Flags
There are all kinds of occasions, both formal and informal when people need to have the correct flag for one or more nations, other than their own. Examples include sporting events, visits from foreign dignitaries or heads of state, or even simpler occasions such as welcoming a group of foreign visitors.
Other than sourcing the flags which we will discuss below your key will be making sure that people know they can get flags from you, and what the turnaround time is. Naturally you can charge more for a rush order but you need to be sure that you can either stock all of the most likely flags in sufficient quantity which could prove expensive, or better yet that your suppliers can provide a rush service at an agreed premium, and have access to fast shipping services such as DHL.
Even if you are not able to provide the rush order system initially, it may not matter if you get to the right clients, and let them know your prices and delivery times. You will want to offer a number of sizes as well as a custom sizing service (premium pricing) at a minimum you should offer small (hand held), medium (banner sized) and large (flagpole sized).
If you plan to carry any stock then the obvious ones are those countries closest to you, for example France and Germany in the UK, or Mexico and Canada in the USA.
In terms of distribution, the key will be letting people know in advance where
they can source your flags. We would suggest the following, but with some thought
you may be able to come up with more: -
Embassies and Consulates
Hotels and Conference centres
Schools and Clubs
Government departments such as; the department for trade and industry, foreign
office, ministry for agriculture etc.
Internet
Yellow Pages
Embassies and Consulates would be my first contact point. I would send them their own country flag as a gift with a brochure detailing the sizes, customisation service, pricing and if limited then the flags on offer. If you have a website include the address and suggest that they bookmark it in case of emergency.
Hotels and Conference centres would be another automatic choice. Even relatively small hotels often have a flagpole or two and will fly alternative flags to the home nation for large groups, or groups of dignitaries. I wouldn't send them a free flag as with the embassies, but would definitely send a brochure to their purchasing department, and to the General Manager's office. Make sure they know that you can provide an emergency service with 24 hours notice if you can, and what flags you carry in stock if you plan to do so. Recommend that they check their own stock every 12 months and offer a reminder service if this is of use to them.
Schools and Clubs are harder to get in touch with as there are more of them and usually cost will be more of an issue. Make sure that they understand you can do group discounts and can help with things like themed parties, amateur dramatic requirements, etc. i.e. stress your flexibility with regard to all things flag related. I would not send a brochure but would write a semi personalised letter to as many clubs and schools as you can in your immediate area. Re-write to them every 6 months, and put it in your diary so that you don¡¦t forget. You can use something like Amazon's free reminder service if you are really disorganised. They will send you an email for almost any date related reminder in the hope that it will prompt a book purchase.
Your own government will usually have strict buying requirements and processes but even they can be caught out by emergencies. Send a brochure with a covering letter to as many departments as you can think of. If possible follow up with a phone call to ensure that it got to the correct people. Your covering letter should specify that you would like details of how to get on the panel of suppliers for planned events, but stress that you can provide emergency or back up supplies if other suppliers let them down.
Regardless of your main buyers you should in this day and age have a website. Show flags that you have supplied, show all the nations you can supply, list prices, emergency cover capabilities, customising options. Web space is free or at least very cheap even if you pay for professional hosting services. Your design does not need to be fancy and you can teach yourself how to post photos into HTML using something like Dream Weaver using a free online tutorial. If you don't believe me run a search now in Google for <free Dream weaver tutorial>. Depending on how heavily you intend to promote the site you may or may not receive orders this way, but you will definitely lose orders if a site is not available.
Good old Yellow Pages is a great source of emergency buyers. If you aren't in there they can't find you. Take out the biggest graphic ad you can afford. Plaster it with "Any flag made, any size, in a hurry" or something equally plain speaking. Sit back and wait, orders will come.
Google has 1.3 million hits for Flag Suppliers, with the highest ranking being in the USA. I suspect you can still get a cheaper deal by going further a field however. Try www.trade-india.com, www.alibaba.com, and www.globalsources.com and compare both flexibility and price. It is ok to have one supplier for normal orders and another for custom work, or 24 hour orders.
If you get orders for triple striped flags then make sure that you get them made the correct way round!