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Matt Carter grew up with unique
exposure to the world of promotional
products. As a child, he often
helped his father, who owned a
distributorship, package products
for clients. “I can recall helping him
fulfill projects over the weekend
when I was a child,” he says. “He
would have all the items spread out
in the kitchen and we would package
them up like an assembly line.”
With this hands-on perspective, it
was only natural that, after college,
he joined his father in the family
business. “It’s all I’ve ever known,”
says Carter. From there, he met Tom
Flanagan and eventually moved to
the supplier side of the industry as a
multi-line rep.
“Working for Tom Flanagan [who
was named a
PPB
Best Multi-Line
Rep in 2014] and the suppliers we
represent is something I am grateful
for every single day,” says Carter,
who covers Alabama and Georgia
from his home base in Atlanta. “We
are so fortunate to represent the
supplier leaders in their respective
categories and the teams at each of
those companies are very special.”
He says working in this industry
is also extremely rewarding.
“It’s a wonderful feeling when a
customer calls, texts or emails to
let us know that our ideas helped
secure the order,” he says. “To
see an order start as an idea or a
conversation, and move through
the process to the end result, is
what makes our jobs so much
fun. I say ‘our’ because my inside
sales teams are second to none.
Their dedication, professionalism
and attention to detail provide the
support I need to best serve my
customers. It truly is a team effort.”
His distributor clients also value
the strong commitment to teamwork
he brings to their relationships. “Matt
just does an excellent job,” says client
and nominator Chris Clark, CAS,
managing director at distributor
Radius Marketing Solutions. “He’s
very responsive; he returns calls
and responds to emails quickly.
He gets involved whenever there’s
an issue with an order. He does an
excellent job of communicating
to us any current promotions
or deals. He visits regularly and
leaves behind plenty of samples
and sales tools. He does what he
says he’ll do. He’s also served on
the Georgia Area Promotional
Products Professionals (GAPPP)
board of directors and he advocates
for GAPPP on his sales calls.”
Clark jokes, “His only downfall
is that he’s an Ole Miss alumnus,
but thankfully his daughter
is going to [the University of]
Georgia so he gets a pass there.”
Clark is also impressed with the
way Carter exceeds his expectations.
“We had an opportunity to sponsor
the name badges and lanyards
for one of our clients’ annual
conventions,” Clark recalls. “We
called Matt to find out what our
self-promo pricing would be. He
asked what we were doing and
then paid for the order for us.
He didn’t have to do that—we
didn’t ask him to—but he did and
that was a good demonstration
of going the extra mile for us.”
One On One
With Matt Carter
On the challenges of being a
multi-line rep:
Not surprisingly,
Carter cites the delicate balance
of work and family life. “We all
work long hours, travel frequently
and are always ‘on call’ via phone
and email. It is a blessing to be
busy, though, so I do my best to
balance it all.”
On the exclusiveness of his
lines:
As multi-line reps, we
try to look for suppliers that
focus on specific products that
don’t overlap with our other
suppliers. Sometimes it’s almost
impossible to avoid a little
overlap. However, our suppliers
hired us for a reason and know
we have their best interests at
heart. Flanagan and Associates
has the longest tenure with our
suppliers of any other multi-
line rep group in our territory.
Our reputation is extremely
important and our bond between
us and our suppliers is very
strong. They are family. We try
to give all our suppliers equal
time by scheduling our meetings
and seminars a bit longer than
most because we have so many
solutions and case histories to
share with our distributors.
MATT CARTER
Territory Manager /
Flanagan And Associates
46
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APRIL 2017
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FEATURE
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Best Multi-Line Reps