Author: gersonco

Inside Sales Job

Posted on by gersonco

Join our family.  The Gerson Companies is a third-generation family-owned seasonal, gift and home decor importer that has been in business for over 80 years. We are headquartered in Olathe, KS with offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and sales personnel across the United States. We showcase our product lines in over 10 markets across the country including permanent showrooms in Atlanta and Las Vegas. We offer competitive compensation in addition to benefit plans including 401K and opportunities for growth.  

Role Overview:

The Inside Sales Representative will report to the Vice President of Sales & Customer Experience and is responsible for engaging current and prospective customers to grow sales across Gerson’s product lines. The Inside Sales Representative will cultivate relationships with key buyers and decision makers via phone, email, and semi-annual trade show events to promote Gerson’s product offerings, identify sales growth opportunities and close business. The Inside Sales Representative will also work cross functionally with Gerson’s Customer Support and Shipping and Logistics team to enhance the overall customer experience. The position requires goal-oriented self-starters that thrive in a fast-paced and entrepreneurial work environments, strong attention to detail and organizational skills, and a high motivation to directly impact business growth and outcomes. Inside Sales Representative compensation will consist of base hourly pay and variable commission-based bonuses determined by performance towards meeting predefined sales targets and objectives.      

Responsibilities and Duties

  • Manage a strategic set of accounts to engage and nurture relationships with key buyers and decision makers.
  • Execute strategic phone and email marketing campaigns to promote and generate demand across all Gerson product lines.
  • Drive attendance and assist customers in-person during semi-annual trade shows.
  • Identify revenue generating opportunities with new customers and opportunities to upsell and expand the Gerson footprint within existing customers.
  • Proficiently manage and maintain customer information within Gerson’s internal tools and systems for easy access and reference by the company.
  • Ensure quality service and high customer satisfaction through availability, consistency, and attention to detail.
  • Cross-functionally engage the Gerson Customer Support and Shipping and Logistics teams based on customer needs.
  • Apply creative problem-solving skills to resolve issues on behalf of Gerson’s customers

Skills Required:

  • Highly motivated, entrepreneurial attitude
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills – both written and verbal
  • Excellent attention to detail and organizational skills
  • Comfortability with cold outreach and nurturing relationships
  • Ability to think critically to solve problems and provide solutions to customers
  • Demonstrated ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
  • Aptitude for acquiring product knowledge and developing sales skills
  • Strong computer skills including Word, Excel and Outlook required
  • Ability to work independently and capable of seeking direction when required

 

Apply Now

Warehouse Positions

Posted on by gersonco

Come join the Gerson Team and see, for yourself, why we are different from all other warehouse and distribution centers!!!!

We are currently looking to fill the following part time positions:

  • Unloaders
  • Order Pullers
  • Reach Truck Drivers
  • Quality Control
  • Assemblers

All positions offer on the job training.

SCHEDULES:

  • Monday-Friday 
  • 4-6 hour shifts
  • Between the hours of 7:00 am – 3:30 pm

HOURLY PAY: $16.00

Apply Now

Industry Update – June 17, 2021

Posted on by gersonco

Dear Customers,

Due to the 321% increase in ocean freight ($3,800 last year to $16,000 currently), The Gerson Companies is implementing a 7.75% surcharge on all invoices for orders shipping on July 1 or after. Although many companies in our industry added a surcharge several months ago, we delayed this as long as possible, but can no longer afford to absorb the entire freight increase. In addition to the onerous ocean freight increases from the shipping carriers, prices for many raw materials used in manufacturing our products have increased up to 70%. The Gerson Companies will continue to absorb 100% of the increased manufacturing costs, but we do not have the ability to absorb the unprecedented shipping cost increases. The increase in shipping cost to us is much greater than 7.75%, and we are sharing in this additional cost.

As a cost plus business, our company prides itself in offering the lowest prices in our industry, which we feel is still accomplished with the 7.75% surcharge. This increase is based on where freight rates are today, and we have not built in any potential future increases. Our sincere hope is that we will not be coming back and increasing again.
We do not take this lightly.

We apologize for this message, and will work hard to limit the time this surcharge will be in place.
If you any questions, please feel free to email any questions to cs@gersoncompany.com

Sincerely,
The Gerson Companies

Gerson_Industry_Update_6-17-2021Download
Tariff Update

Tariff Update

Posted on by gersonco
Jim Gerson

To stay up to date with recent tariff news and updates, please see below for a timeline of events, and any previous communications. In continuing to maintain an open and transparent dialogue with our customers, we will be updating our site with any new information in addition to our email communications.

Gerson_TariffCalendar_20190607 (9)

 

June 2019

June19

 

Late May 2019

LateMay2019

 

Early May 2019

EarlyMay2019

 

December 2018

December18

 

November 2018

November18

 

 

 

Important Notice Regarding Tariffs

Posted on by gersonco

Dear Valued Customer,

We are writing to you regarding a very important topic that has significant consequences on several products and product lines sold by The Gerson Companies. We are all reading and hearing about the on-going “trade war” between the United States and China, and the potential for a third round of U.S. import tariffs. To date, the first two rounds of tariffs – at a 25% incremental duty on the designated goods imported into the U.S. – has had very limited impact on Gerson’s products.

tariff

However, the proposed third round of tariffs, at a 10% incremental duty on over 6,000 assorted consumer products, would impact several of Gerson’s product lines. Based on our current understanding, if the third round of tariffs were to be enacted, they would go into effect in September/October 2018. As a result, Gerson would be required to pay an incremental 10% duty on certain designated items that would clear customs after September 2018.

While we hope that the current administration is able to negotiate a trade agreement with China that does not include these new tariffs, we have to be prepared for the worst case scenario. The impact of the increase in import duty of 10% would mean that Gerson will have to increase the sell price of the effected products as much as 10% in order to offset the incremental duty expense. This price increase would go into effect immediately this fall in the event the third round of tariffs is implemented.

This price increase would be on several of our Gerson Everyday™ product lines as well as on several product categories in our Gerson International™ Spring 2019 product offering. If a price increase on our tariff-impacted products is necessary, we will contact you advising about the change in prices on all of the related products

We will keep you informed of any impact these trade negotiations have on our prices as this process progresses. In the meantime, we will post any relevant information or articles on our website.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.

 

Best Regards,

Associates of The Gerson Companies

The Big Push

Posted on by gersonco

I am really glad to be back from my Asia trip – 26 days in total!   Truth be told, I combined a family vacation with two weeks of work.  I knew it was time to come home when I completely used up my large tube of toothpaste. 🙂

Our year is off to a really strong start. Atlanta, Dallas, and our own Olathe Open House have all been terrific markets. As of this point, I do not have the final results from Las Vegas, but we are seeing really nice increases each day.

Las Vegas Showroom, January 2018
Las Vegas Showroom, January 2018

The most eye-opening piece of data thus far is that of all the orders we have received to date, customers who ordered last year have ordered an average of 35% more this year. That’s a really big number!

We are quickly approaching the February 9th Gerson International™ order cut-off date for our seasonal program. With only this week remaining, the deadline is coming up fast. A number of our customers wonder why we ask for orders this far in advance of the season, and the one and only reason we have this deadline is because we want to be able to deliver product to our customers in a timely manner.

GIL Deadline_1

Believe it or not, our factories are already booking up their capacity for the 3rd and 4th quarters. We source our amazing product from over 300 factories, and after we receive our customers’ GIL orders, we split up every order to separate the items by factory. We will then total the pieces and “cube out” the items so they will fit into 40-foot containers to be shipped to our Olathe, Kansas distribution center. We will receive about 8,000 orders in this program, so it takes us about a week to process our customers’ orders to place with our factories.

I am not trying to lull you to sleep with all of this information, but I want all our customers to understand that if we do not submit orders to our suppliers in this time frame, we will not be a priority to our factories and thus our orders may not be shipped on time. When our orders do not ship on time, we cannot ship our customers on time. This is why we have our cut-off date for orders from our seasonal GIL product lines.

After we place orders with our factories, we spend the next 90 – 120 days cajoling, begging, demanding, and encouraging our factory partners to produce and ship on time. We visit our suppliers numerous times at the start and during production, and we inspect all the product once an order is complete. We do not allow factories to ship any of our orders until we sign off on the quality of the product.

Probably the most frequent request from our customers is that we ship our seasonal program as early as possible, and I promise that we are trying!  We have some very exciting news to share this season about something we have never done with our GIL program. Last week, we placed orders with our suppliers based on our fact-based estimates of what we will be receiving by the February 9th cut-off date.  Although this is not for all of the sku’s we have in our program, the advanced orders we have placed with our suppliers represents over half of the items in our catalogs.

I do believe there are many advantages for our customers to place orders now. In addition to taking advantage of our great prices, our customers benefit in placing Fall/Halloween and Christmas orders while the product is fresh in our minds from the previous season.

Don’t forget we have many great Gerson Everyday brands which you can order and reorder long after our GIL cut-off date. Our Gerson Everyday product lines include: Handcrafted sculptures from the new and exciting Flint Hills Studio™, fashionable and trend-right products of Lone Elm Studios®, innovative and quality LED products from Everlasting Glow®, and our exclusively designed goods for the home from the GG Collection®.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Best Regards,

Jim

jimgerson@gersoncompany.com

The Results Are In…

The Results Are In…

Posted on by gersonco

As usual, I am in Asia this time of year, and always disappointed to miss the trade shows in Atlanta and Las Vegas. I am staying very busy here having traveled to six different countries, but am happy to report that I have found the time for a haircut here in China. It was 39RMB, which converts to about $6.00 USD, including tip. My Dad would be so proud!

Getting my hair cut in China!
Getting my hair cut in China!

I received daily reports from the Atlanta Gift Market and am pumped up by the results! We had the biggest sales that I can remember, which is a confirmation that we are connecting with our customers, attracting prospects, and continuing to improve our service levels.

customers_saying

In addition to our results, I find it incredibly exciting that many other gift decor suppliers are showing positive numbers, as well. This is hugely important to all of us because retail needs a financially strong vendor base, and the suppliers need a diverse, successful independent customer base. When suppliers are successful, we will invest in product development, innovation, process improvement, and a multitude of other areas you have come to expect from us.

My associates tell me there was a very positive energy in our building at AmericasMart Atlanta that has been missing for a-while. With so much negative press about retail, we all should feel great about this. We are all making our own real news!

I am looking forward to digging in upon my return to find out what categories and items are driving our sales, and in my next message, I will tell you about them. Until then, please let me hear from you! I am receiving great comments, some in agreement and others sharing a different point of view, and each one of them is very much appreciated.

Best Regards,

Jim

jimgerson@gersoncompany.com

Join Us As We Gear Up for 2018!

Posted on by gersonco

It doesn’t seem possible that we are winding down another year – It just can’t be! As is our most important company tradition, I would like to begin this message by saying “Thank You.” No different than when my grandparents founded The Gerson Companies over 75 years ago, we exist because of our customers and would like to extend our gratitude for our continued partnership. All of our associates, living throughout four countries, embrace our company core value of “Our Customers Matter” and work very hard to earn your business every day.

The Gerson Family / Photo Taken May 2016

2017 Year At A Glance

As we all continue to navigate a quickly changing retail environment, we have much to be thankful for this year. We understand the challenges, and greatly appreciate your faith in The Gerson Companies to partner in your success. In 2017, our sales were even with last year, which is both a good news and bad news story. Every year, we set our goals to include sales increases over the previous year, no different than all businesses. So while we are disappointed, I can’t remember a year that seemed to be more challenging with so many changes to the retail landscape, and I have been working here for 35 years!

In 2017, we accomplished a lot together:

  • Giftbeat once again featured Gerson throughout the year as a favorite vendor among independent retailers. In its most recent November issue, Giftbeat published Gerson as retailers #1 choice for Seasonal/Halloween & décor.
  • Evolved and reorganized our Customer Service and Sales departments to focus on enhancing and improving the customer experience.
  • Reinforced our reputation as the leader in our industry by adding 1,828 new independent retailers to the Gerson Family of customers in 2017. Many new retailers were attracted to the company by Gerson International™ and our Lone Elm Studios® product lines, which achieved a combined 30.1% sales increase this year.

What To Expect in 2018

We will continue to be profitable and reinvest in support of our customers and The Gerson Companies’ future in 2018. Our plans are set, and I am very excited for what the next year will bring! We are introducing in a new brand, Flint Hills Studio™, more new innovative product at great pricing, and new technology to help grow our customers’ sales.

In 2018, our customers will experience:

  • Specifically designed technology to support our independent customers. G-Commerce, a new drop ship fulfillment program, will be introduced in January to offer an exciting, “no-risk” way to help our customers grow e-commerce sales and their brands.
  • Our new family members Darryl, Horace, Bella, among many others, will put a smile on your face and dollars in your cash register! Flint Hills Studio™, a beautifully crafted and exclusively designed product line, will debut in Atlanta and Las Vegas this January.
  • New and innovative designs in our seasonal product offering from Gerson International™ – the industry’s most popular and competitively priced seasonal décor offering. We are looking forward to GIL continuing its double digit year-over-year sales growth in 2018.

We have immense gratitude for our relationships with our customers, and look forward to continuing to improve and become more important to you this coming year. We appreciate the faith you have placed in our company by allowing us to support your business.

Have a great holiday season!

Warmest Regards,

Jim Gerson & The Gerson Family