How Large Promotional Products Distributors Navigate Change (A Resource List)
Small distributors (less than $2.5 million in annual sales) comprise nearly 50% of the industry’s (reported) $25+ billion in revenue. And according to ASI’s Top 40 Distributors list of 2022, the Top 40 distributors (by annual revenue) range from $1 billion (at the top) to $37 million (at the bottom). Somewhere between $2.5 million and $37 million rests a large middle swath of distributors. And those who hover near or well above the $10 million mark in annual sales have a unique challenge: scale.
If you’re near or above the $10 million category, first, congrats. Growing in this business, at this size, is difficult. Because the primary challenge most large distributors face when growing is learning how to grow with intimacy while scaling, a rare and signature feat for a successful enterprise company.
Change gets infinitely more difficult at scale, particularly when you consider how complex today’s promotional products client and their projects have become. Today, team selling is the norm because complex clients demand more high-touch TLC. Kitting, packaging, fulfillment, e-commerce, and sophisticated design expectations are common. Supply chain monitoring is crucial because of its intricacies. Team performance is at risk due to overwhelming frustration in the workflow. Fail in any of these factors, and you can create a disconnected experience for clients and for your team.
This expanded version of complex promo sales has forced many larger distributors to go through a massive restructuring and focus on three strategic areas: roles, process, and strategy.
Our perspective: Having onboarded over 750 distributor companies that comprise a total of $1.4 billion in market size gives us a distinct viewpoint. When distributors come to us for a software solution, what they are really seeking is a solve to make their team selling process simple and, by so doing, help save time. It’s the #1 benefit we hear from distributors who are in growth-mode, our ability to connect a disconnected team and ultimately, save time.
To that end, we put together a “top hits” of the best resources and guidance from large distributors. It includes reflections on new roles, expert advice from process implementers, and strategic counsel from large distributors who have learned how to grow with intimacy while scaling.
We hope you can use a few essential tips from this list to help you unlock your next phase of growth!
On Strategy: Large distributor company leaders (and commonsku clients) Sandy Gonzales (CEO at MadeToOrder), and Stephanie Leader, CEO at Leaderpromos, joined Jill Haspert (CEO of Foxtrot Marketing Group) to share “How to Create a Strategy for Epic Growth” during our skucon 2022 experience.
On Marketing: The marketing and brand engagement role is growing in large distributor organizations. Consider our chat with Andrea Stoll, where we talk about her role as the Brand Engagement Dir at Top 40 Distributor (and commonsku client), Touchstone, a position that bridges the gap between sales and marketing in a way that drives revenue. Or, our conversation with Kate Hallett, CMO for PPAI 100 company, Harper + Scott, where we discuss her role in the context of RFP wrangling and brand management.
On Production: Through the pandemic, we experienced a painful supply chain crisis, and suddenly, monitoring and troubleshooting projects in production became a vital part of a distributor’s workflow, and the emergence of a new role in production became critical. Learn how to master the distributor production role with Mike Vandervoet of Paperclip Promotions.
On Process: Many larger distributors gravitate to EOS (Gino Wickman’s Entrepreneurial Operating System). “Is Process the Missing Key to Unlock Growth?” is a conversation with EOS Leader Mike Paton. Also, check out our chat with Tom Rauen, an EOS advocate, who talked about the role of process for goal-setting, How to Break Down Big Goals into 90-Day Sprints (Tips from a 100-Mile Runner).
On Team-Selling: commonsku customer, Imprint Engine, opened their doors just over 10 years ago and has since surpassed the $50 million mark in annual revenue. We sat down with CEO Caleb Gilbertson to talk about his transition in our chat, “Making Strategic Investments for Growth.” And to bring it back around to marketing, check out our conversation with SVP of Brand Strategy at Imprint Engine, Mike Schwandt, on the topic of “Brand Strategy Before Brand Identity.”
On Digital Transformation: Unifying workflows. Creating cross-functional collaboration. Building harmonious, simple ecosystems for your team. Removing the friction from work. Creating a catalyst for scaling. Harnessing the power of technology to transform the client experience. And creating an easy and efficient sales tool for your team is often the missing puzzle piece to the next iteration in your growth. Learn how digital transformation solves promo’s scaling problem here.
From your first order to your 1000th (and beyond), we’re here to help you facilitate change for your team, create epic merch experiences for your clients, and transform your vision for what a modern-day promotional products agency can become.