consistent growth without burning out.
Don’t miss this chance to learn from one of manufacturing’s most driven voices and pick up real strategies you can start using right away.
Key Highlights
• Business Development Strategies Introduction 0:00
• Glimmer Gifts: Background and Transition 0:52
• Family Entrepreneurship and Business Roles 4:30
• Business Development Strategies and Networking 7:01
• Product Offerings and Customization 9:27
• Social Media and Marketing Strategies 18:32
• Trade Show Success and Future Plans 32:34
• Balancing Business and Personal Life 36:00
• Advice for Entrepreneurs and Networking Tips 41:53
• Final Thoughts and Future Plans 42:07
Resources
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If you found this information valuable, check out some of our other blogs.
You might want to read these blog posts:
Creating a Robust Referral Network with Your Soulmate 100
SEO Strategies for Manufacturers: Out-teach the Competition
How Manufacturers Can Use Subject Matter Interviews to Dominate SEO
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Transcription
Curt Anderson 00:00
Yeah, close. But hey, we’re close. So hey, Damon, happy Monday. Hey, man, how you doing? My goodness gracious, couldn’t be better. Welcome to stop being the best kept secret demon. What are we going to talk about today?
Damon Pistulka 00:12
I think we’re going to talk about the Kansas City Chiefs today. Curt,
Damon Pistulka 00:21
take a deep dive. Down performance. Yesterday.
Curt Anderson 00:23
It was something we’re talking about, the chiefs, the Yankees. What else are we talking about?
Dan Bigger 00:27
Yeah, the Steelers, obviously.
Curt Anderson 00:29
All right, so we’re gonna, all right, Hey, happy Monday. We’re gonna dive into business development strategies with the business development guru. Dan, Bigger than ever. How are you, bud? I’m good. I’m really good, man big Alright, so let’s, let’s get right to the we’re not going to pull any punches. You’ve made a huge transition back in 23 tell us about Glimmer Gifts. What are you guys doing? How are you making the world a better place?
Dan Bigger 00:56
Okay, so, yeah, we had, we had the interview with my wife and I, and my wife really is the the brain child behind the company. So she started the company when we moved to New York in 2004 she was, yeah, so she was a volleyball coach when we were in Pittsburgh, and then she would do this sort of on the side. And then when we moved to New York, I started working for her father, and she went full bore, you know, on her own. So then she was doing retail shows, and then we started having kids two at a time. So she realized that she couldn’t be on the road every weekend, so she went wholesale. And, you know, at the time she was making jewelry. She did that from 2004 to 2020 and then covid hit, and all her shops shut down because of nobody could go out and go anywhere. So she had some people giving her some materials that she didn’t know what she was going to do with, but she kept them. And then during covid, she started making greeting cards, which is now the focal point of the business. And all these years, I’m watching her do all this stuff, and she’s always working, always working, and I’m, you know, I helped her when I could, but I didn’t want to get involved, because I sort of took my time to spend time with the kids on my weekends and things like that. But looking back on it, I should have helped her a whole lot more than I did, right? Well, you know? And then, and then I lost my job for the second time in a year in 23 February, 23 and the job market was absolute garbage at the time. So I was putting in resumes and applying for jobs, and, you know, interviewing with people that were asking me these ridiculous questions, and I was answering them with, you know, I interviewed with one company they wanted me to make 100 and 100 and some calls a day. I’m like, That’s just stupid. That’s actually was my response. I’m like, That’s stupid. Like, you don’t even know who you’re calling, what you’re talking to them about. You know what they need, what they have. You have no idea. So how am I calling 100 people a day? They obviously didn’t like that answer, yeah, yeah.
Curt Anderson 03:02
Oh, you didn’t. They didn’t offer you the job. No, I didn’t get the job. You would have, you would have taken it, right? What? What was the response when you said that?
Dan Bigger 03:10
They were shocked that I even said that. But it’s, again, it’s true, it’s, it’s yeah, you know, and years of business and years of business development that I’ve done, you know, this stuff takes time and and, right? And and I wanted to work for the right company. I didn’t want to work, you know, the best company I worked for with the expectations as I had, was at CBT. You know, when I worked for, it was a privately owned small business. He had done business development before I came in, so he knew it was going to take time, and he understood that, and he gave me the grace. And it worked, right? So anyhow, I lost my job, and then I started, you know, looking for jobs. Couldn’t find a job, so then I would look for a job in the morning, because I was so aggravated by noon that I would go out and work for her. And then I started realizing how much help she needed. And then, you know, she’s like, well, you know, just why? Why waste more time? Why don’t you just come with me? So we did a show in Atlanta, and we gained, I think, 30 to 40 new customers at that show, and we were just off and running. Right?
Curt Anderson 04:08
Awesome. Well, I tell you, and again. So we’re here today with Dan bigger, hey Damon, we’ve got a dear friend of the house, yep. Hey Diane. Happy Monday to you. DiAnn Beyer, it was her, her 33rd anniversary this weekend. So now awesome, and she’s a big Eagles fan. Dan, don’t hold it against her. So she’s four. Now she’s four. No, she’s having a good season. Wow. And it’s they’re looking unstoppable right now. So all right, Dan, so let’s dive in. We had you and Julie on the show a year ago talk to us a little bit about, you know, what? Before I dive into, like, glimmer gifts and I’ve got your website, we’re going to dive into what you guys do, talk about that transition. I want to hit a couple points. What’s it like going family entrepreneurship? You know, there’s a lot of most small businesses have a family component. What’s it been like for you? Joining. Into a family business.
Dan Bigger 05:02
The one thing that I sort of set for myself was that my wife was the boss.
Curt Anderson 05:07
What now are you talking about at the business or at home? Both? Smart man. You are a smart man. Well done.
Dan Bigger 05:15
Well, we had, we had talked about this because my my father in law, who’s also an idiot. One day, said he wanted me to leave the business. I walked into his office. He’s like, I’m gonna let I’m gonna put you in unemployment, and you can go work for my wife, you know, his daughter. And I said, what would it say to the rest of your company, that’s a family owned company, that if you get rid of your only employee, that’s a family member. Well, he didn’t take that through. So I started talking to my wife, and my wife wasn’t at the point to start with me, because I was going to grow up bigger, because I wanted the CRM and I started talking about all the things I wanted, and she didn’t know what those things were. And she’s like, you know? So finally, he sat down on my couch and said, I need a decision. And I said, for what? And he said, whether you’re staying or going. I said, Fine, I’m going. Then within 30 seconds, he changed his mind. But when I joined her in 23 she was more open to things that I wanted to do, you know, social media, having a CRM, following up with customers, all that stuff. So now I handle all that stuff. Yeah, he just makes things. She’s just production. But you know, by what I meant by she was the boss, was that she knows the company. She built the company. So it’s her company, you know, and I’m not going to fight with her if she if there’s something that she doesn’t think is a good idea. So for the most part, she allows me to do whatever I want within reason. I don’t even think we’ve had an issue where we’ve had to sit down and discuss it, and, you know, she had to outrule me so. But the transition to working for myself is was always the same, because I was always a business development salesperson, and, you know, I worked weekends, I worked holidays. I’ve worked all that stuff, and now I just do it for my own, my, you know, for
Curt Anderson 07:05
ourselves, right, right? And it’s really you’re the master of the networking, connecting, making those relationships. How from your previous life, and that’s where you and I met, when you were at CVT. How have you been able to transition all your vast sales experience or business development. Talk a little bit about how this is it’s a little different component, right? You’re selling products to, like, gift stores, that type of thing. Talk a little bit about like, how have you been to apply your business development strategies from previous life to glimmer gifts?
Dan Bigger 07:35
I think the difference now is that the customers that I’m looking for aren’t out in the open, and there’s a lot more of them, you know, when I was in, let’s say, injection molding, you know, I took companies that we work with and try to find companies like them. Well, now I’m trying to find a little handmade Made in America gift shop in West Virginia. And, yeah, and that’s not easy to find, so it’s a little harder to find them. But really our biggest Avenue there is now shows, because people are coming back to shows now. So the shows have done really well for us. We do a couple virtual shows a year. They were they’re still new to them, so that platform, we’re still building a reputation, right? But for the most part, we, we average, I think, you know, around 80 to 100 new customers a year.
Curt Anderson 08:33
Oh, do you really? Yeah, wow. Now you know what you pique my curiosity on a virtual shows. Talk to us a little bit about the virtual shows that you’re doing.
Dan Bigger 08:41
The virtual shows are, you know, you just set up your platform. Like, we’re on a couple different platforms that, you know, we’re run out on Etsy, because we’re not selling direct to consumer. Yeah, we do sell direct to consumer, but it’s not our blood, you know, bread and butter. Our bread and butter is wholesaling, so we wholesale to places like the Corning Museum of Glass, you know, because, you know, the Corning Museum of Glass is all about glass and the history of glass, and how glass is made and how glass is used. And they have a huge, huge showroom, you know, once you get through it, and my wife’s been in there for years, but now they’re carrying almost everything that we make.
Curt Anderson 09:15
Oh, is that right? Nice? Yeah, great museum, yeah, yeah.
Dan Bigger 09:19
And they’re great to work with. I mean, they’re easy to work with. They’re, they’re one of our biggest customers. I mean, their average orders, again, for, I think their last order, they ordered 12 to 1500 cards. Wow. 12 to 1500 Yeah, yeah.
Damon Pistulka 09:35
Very cool. Very cool. We’re
Dan Bigger 09:37
also in Dollywood. Dollywood is another one, another customer that, you know, that’s all jewelry right now, but we’re trying to get the cards in there, so we’re working on that. So it’s just, you know, being a small business, like any other manufacturer, we’re behind because we’re never, there’s always too much to do, but Right? You know, trying to do sales and marketing and production every day, and
Curt Anderson 09:58
throwing a lot of different hats. Time. So alright, just to share with everybody, here’s one of your your is that backwards?
Dan Bigger 10:07
No, that’s right. No, that’s right. Okay,
Curt Anderson 10:09
so, Dan, so just talk a little bit about, you know, what is Glimmer Gifts, share the background, and I tell you guys have amazing products. Just talk a little bit about these.
Dan Bigger 10:19
Yeah, again, that’s all the credit to my wife. My wife started all this stuff, yeah, so that’s where the company started, with laser etched jewelry. Because when she started her company, you know, dichroic jewelry was all the things all the rage, but everybody was doing it. So she found a laser which she was able to laser etch images onto the glass and then fuse the glass together to make jewelry so that what’s that’s what made her unique. Now with the greeting cards, you know, most people buy a greeting card. You know you spend 5678, bucks on it. You know you sign your name, or you write a little, you know, something memorable in it, and you give it to them. Person reads it, either throw it in a drawer or they throw it away, right? You know this? You know the idea behind this is that the greeting card that you give to somebody, they have something, so it’s a gift card with a keepsake, is the way we explain it. So now they can hang that thing in their window. They can hang that thing on their tree every year and see it and remember why you gave it when they gave it to you.
Curt Anderson 11:20
And right now, did you? Did you was this about me? When you who came up with this one? My wife did not want that card. I’m just teasing. It says friendship is when people know all about you, but like you anyway. So I don’t know if you know
Dan Bigger 11:36
we’re trying to get. Yeah, we’re we get a lot of requests, like one, one of our customers asked for put that tree back up. So he asked for a tree with no leaves on it, and he wanted the saying to be, what was the saying? Something about You’re dead to me now with all the leaves on the ground. Oh, is that right? Yeah. So we made it. We did. We made it for him. We did a custom order for him with all the leaves on the ground, and said, you know something about right? Yeah, my brother the exact phrase, but the the theme is awesome. You’re dead to me now, yeah, oh,
Curt Anderson 12:11
that’s funny. So, okay, so let’s, let’s dive into the website. You guys can see my screen. Okay, yeah, all right, so Dan, just talk about some of the So, a card with a memorable keepsake. Yeah, just talk a little bit about, like, how you guys go through the process. Who, like, Julie’s the creative, the creative mind behind it. Just, let’s, let’s dive into some of your products.
Dan Bigger 12:33
Here we bought, well, the cards, you know, we have, we have, like, that’s a the proud card has been around for a while. This year, I think we had 15 new cards. So the design work is done by Julie, but the the verbiage and things like that come from a bunch of different places. I’ve done a couple cards. She does most of the cards, but we actually get a lot of requests from people. So when we do shows, people will say, Well, why don’t you have this? Or, you know, you should get that, like the the willow card. I actually did the willow card. We had a customer in Wisconsin who was Willow helm and gift, and she wanted a willow tree. So we did a willow tree. I did all the verbiage to her. She okayed it. It was going to be a custom card for her, but then we started taking it to shows, and it started selling really well. So now that is a staple card that we have, yeah. So we do, you know right now we’re working with, do you guys know what the golden owls are? No. Golden owls is a, I think it’s a group of islands in Georgia, right near the right near the shore. So we go to Saint Simons Island to do shows all the time. And my wife has an uncle that lives there, and they have the golden Niles visitor center there. So we’re actually working on a custom product there, where we’re going to put their logo on piece of fused glass and a, you know, a small sun catcher, like, like you put on the card. And we’re going to do a custom product for them, for the golden owls, you know, museum and things
Damon Pistulka 14:04
like that, yeah. And that’s super cool that you can customize it for your your market request. Someone’s got a specialty thing, like you said, for the golden isles and and just be able to do it well, it
Dan Bigger 14:19
depends on what it is like. If it’s something specific to that area, we would do that custom card specific to that area, like we just got into MSA, so we’re now part of the Museum Store Association. So now that opens up a whole new world of potential customers for us, where, again, we could do a custom card for them and their store or their area. But if we have a general, generic, more of a generic card, that’s a custom option, we can make that a standard card, which we could tell everybody,
Damon Pistulka 14:47
yeah, super cool.
Curt Anderson 14:50
So Dan, ballpark, like, how many different SKUs, different items? Would you say that you have any idea
Dan Bigger 14:55
I did. I did the options on just cards and that. Include Don’t, don’t move. So the card saying and the card option, as far as the sun catcher, we had between all of our cards, which is 5657 of them, there’s 720 options that doesn’t include the background glass of the of the sun catcher and the card color, which would make it almost so everything we do is, is almost one of a kind, unique product. So if you get something from us, it’s probably not going to be redone that way again, right?
Curt Anderson 15:30
Well, and hey, and Diane says, Hey, I still have mine. Dan, thank you. Yeah. So, so Alright, how is your as you How do I say, like, you know, you go to the restaurant and like, the restaurant has, like, this huge, massive menu. Just out of curiosity, how do you guys kind of manage your inventory? Or, how do you manage the different 720, different options? Like, how do you, how do you kind of control that inventory?
Dan Bigger 15:53
We tell our customers, you’re not going to get, you know, when they when they buy from us. You’re not going to get what you know, like, you’re not going to get that specific card. You’re going to get that saying you can get the tree with the moon and everything else is going to be custom from there.
Curt Anderson 16:07
Okay, okay, awesome.
Dan Bigger 16:10
What we’re, what we’re doing is we’re, we’re producing, like, I cut all the cards I make, all the cards I’m my wife makes, all the sun catchers, and then we just have them in bins. So then when the customer orders, I just put them together and send them out. Nice, awesome.
Damon Pistulka 16:25
Oh, that’s a cool process, though.
Dan Bigger 16:30
Like that. That greatest oak card would have two options. So would have the tree and then the tree with the moon, so the tree without the moon or the tree with the moon. And that’s your only options, because any of our, any of our tree cards, is going to have a tree on it, or some of the other ones have six or seven options, right, right? So that that they get to pick what they want on that car, what sun catcher they want on that card, saying,
Damon Pistulka 16:55
right, yeah, yeah. That’s great, that flexibility you can offer. Yeah, we
Dan Bigger 17:01
talked about maybe just sending cards and letting the customers pick them at the stores, but I don’t think customers want to do that, so we just do it. So that’s where we have to tell people that, look, you’re not going to get this specific card. You’re going to get something similar to it, but not exactly. So that’s where they they say. I want you know, if they hate cats, like we wouldn’t put cats on it or right, right, dragonflies, they don’t want dragonflies, or they want dragonflies, and they want butterflies, so we take out the trees, whatever, you know, whatever they want,
Curt Anderson 17:32
right, right? Yeah, awesome. Alright, so go ahead, David,
Damon Pistulka 17:36
well, and I think too, like you said, the option of putting the card in the in the sun catcher in the store gives it creates one more decision point for somebody to buy it. I got to put them together. Whereas, if it’s put together like this, and the example here, I can just buy it because I like it, right?
Dan Bigger 17:54
Well, and that’s where, yeah, and that’s where I was telling you guys pregame about the show that we did when we do retail shows people, people spend hours in our booth, because they will look at every single card that we have. Yeah, see what’s the one that they want, right? So even if it’s, even if it’s a like a turtle card, you know, it’s a turtle, it’s the same saying, but everyone’s different. Everyone’s unique, yeah? So they will thumb through every single card, looking for the one that they like the best.
Curt Anderson 18:21
That’s awesome. So, Dan, let’s go here. And what’s interesting, you know, as you know, trade shows are coming back, and some people are like, Okay, well, do I, how much do I invest in trade shows, compared to virtual, compared to digital? You know, social media all the things, right? But what you’re you’re having great success, like in I want to dive into your social media strategy next. I think you do an incredible job. But like you’re saying, like, when people can get this in their hands, that’s a, that’s a deal closer, right? That just they, they fall in love with it right away.
Dan Bigger 18:53
Yeah, yeah. Our stuff, you can look at all the pictures you want, but they make a much better impact when they’re in front of someone, right? Yeah.
Curt Anderson 19:01
And then at the trade show, again, being the networker that you are, share a little bit about, like, how you enjoy, like, you look like you’re having so much fun. You’re at a trade show. You’re posting pictures before, like, days before, up to the trade show. Like, I really feel like you could write a book on like, Hey guys, this is how this like, trade show, 101, like, this is what you do before. This is what you do during this what you do after. And it just seems like you really enjoy it. Is that? Is that a good assessment?
Dan Bigger 19:28
I yeah, I enjoy talking to people. I actually enjoy talking to strangers in my own family. Be honest with you, because my own family, my kids, are on their stupid phone, so you can’t talk to them. So when I get out of the house, yeah, it’s like a being uncaged
Curt Anderson 19:41
people actually want to listen to you. Is that, yeah,
Dan Bigger 19:45
oh, it’s and, you know, trade shows, you know, for you know. So what we do? I’ll give you the playbook of what we do. We send out a constant contact all of our current customers, which is about 400 and some four to 500 customers are. Now, and those are customers that have bought within the last couple of years. Yep, you know, sometimes they go off, and that’s one thing I’ve never been able to figure out, is the buying patterns of these people, because some will buy when they’re nearly almost out. Some will wait for it to go out, and then wait a little while and then reorder to bring it back like it’s new. I have never figured out the buying pattern, but so we send out the constant contact I do social media, telling people everywhere we’re going to be we moved our booths, and now we have a prime booth in Atlanta, which is great for us. So that’s the main show that we do every year, and then from there, it’s just a matter who comes in our booth, usually we’re JAM PACKED from start to finish. So usually we have people in our booth all day, every day. So you’re talking to different customers, you’re talking to existing customers, you’re getting feedback, you’re getting how things going. You’re getting ideas for new cards, you’re getting ideas for new jewelry. You’re getting a new ideas for new fused glass. Custom projects. We’re actually doing. We’re working on a custom project right now with the Senate Museum. Wow. Yeah, we just have to, I guess, get a kick my wife in the butt to get her going on it. But that project has been talked about for a couple years, so that’s that’s on the table still so and then the other part of it is not only the customers come in your booth, but the people that you talk to that are around you. It’s amazing how many other you know, how much information you know, people I don’t know, most some, I guess some people. What I want to say is most people aren’t as outgoing as I am, but I talk to everybody I can. So I promote myself, and I promote other people around us that I know that are either customers or customers and just friends, friends that we’ve met over the years. But those things lead to big, big, big opportunities down the road, and you never know when another opportunity is going to come, because one of those people might get it, you know. And a perfect example is there was a woman that couldn’t go to the show in Atlanta this last one. So now she she asked us to say, If anyone comes to the booth, send them my way, which I did, and now she’s going to try to hook us up with the homework stores. Wow, wow, that’d be big. Yeah. So we’re working on, we’re working on the Hallmark stores, and we’re working on, I don’t know if you guys have ever heard of Wild Birds Unlimited I have, oh, sure, yeah, yeah. So we’re going to do their show in June in Pittsburgh. Oh, wow, that’s they have 300 retail locations across the USA.
Curt Anderson 22:38
You’re doing their show in Pittsburgh. Is that what you said? Yep, wow. So how many shows a year are you doing? Give or take?
Dan Bigger 22:49
We’ve only been doing two, and then we do some retail shows, just to get out and make some extra money here and there. But the big show that we do is Atlanta in January and Atlanta in July. And then this year we’re going to do the wild birds in Pittsburgh and the museum store association of Philly, that’s in July or August, or something I can’t remember, right?
Curt Anderson 23:11
So just relentlessly knocking on doors is just really opening up incredible relationships, right?
Dan Bigger 23:19
Yeah, I was doing some email stuff, and I’ve gotten some customers from that, and I still do follow ups with people that I meet at shows. And, you know, that’s just normal stuff, but Right, yeah, for the most part, the shows are the big thing
Curt Anderson 23:29
for us. Okay, perfect. Alright, so let’s, if you don’t mind, I’m going to share, I’m going to go over to your social media. Now for what are we looking at here?
Dan Bigger 23:37
That’s a show we did. That’s a show that we did last year where we did really well. We sold 300 cards and three cards in three hours.
Curt Anderson 23:43
Oh, did you Wow, and that was direct to consumer, right,
Dan Bigger 23:48
right? Yeah, that’s a that’s a greenery right across the street from me, but that’s an area when I joined my wife, I had no idea that we would get into. But like greeneries and arboretums and flower shops have become big for us now, right? Yeah, we’re getting a lot more of those kind of stores, right?
Curt Anderson 24:07
Well, it’s a perfect add on. It’s a nice little value for for those other stores, right, right, right? What? Um, all right. So flower shops, gift stores, craft stores, Hallmark stores, like you’re really aggressively going after a
Dan Bigger 24:21
lot, right? When I can, right?
Curt Anderson 24:24
Well, the thing is that, you know, when it was just Julie, there was like, there was no capacity, there was no way possible Julie could tackle all these things. Now, go
Dan Bigger 24:33
ahead. The funny part is, is, when I was in on the road salesman, I would go out and sell for Julie, so I’d see handmade shops, yeah? But the thing is, she wouldn’t call him, yeah, yeah. She’s not good. She She’s good. She’s like me, one on one, like you should actually see her sell volleyball. It’s a she in this in the low country of South Carolina, she is becoming a volleyball legend, where, literally, we walk into a gym and all these girls come flocking over to her right. And she has a spectacular reputation, and she’s very good at that part of it, but she is not very good at it, email and phone and everything else, right? So I am communication, so I handle all communications with the company, right?
Damon Pistulka 25:13
Yeah, right. Well, and that’s you harness, harness the strengths, right, right. Yeah, yeah.
Curt Anderson 25:19
So, alright, so social media talk a little bit about your strategy. You were a fierce advocate. Networker on LinkedIn. I feel like you brought this over. You know, into Facebook, you’re on Instagram, you’re super active on LinkedIn. Talk for small entrepreneurs out there that are thinking like, Man, I need to stop being the best kept secret. What are some tips or strategies that you have
Dan Bigger 25:39
for them? Well, just by reading your book. Curt, which I did, I talk, I talk about things that we just do, you know. So people want to know how things are made, or what’s going on. And you know, you don’t want to sell every day. So I don’t sell products every day, but Right? I get people’s input like that. That that card, right? There is a new card this year that we came out with after Christmas. So nice. We sort of missed the window for that card, but now I’m going to start pumping it up through the winter to say, hey, you know, we have winter cards and Christmas cards and things like that,
Curt Anderson 26:10
right, right? And you do your your little weekly drawing, right?
Dan Bigger 26:15
Yeah, we have a weekly contest, uh, Tuesday trivia. So I asked something about what we’re doing here, and people can guess, and I give away prizes every week. Awesome.
Curt Anderson 26:26
No. So now, targeting your ideal customer, do you find? Are you? Do you find more success? Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn? What’s your perspective there
Dan Bigger 26:35
for us now? It’s, yeah, it’s Facebook and Instagram, and then I do LinkedIn, because I’ve done LinkedIn my whole life, but, you know, as my son with a sack, see,
Damon Pistulka 26:44
yeah, I saw that.
Dan Bigger 26:48
But yeah, it’s just, it’s just tell, you know, it’s telling our story. It’s telling a story, you know, that was make out with your boss day that was,
Curt Anderson 26:56
yeah, now, is that? Is that? Is that
Damon Pistulka 26:59
an actual day? Or you made
Dan Bigger 27:01
it it is now.
Damon Pistulka 27:03
Dan made it up.
Dan Bigger 27:07
So, yeah, I just try to have fun with things. And, you know, I make things up just like other companies make up stuff because it’s not really true, yeah, because I sit and watch TV all day, and, you know, I’ll be watching, like today’s SVU day, so how much in SBU all day? And I’ll see all the commercials, and I’ll see all these outlandish, outrageous things that these companies say about their products. And I laugh because I know it’s not true, right? So I take some of that and make it humorous, and that’s how I post a little bit on our stuff, right? Like it can cure cancer or something. See, again, you get it because it’s stupid, because nothing could cure cancer. But can cure cancer?
Curt Anderson 27:46
Can, can this grow hair? I’m asking for, I’m asking for a friend. There you go, guys that I know he wanted to know, like, if this thing could grow hair,
Dan Bigger 27:54
we did an extensive study at bigger university, and one doctor say it
Curt Anderson 27:59
works, actually, well, well, thank you. Because my I’m going to tell my buddy. He was asking me about it, so that’s awesome. I’ll get back to you. Damon, I might come back with, like, a full, you know,
Damon Pistulka 28:08
like, so I’ve seen him with the fro man, yeah, that’s right.
Curt Anderson 28:11
That’s right. All right. Dan, from a LinkedIn standpoint, do you find that your customers are your customers on LinkedIn? Are you finding success there?
Dan Bigger 28:18
What are your thoughts? Uh, no, again, it’s LinkedIn is because of the people that I’ve built up. So I have a lot of people that I know over the, you know, however, decade I’ve been on LinkedIn and and actually, some of the people do come through with ideas like, they’ll, they’ll tell me about a shop that they saw or, you know, or maybe they’ll even go in and talk to the owner and say, Hey, I know these people that make these things. Would you be interested in talking to them, you know? And that’s, that’s the whole thing about networking is, is, you know, I can sit here and send out 50 emails or make 100 calls, but if you have people that are passionate about your product, that are out there, that know you, that know your story, they know how the products are made, they know everything about you. So some of them are willing to go up to people and say, Hey, I know this guy that does these things. Would you, you know? Are you interested? I know. I know. Yeah, Adam Baker sent me a couple leads. So, yeah, it’s not, it’s not uncommon, right?
Damon Pistulka 29:11
It’s like Andrew Deutsch likes to say, voracious advocates for your brand.
Dan Bigger 29:15
Yeah, right. But you know, again, I can only do so much my myself, but if I have you know, 300 other people that are out there looking for stuff for me that are may run in or know somebody that does that’s, that’s really how I’ve made my career
Curt Anderson 29:29
successful. Yeah, how so I want to, I want to dive into like you mentioned, like the B to B folks you know, say, like the craft stores, flower shops. Do you from a social media standpoint, in your perspective, where do you feel is the best way to connect with those folks?
Dan Bigger 29:43
It’s hard because those people are small business owners too. So they don’t really, right? They don’t really, you know, if I get them through email, it’s I’m lucky, but the way I do that to keep front of mind is I participate in their social media. Yeah, right. Exactly. Exactly talk a little bit about that, yeah. So, you know, again, once you get to know people and and again, I do smart ass things, so I’ll, you know, like one of our customers in Georgia always does, like they’ll do a name of the of the week, if you’re so, if you’re, if your name begins with O so I go in there and keep changing my name. You know, this week, I’m Omar. Yeah. Again, I’ll see him at the show, and they’re like, thank you so much for participating and doing all this stuff, because it helps it get, you know, yeah, they notice it so right? Again, as a customer that you have willing to come back because you’re out there helping them do what they do, right?
Damon Pistulka 30:37
Yeah, right, yeah. And that’s an awesome thing. I think, no matter what social platform you’re on that a lot of business owners don’t realize, and people in business is, is that participation with others on their profiles and then what they’re doing really, is the way that you you can continue to build your your brand, and what you’re doing,
Dan Bigger 30:55
yeah, and it again, it reminds You that, it reminds them that you’re there, yeah, and again, if you do it enough, then you become friends with them, like all the people that I met through LinkedIn and now, like Kirsten and and Adam Baker and John Bogle no and Dave Chrysler, and you know, all these people that I know have become friends of mine. So, you know now, because I participate in our social media. They participated in mind over, you know, a couple of years or a decade, or whatever it is. Now I know them. So if I run into somebody about whatever, Oh, you do this because I actually do that for customers. You know, when I run into people that need web, you know, web or social media help, like, Okay, you need to talk to these people, right, right, as long as you’re comfortable with not working someone in your direct backyard. I know everybody that can do anything, right, right. You can quote me on that. Damon, everybody that can do anything, yeah. I mean, really, there’s, there’s, there’s almost no problem that I don’t know someone that can fix it
Curt Anderson 31:58
right, right? Dan knows a person, right? Dan’s got a guy. And I think that’s a great takeaway today is for folks. You know, when you’re trying to get on somebody’s radar, what a phenomenal way to do that. Just get participate and just get active on their social media, on their Facebook, on their LinkedIn, whatever it might be is to what a perfect way to get on their radar. And you’re just, you’re focused on building that relationship, as opposed to, you know, buy my product, buy my product.
Dan Bigger 32:25
Yeah, we did. Well, actually, that’s a funny story too, because we just picked up a customer at the last Atlanta show, and she’s like, I know you’re on you I know you’re on a social media and I know I’ve talked to you and I’m just going to finally buy She said, Yeah,
Curt Anderson 32:39
right. You wore me down. Yeah,
Damon Pistulka 32:44
yeah, wore me down. Wore me
Dan Bigger 32:46
down, yeah. So now, now, when they come walking through the show, I start chatting their name. Actually, I was thinking about the next show. I was gonna go like Willy Wonka and dress like Willy Wonka at the next show. But are you really I’m thinking about it. I just gotta find the
Damon Pistulka 32:59
right suit. Yeah.
Curt Anderson 33:00
I’m sure got it somewhere, right? I’m sure somebody’s got some, somebody’s got to add that for you.
Dan Bigger 33:05
Yeah, it’s all about
Curt Anderson 33:07
having fun. All right, Dan, so fourth quarter starting on Wednesday. What’s, what’s on your radar? What are you super excited about? What are you rolling into for
Dan Bigger 33:15
fourth quarter at Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Christmas isn’t our biggest time of year. So is that? So this is we’re currently trying to clear the slate so we can prepare for Christmas orders that have become through,
Curt Anderson 33:26
yeah, how what are like? Walk us through, like, what’s October, November look like for you? Are you
Dan Bigger 33:31
everybody? Yeah, everybody starts. And I’m actually now that I’m sort of dealing with the retail end of things. I’m, I’m actually kind of shocked how early people start planning for Christmas, as far as retail, but they, they start planning now, right? Yeah. So we’re, we’re already delivering Christmas stuff. Are you really
Curt Anderson 33:47
so, like, so Julie’s in production? Yup, you’re taking orders communicate, your communications department, right? Yeah. So you’re, you’re in. So you’re just kind of cranking. Do you guys do forecasting? Or, like, how do you have any ideas? Just, are you throwing darts on the wall? Like, what the heck anybody’s going
Dan Bigger 34:03
to order now? Yeah, we just have everything ready. So we keep, you know, like our cards that don’t change that much we have stock, you know. So we probably stock 150 cards, Yep, yeah, and the other ones that are that are made to order. We just keep those binge full and keep them ready to go, right?
Curt Anderson 34:20
So, all right, Damon, I got a big question for Dan, anything you got
Damon Pistulka 34:24
so far? No, no, let’s hear it, Dan, I know you’re a
Curt Anderson 34:27
huge AI guy. When I say,
Dan Bigger 34:32
No, no, no,
Curt Anderson 34:34
I think it’s just what’s what’s AI doing for you?
Dan Bigger 34:36
I don’t use AI. My, my content is 100% human generated.
Curt Anderson 34:42
There you go. And you actually put that on the on every post, don’t you do? Yeah, that’s awesome.
Dan Bigger 34:48
I think, I think, I think AI is going to be a crutch that’s going to kill this generation again, phones. I just watched 60 minutes last night, and, you know, listening to the Utah governor talk about how phones are. Cancer for kids and even now, adults, like my mother in law, who’s 81 is on her phone all freaking day. What are we doing? People? Yeah, get off your phone and talk to people. Seriously, I live, I live in a beachfront community, so I watch tourists around here that are riding their bikes on their phones and they’re going to kill themselves. It’s just stupid. I mean, it is amazing how those little devices have taken
Curt Anderson 35:26
over our taking over our lives. Now, hey, DiAnn Beyer has a suggestion here. Dan, you ready? Yeah, we think you need something. Eagles related. What do you have anything there for? I do not.
Dan Bigger 35:39
Do not. No, no eagles.
Curt Anderson 35:42
Well, she’s, she’s putting it out there, you know, it is, it is, you know, from the other side of pits or other side of Pennsylvania. Well, you know, but it is, it’s our bird, right? It’s our national bird. So you could do, it’s true. So basically, anyway, so Alright, Damon, what do you got for us?
Damon Pistulka 35:57
No, I just, I just really think it’s cool how you and your wife working together now create a create a more holistic, a better business together. I think it’s cool that you’ve been able to do that, and it really makes a difference. I’m sure.
Dan Bigger 36:12
Yeah, I don’t know if I talked to both of you, but I talked to a lot of people before I made that decision, because I was really worried, oh yeah, my marriage. I’m not, yeah. I was, yeah, I was, I was very worried about it, but it has, it has actually brought us together better, so we actually have a better marriage now, which is crazy,
Curt Anderson 36:32
but Is that so? Alright, so I’m gonna, I’m gonna look for two words of wisdom, two questions to share. Words of wisdom from Dan, from Dan. Number one, what advice would you share if a husband and wife, two spouses, whatever, significant others, if they are considering working together, any suggestions that you would have for them? Kind of going in that transition,
Dan Bigger 36:52
somebody has to be in charge. One person has to make you know. One person has to have final say, and that is unequivocal, but the other person has to understand that, you know. So that’s where, you know, a small little business decision could turn into a massive fight, which can carry over into your marriage, which can destroy your marriage. I mean, it’s, you know. So that’s, that’s why I sort of went into with my it was being my wife’s business. I was coming in as a secondary, you know. And I have all these ideas, you know, but she ultimately has final say on whether we do them or not,
Curt Anderson 37:21
right, right? And have you, have you been able to keep, like, a good, healthy, like, with holidays, weekends, kids, sporting events? Do you kind of, like separate business from personal, or they kind of blend together? Or what’s that look like? No.
Dan Bigger 37:35
Well, yeah, my kids come first. So yeah, my my one son’s playing volleyball right now, so we stop everything at whatever time we gotta leave for his games. The other side’s playing football, so we’re going to his stuff. I just went to the backyard brawl. I flew up to see my daughter. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, yeah. So kids come first. So we, you know, whenever we take time off, it’s usually for them, but we don’t usually take a lot of time off, so I usually work, and I usually I either walk or play tennis every morning, and then I get started around 910, o’clock, and then I work till seven, yep, and it’s seven days a week.
Curt Anderson 38:12
Good for you. Well, congratulations, yeah. Last, last thing I want to ask you about the transition going from, you know, corporate, working for others, working different companies. How do you like working? When I say working for yourself, you know you and Julie as entrepreneurs. What’s it been like from you going from working from other folks to this true blue entrepreneurship lifestyle?
Dan Bigger 38:34
It’s, it’s really like raising kids. It’s like raising a family. It’s, it’s on you. You mean, you can’t I mean, I guess you can call in people, if you have the money to keep hiring people to do what you’re supposed to be doing, but, you know, it’s really on you. And I, I’ve, even when I worked for other people, I always looked at as my own business, because I worked for my father in law, and you know, that was in the ownership pool, you know, I didn’t own the company, but I looked at it, you know. So every job I’ve ever had, I’ve looked at it from both perspectives, and I’ve taken ownership of those things, to treat it like it was mine, to do it the way I would do it, you know, to keep an open mind on listening to people with backgrounds that could, you know, shed advice or shed, you know. So I think it’s two things. I mean, if you’re going to be your own business, you have to be able to be able and have the desire and drive to work all the time, you know, you take your time when you can. But, and the other part is to be open minded. You know, to listen up. Listen other people that can help you.
Curt Anderson 39:35
Listen other people that can help you. That’s a tough one. So, alright, Damon, anything? Anything else on your end before we wrap up.
Damon Pistulka 39:43
No, like I said, I think it’s just awesome that you’ve been able to do this, Dan and you working together as your wife. Just so cool. So cool see it, and mixing the kids in, like you said, too, it’s like, hey, we stop. We’re going to go see a game. We’re going to go support them in what they do and and integrate in your work and life together like. That it does really make a holistic life, I think, yeah. And it’s cool, yeah, we do.
Dan Bigger 40:06
We do. Yeah, we do what’s important to us, even, like with the volleyball club, you know, my wife, my wife, we not only support our kids, but we go and watch games now, because volleyball isn’t in season for a club yet, so we go out and watch kids that play in our club play. And it’s amazing how, how much people appreciate that. Oh yeah, yeah, parents, you know. And they will say, hey, you know, I got this girl. She wants to play. You need to go talk to her. And so again, it’s the same, my wife is actually doing the same thing that I do. You know, she’s built up good reputation for herself, and everyone loves her, and you know, she’ll go to these games. And literally, after the game is over, it’s like everyone comes over to her, and it’s like a meeting, right? So I told her, we’re gonna have start booking appointments or something. The last ones in the gym. We’re the last ones in the gym at every volleyball game we go
Curt Anderson 40:56
to, yeah, like, can’t get out the door. Last week, we went to think,
Dan Bigger 40:59
we went to think we went to two or three volleyball games. We end up signing up for four new kids. Yeah. So she’s built her club. She started her club. This will be her fourth season. First season was two teams. Second year was, I think six. Last year was eight, and we’re going to have like 10 or 12.
Curt Anderson 41:19
Wow, wow. That’s insane, dude, that’s
Dan Bigger 41:23
absolutely awesome. Yeah, so she’s she, you know, so I actually have to yell at her about doing too much volleyball and not enough glimmer
Curt Anderson 41:30
glass kids, right, right, right, right.
Dan Bigger 41:33
Well, so yeah, so wait, we’re very busy. Yeah, husband and wife, family, whole nine yards,
Curt Anderson 41:39
right? Well, bottom line, just very inspiring. Strongly encourage everybody follow Dan Bigger on LinkedIn. And I’ll tell you, I can’t tell you how many folks I have friends of mine that are connected strictly because of Dan Bigger. So Dan huge appreciation to you. Shout out to you, immense admiration for following your journey. You know? I mean, you know, you and I go back pre covered, which is like dog years, that’s like 20 years ago, right? Something like that. But I do miss going to lunch with you, by
Dan Bigger 42:07
the way, you know, yeah, I don’t know when we’re gonna make it back to New York. Well, I think the beach. I think you should come,
Curt Anderson 42:15
yeah, I don’t. You don’t need to come back to see me. I need to come see you. That’s yeah, the idiots right here, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dan Bigger 42:22
The weather’s always good. Here it’s, I live. I live literally a mile from the beach.
Curt Anderson 42:27
So yeah, I’m, yeah, I feel, I feel horrible for you. So anyway, Dan, party, thoughts, words of wisdom that you want to share as we close out, anything that you want to share. Now, just do it. Just do it. Stop by. Glimmer gifts, as a matter of fact. Now, can consumers buy from you? Anyway? They can.
Dan Bigger 42:45
Yeah, you can. So we have our website split into two. You have the the retail side of it and the wholesale side of it.
Curt Anderson 42:53
Alright, that’s awesome. And you know what? Just and before you jump off, let me just share that super quick. So again, guys, if you’re just joining us, pop in here and go to glimmer gifts. It’s glimmer glass gifts, and you’ve got shop right here, and you’ve got wholesale right there, right? So for our consumer friends, they can just go right here, right? And just go ahead and grab whatever you want, and Dan will get it shipped right out to you, and he’ll write a little personal note. Dan, you might even hand deliver it.
Dan Bigger 43:21
Is that, right? I have done that. Yeah, I actually, we actually did one of the guys I played tennis with his nephew, or Don’s nephew, his son in law died. Oh, I’m sorry. So he wanted to do special. We did 12 by 12, so they’re huge, yeah, yeah. So we did 312 by 12 by 12 for the kids. And they got to pick out what they wanted, and we made them for them, and just shift
Curt Anderson 43:41
them out last week. Nice, nice, awesome. And again, just look at this huge, huge selection. So yeah, and just absolutely love what you’re doing. Just love it’s very I actually prefer another personal we love having you here, but we really like it when Julie’s with you. So maybe, yeah, have Julie join you, right? So he’s a busy lady. He is a busy lady. She’s got better things to do. And hang out with us. Yeah? So guys, if you get it, get a chance. You’re catching this on replay. Go back. Hit the grab that Damon, set the rewind button. What is it?
Damon Pistulka 44:13
Just give that little replay, yeah, just pull that back. I don’t know what you call it, but we all know what to do. Go back to the beginning,
Curt Anderson 44:19
yeah, go back to get beginning. Dance, sharing all sorts of business development strategies, trade show strategies, building your entrepreneurial business up, really, from the ground level. And Dan, you’ve done an amazing job. Damon, how about a big round of applause for Dan? Bigger Dan, thank you, brother, dude. Repeat it. How many times you’ve been on the show?
Dan Bigger 44:37
Oh, this show, four or five, at least. I’d say at least,
Curt Anderson 44:41
because, like, even group times you’re on early days. And so we should be on All right? We’re gonna,
Dan Bigger 44:46
yeah, I don’t have the time I used to, so I can’t jump in anymore, but yeah, I’ll come back and be on the show. I like, I like, do I actually miss this part of business development? You know? I don’t. I’m usually, I gotta go back and make an order, but I.
Curt Anderson 45:00
You, you know, what you could you could start the Dan, bigger show. I’m just saying, Yeah,
Dan Bigger 45:05
you would be phenomenal. No, actually, my wife and I were, we were going to do a podcast with my son, because he doesn’t talk to us that much, so it’s usually a grunt or some kind of sarcastic whatever.
Damon Pistulka 45:16
Oh, that would be awesome. So yeah,
Dan Bigger 45:18
my wife and I wanted to do the podcast. We’re going to come with deep thoughts from John. From Josh.
Damon Pistulka 45:26
Are you hungry? No, yeah, that’s it.
Dan Bigger 45:30
And my mother in law says, Butler. My mother in law cleans up and does, yeah, order cooking for him.
Curt Anderson 45:35
How was school good? He’s, yeah, I get, you know,
Dan Bigger 45:41
I’ll ask him, he plays football. I’m like, How’s, how’s this team look? I don’t know, yeah, but once you film on it for four days, how did you know? You know?
Curt Anderson 45:55
Well, yeah, well, hey, and I don’t, we missed this. Did I catch this one? Dan says, By the way, I love my sterling silver over tree, oval tree. So thanks. Thank you. Okay, alright guys, we’re gonna wrap up have a great, amazing, incredible Monday, and rest of your week, we will catch you here next time. Dan. Hang out with us for one second and God bless, go out there and be
Damon Pistulka 46:16
awesome. We’ll see ya. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, Dan. Bye.