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