All About Us

Last week Tom and I attended the 2017 Awards and Personalization Association (APA) Trade Show in Las Vegas, NV. The awards industry's biggest event, it gives awards retailers like us the chance to meet with our trophy manufacturers and reps face-to-face. Industry leaders from across the country meet to network, receive education through seminars, and touch and feel the newest award products. There is even an achievement gala where the best in the awards industry is recognized with The Gold Obelisk Industry Awards!

Highlights of the Show

New premium art glass pieces from Crystal Blanc.

New Products:  We will be adding many new products this spring to our website!  Watch for Polar Camel tumblers, similar to Yeti travel mugs, perpetual crystal awards, new colorful art glass awards, acrylic perpetual plaques, and fantasy football championship rings, to name a few.

Education: The APA tradeshow offers interesting and informative education seminars for it's members.  Experts in different facets of the awards industry present on a wide range of topics, from technical training on how to operate equipment and software, to growing sales in your business.  One seminar I attended, given by Sam Varn, was about using licensed logos on awards.  It is quite a process to become registered to use trademark logos, so it was very interesting to learn exactly how to do it and the legality involved.

Thank you to Victor and Larry from Crystal Blanc for the best meal in Vegas!

Meeting Suppliers: We had great conversations with all of our key suppliers, including Kathy and Greg from Tropar Manufacturing, our 2016 Vendor of the Year, Casey, Erick, Matt & Armando from Simba Cal, Jody and Mike from JDS Industries, Dan from Western Trophy & Sign Supply, Lily from Topmost World, and Chien from Toujours. A big thank you for Larry and Victor from Crystal Blanc for a delicious Italian dinner, Grazie!

Networking with Competitors: Yes, we all own awards businesses, and we are technically in competition with each other. But because our industry is so small, and what we do is positive, we have a very supportive and helpful community. The phrase "A rising tide floats all boats" seems to apply in our industry, as when recognition across the country grows, so does our sales. Each awards company seems to occupy an unique niche market so there is business for all.

After Hours:  Since it's Vegas, there's lots of opportunity to have fun with friends!  After attending the show for many years and having my hubby Jeff serve on the APA board, many of my suppliers and competitors are dear friends that I only see once a year.  It's fun to go out on the town with them and make memories!

ARIEF Scholarship: Tom's son Joe was awarded one of the industry's student scholarships.  Once announced by the APA, I will be writing an additional post about his award.  Congrats Joe!

Thank you to the APA board members, committee members, and staff for putting on a great show this year.  See you all in 2018!

Cheers!
Jessica

An Awesome Replica!

Our Replica Fantasy Football Trophy is a best seller, any winner would be proud to display!

The Championship Replica Fantasy Football Trophy was designed by our team at Trophies2Go and is a best seller!  Nominated by our engraver Paul, he chose this award because of the high quality, the unique exclusive design, and great value.

Our Championship Replica is made of heavy resin with a brushed pewter finish, The two sizes feature a triangle tower with a football at the top. An engraved black aluminum plate is customized with three lines of text.

Here's what customers had to say about our 2016 Product of the Year:

“Another awesome trophy from a great company.”

“Good product for the price”

“I love the look and the size of the trophy”

Thank you to our vendor JDS Industries who creates this custom award exclusively for Trophies2Go!

For past Product of the Year winners, check out our 2012 Monster Trophies, 2013 Honey Badger Trophy, 2014 Swirl Egg Art Glass award and 2015 Waterford Cut Acrylic Award!

Cheers!
Jessica

Customer Service, Product Quality, Flexibility.

Our Production Manager Tom with his favorite supplier, Kathy Woods from Tropar.

That’s what sets apart our 2016 Vendor of the Year, Tropar Manufacturing. Based in New Jersey and Texas, Tropar has been a privately held company since 1959. Their brand, Airflyte, consists of high quality plaques, art glass awards, acrylic awards, and desk items.  Greg and Peter run the company and our favorite Customer Service Person, Kathy Woods, always takes great care of us when we order.

Tropar Manufacturing was nominated for “Vendor of the Year” by our Production Manager Tom.  He says:

"I nominated them because Kathy and her crew are a pleasure to work with and always accommodate us however they can.  Ordering is a breeze and they are always quick to respond to inventory checks or product questions.  Also nominated them for their willingness to help us establish our Quickship program which allows us to have a good selection of products on hand that are ready to ship and save on freight costs by not having to order constantly."

Our 2014 Product of the Year - Swirl Egg Art Glass, made by Tropar Manufacturing.

Some of their best sellers for us include the 2014 Product of the Year Swirl Art Glass Egg, many of our quickship acrylic awards, and many premium plaques, including most of our Made in the USA Solid Wood Plaques.

Congratulations to Tropar for being our 2016 Vendor of the Year! Thank you for providing our customers with high quality products and for the great customers service you give to Trophies2Go every day!

Cheers,
Jessica

Even though we are now in the middle of January, I really enjoy looking back over the year to see what trials we have overcome and accomplishments we can celebrate as a company.  Here's a look at the 2015 year in review.

2015 Retail Website of the Year from the ARA.

Website Challenges

If you have ever launched an ecommerce website, you know that no amount of planning and testing can truly prepare you for when your site goes live.  Unfortunately we started the year on a down note, as we had just launched our new website in Oct 2014 and had many, many unplanned problems.  Even though the website had improved attributes over our previous site, we had challenges with our user experience, including customers unable to place orders, shipping issues, and problems with browsers, especially Internet Explorer.

Thanks to the tireless work of our developer Ben C., over the course of the year the bugs were squashed and the website performance improved.  Thanks to the hard work, patience and perseverance of our staff, our site now looks great, works well, and gets positive reviews from our customers.

Website Celebrations

For the second time in our company's history, we receive the Awards and Recognition Association (ARA) Best Retailer Website (photo above right). Even as we struggled with bugs, our website was honored by the ARA for it's innovation. What an awesome achievement and something to celebrate!

Margene models our Championship Belt!

New Products

2015 was the year for new products.  We introduced new crystal golf awards, engraved glassware, including wine glasses and beer steins, and epic championship belts.

We now offer full color sublimated products, which is a new technology for us.  It's been really fun to create customized awards in full color for our customers!  It's amazing to me the range of different product we can now make with our sublimation system, such as photo panels, rock tiles, name badges, clipboards, full color plaques, and acrylic awards with photos.  What an innovative and creative way to make meaningful awards and gifts!

One other piece of new equipment we purchased is an Epilog laser. Our two laser engravers Laurie W and Lori N were over the moon with this new piece of state-of-the-art equipment!

Staff Celebrations

Paul with his 10 year award.

The Trophies2Go Team enjoyed two teambuilding events - bowling in May, and our annual holiday party with white elephant gift exchange in December.  Both events were well attended and enjoyed by our staff.

One anniversary to celebrate was our engraver extraordinaire Paul's 10th year with our company.  Paul is an awesome co-worker; he's dependable and even-keeled.  He is extremely meticulous and thorough with his craft, creating stunning engraving that customers love.

That's our year in a nutshell!  2015 is definitely a year to remember. Lessons learned include when challenges come your way, stay committed to work at it a day at a time, and eventually perseverance wins out.

Wishing you and yours a great 2016!

Cheers, Jessica

Stunning, impressive, durable and consistent.  That's what sets this award apart from all the others.

Our Waterford Award sparkles with beveled edges.

The Waterford Cut Acrylic Award by RB Fabrication wins the Trophies2Go 2015 Product of the Year. Nominated by our Production Manager Tom, he chose this award because of the high quality and elegant design.

Our engraver Lori likes how this award is consistent from piece to piece and is easy to engrave.  It always looks great for our customers.

This stunning award features sparking bevels in the Waterford style with an an elegant pointed oval shape on a sturdy acrylic base.  Made of clear acrylic, it has the drama of a crystal award with the durability of Lucite.

Here's what past customers had to say:

"We used this product for our Employee of the Year awards and it really made an impact.  Award is large, attractive, and really makes a statement."

"This Award is quality.  It truly looks like Waterford Cut Crystal.  The work on the personalization is great too."

Thank you to our vendor RB Fabrications, who supplies us with many of our top selling, highest quality acrylic awards.  Based in California, all of their awards are made in the USA.

We are proud to carry RB's awards in our online catalog and especially proud to feature one as our 2015 Product of the Year!

For past Product of the Year winners, check out our 2012 Monster Trophies, 2013 Honey Badger Trophy and 2014 the Swirl Egg Art Glass award!

Cheers!
Jessica