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Bankers Advertising Company
Iowa City, Iowa
Years In Business: 118
Nominated by Doug Miskimen, Cedar Crest
Manufacturing
How has Bankers won your respect as a partner?
“In its 113th year of existence, Bankers Advertising committed to
distributing our brand-new line of writing instruments. Sales steadily
grew over the ensuing four-year period to more than 900 orders pro-
duced in 2013,” says Doug Miskimen, president of Cedar Crest
Manufacturing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “This dedication for our start-
up company had a dominate effect on helping us get established in the
industry.” He explains that Bankers Advertising’s substantial commit-
ment to the partnership, and specifically to the Cedar Crest line,
includes at least a monthly reference to Cedar Crest products and sales
results in
BAC Talk
, the company’s newsletter that has accompanied all
weekly sales commission checks for more than 100 years. In addition,
the company promotes the line by featuring at least six Cedar Crest
products in the company’s
Idea Book
catalog of best-selling items; and
including products in its 2014 gift catalog, weekly web specials, end-
user catalogs and online company stores.
In April, Bankers’ top sales team toured the nearby Cedar Crest
plant to learn about its processes and how to better sell the product
line. “Producing nearly 1,000 orders annually, with almost zero defects,
an outstanding credit relationship and much more underscores the
high level of business integrity and professionalism demonstrated con-
sistently by Bankers Advertising Company,” adds Miskimen.
One-On-One With Bankers Advertising Company
How important are partnerships with suppliers and how do
they ultimately benefit your company?
Because we are a distributor, our suppliers, along with our sales
partners, are a key ingredient to our success. We highly value our rela-
tionships with our suppliers and only a select few become part of our
list of key and recommended product lines. A true partnership where
we can focus on and meet the goals of each party is extremely valuable
to us. We work harder to promote the product lines when we know
the supplier is working hard for us.
What does Bankers do that sets you apart from other dis-
tributors in terms of working with suppliers?
Our supplier relationships are built on long-term trust and mutual
appreciation. Service and dependability are far more important than
price. We believe the suppliers must be profitable too and therefore we
respect their expertise and the role they play. We don’t negotiate on
every order or expect something special just because we sold an order.
We want to go to market with confidence in our production sources
and therefore we work to provide complete orders that are executable
while being fair to all: the customer, the salesperson, the supplier and
ourselves.
What advice do you have for others who want to achieve a
true partnership with their suppliers?
Respect your top suppliers by responding to their needs as you
would expect them to respond to you. Be honest in communicating
and ask only for the things you truly need. Suppliers pay attention to
those who promote their product line and give them clean business
with adequate production time. Each supplier relationship will grow as
you build on productive experiences over time.
DECEMBER 2014 •
PPB
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PPB
’s 2014
Powerful Partners
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