As the chapter president for the local Association of Fundraising Professionals, I’m traveling this week in Nashville, TN to the International AFP Leadership Academy.

At our recent Boot Camp, I mentioned to Nashville resident Molly (from MarkerSupply.com - - leading supplier of Zig Posterman Markers and Prismacolor Markers and Pencils) that I was going to be in town, and so I was invited to visit Al, Alberta, Molly and Danielle at their headquarters.

We talked about ways they can improve their marketing strategy including e-mail marketing, live chat, store features and Social Media Optimization including their Marker Blog and Twitter Feed.  They’ve also signed up for Cactus on Demand to handle their order management needs.

It’s always a neat experience to visit one of our clients on location.  They put me right to work.  I picked and packed an order for Whole Foods Market and learned more about markers than I ever thought possible.

One of the things that they are really doing right is engaging their creative customer base.  They invite people who create art using their markers and send in photos – they’re then posted on their MarkerSupply.com Blog.

Durable Supply Company & MarkerSupply.com came on board with Solid Cactus back in the early days, launching on the Yahoo! Store platform back in 2001 and came on board as a Solid Cactus client in 2004 – and the company has grown since then.   From the early days of operating out of Al and Alberta’s house and garage to a 2,000 square foot warehouse, Al and Alberta have seen a lot of changes with Solid Cactus — and Al says that things keep getting better and better.

Another amazing bit of information that surfaced is that Alberta and Al are from the Pittston/Moosic area – about 15 miles from Solid Cactus World Headquarters.  I actually went to high school with some of Al’s cousins, and my mom taught some of them in school.

I’m off to the conference now and will be back to Solid Cactus on Monday with some special markers!

Top Photo: Danielle, me, Al, and Molly from MarkerSupply.com – Chalkboard art by Molly!
Middle and Bottom Photo: Me looking for markers to fulfill an order at the Durable Supply Company corporate headquarters in Nashville, TN.

Update - While I am here MarkerSupply.com received their Order #7000! Congratulations!

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