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JULY 2016 •

PPB

• 57

2015 PPAI

DISTRIBUTOR SALES VOLUME REPORT

panies outside our industry and the ease of

entry into the promotional products industry.

Joe Walkup

President

Innovative Business

Products, LLC

(UPIC: ibp459)

Nashville, Tennessee

Company:

Founded as a print company

in 2004, it has expanded offerings to provide

promotional products, apparel, warehousing,

fulfillment and online storefronts to clients in

the banking, healthcare and transportation

industries.

Economic Outlook:

“We are currently up

for 2016. Our business has been up for the

past three years and I don’t see it slowing

down. IBP is in a growth mode right now.

We are looking at new sales reps along with

potential acquisitions.”

Biggest Concerns:

“I think that consoli-

dation is changing the industry. For the most

part I think it is good, but it can make it

challenging in other ways. That being said I

am looking at doing the same thing.”

Stephanie Zafarana

President

Pica Marketing Group

(UPIC: ezgreen)

Dearborn, Michigan

Company:

PMG was established in 2008

during the depths of the recession. During

those years of tight budgets, Zafarana

noticed a profound need to help marketing

executives track and report their ROI and

ROO. Services offered today include

employee incentive programs, safety pro-

grams, company stores, fundraising pro-

grams, direct mail and packaging. Key mar-

kets served are healthcare, not-for-profit,

technology and retail.

Economic Outlook:

“As of April 30, we’re

up just about 50 percent in gross sales with

our average order size up 38 percent. We are

not anticipating a slowdown in our business

from its current trajectory.”

Biggest Concerns:

“Our most difficult

challenge right now is growing our business

smartly. We are struggling with the idea of

hiring a person to help with the administra-

tion, research, quotes and orders. Two of our

biggest concerns are the sustainability of the

role and do we have enough work to fill a

fulltime employee? More importantly, [how

do we] not sacrifice the client experience as

we scale the business. Therefore, in the

short run, we are using new technologies to

help manage some of the processes and fol-

low up.”

—Tina Berres Filipski