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Walter Brzyski, or WalterB as his friends call him, got
his first taste of the promotional products industry
while attending college—he worked part-time
packing orders and stacking shelves at one of the
industry’s top suppliers. After graduation, it was
an easy choice. He went to work for the company,
moving up through the ranks to national sales
manager before launching his own rep company in
Lincroft, New Jersey, in 2003. Today, with 28 years
in the industry under his belt, he looks back on his
decisions and is sure he got it right.
Being an entrepreneur has its ups and downs but
his favorite part of the job is running his rep agency
and implementing all the aspects of sales, marketing
and customer support.Themost difficult part?
“Having the time to run a business and implement
strategies when I’mconstantly in the field selling,”
he says. Still, Brzyski has made it work—and has
turnedmany clients into fans in the process.
Among those fans is nominator Bill Alonge,
MAS, marketing manager at distributor On Target
Impressions, LLC, who is impressed with how
quickly and seamlessly Brzyski makes things
happen for his clients. Alonge met Brzyski at a
trade show and talked to him about one of his
clients. “Walter said, ‘Send me their logo; I’ll make
up samples for you.’ The samples sold the job,”
recalls Alonge. “He remembers my clients from
show to show and suggests something for them
by mentioning them each time I see him.”
Nominator Lisa Pine, VP of sales and
marketing at distributor Axis Promotions, Inc.,
praises Brzyski’s ability to make every client feel
important. “He’s present. He knows his audience.
He’s available. He knows the product and how to
support creative projects,” she explains. “He cares,
offers incentives and has a team behind him and
a well-rounded product line.” Her teammate and
fellow nominator Sandy Poster, sales executive at
Axis, says Brzyski also offers ease of contact, quick
responses and understands the importance of
free samples and spec samples to get orders.”
One On One With Walter Brzyski
On the exclusiveness of his
lines:
I feel you need a portfolio
of lines to keep your business
afloat, have resources to invest
in your business and maintain or
increase momentum year after
year. Having lines with products
that are mutually exclusive of
one another is challenging as
lines often diversify into other
overlapping segments, so you
must look at the fundamentals
of what that line developed,
brought to market and is known
for, such as apparel, writing
instruments, etc.
On giving equal attention
to all lines he reps:
With top
industry promotional suppliers
that have several/multiple
lines, you must “read” your
clients to see where the selling
opportunities lie, formulate a
presentation to satisfy those
needs, secure the line/client
connection and dovetail
other aspects of the lines
once the initial contact has
been established.
On how multi-line reps can
stay relevant in a changing
industry:
Top distributors prefer
to see a multi-line rep, as they
offer more than one category
of product, more new products
(not just from one vendor but
from several) and new ideas
from new companies. MLRs
are the first line of introduction
for new firms entering the
market with fresh ideas and
products. Many suppliers start
with MLRs, then hire factory
reps once the volume grows.
However, they often go back
to MLRs after they review the
ROI, especially when they look
at sales comparing the MLR to
a factory rep. With MLRs, they
can reap the sales performance
benefits while reducing their
cost per client.
On what motivates him:
Being
commission-based (versus
salary-based) we “eat what
we kill,” so if you don’t sell,
you don’t eat. That’s a huge
motivator to get out there
and seize every opportunity
available, make every call,
return every email and service
every account. It’s not only how
we take care of our families,
but we have the overhead of
covering all our costs: lodging,
health insurance, support staff,
gas, tolls, meals, shows, etc.
On how distributors can help
him serve them better:
Choose
the ‘uncola.’ Since we’re all
creatures of habit (myself
included), many of us just go
with what we know. So even
though I may have the greatest
and newest widget or service
since sliced bread, when my
clients go back to their desks
and receive a widget request,
they simply default to their
habitual widget since it’s what
they know. Give your MLR
the chance to make it easy to
break this habit, which may
increase your profit, enable you
to offer newer products and
ideas, and expand your product
assortment. A three-second
email is all it takes.
WALTER BRZYSKI
Sales Liaison
/ Team WalterB
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APRIL 2017
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FEATURE
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Best Multi-Line Reps