PPB January 2019

by James Khattak Visits Give PPAI Staff An Inside Look At Companies’ Outlooks And Opportunities PPAI’s business development staff, led by PPAI Director of Business Development Ellen Tucker, hit the road in November, visiting industry supplier companies in Washington, Minnesota and Georgia. Their conversations with these businesses gave the Association’s staff new insights into these businesses, their outlooks on the industry and how PPAI can better serve their needs. In Washington, Tucker and Major Account Manager-West Melissa Massey met with several members of Cutter & Buck’s team at their Seattle headquarters. Brad Moxley, business development manager; Kelly Chapman, national corporate sales administrator; Dana Kleckner, director of sales operations and customer service, and Andrew Pudduck, director of marketing, gave them an up-close look at the company’s product lines and how they relate to each other, and insights on the supplier’s culture. Moxley, noting that Joel Freet, CEO of Cutter & Buck, began his career with the company almost 20 years ago as an intern right out of college, said, “When you’ve got someone like Joel leading this organization and building this culture that we’ve got here, you get people who join and stay. I’ve been here going on 10 years, and while I don’t know what the average tenure is, people join our company and they stay because they’re having a blast.” At another Seattle-area supplier, iClick, Tucker and Massey spoke with Mariah Wakeling, senior creative director, and Rob Alley, director of marketing, about the history of the company and where it’s headed. They learned that the company is working to develop more interactive and engaging educational content for their products. Alley says, “We’ve been producing product videos and lifestyle photography and videos where you see the products in use, as well as webinars from an iClick perspective and, working with industry partners, content that will be valuable to distributors.” Several of iClick’s staff members came from the distributor side of the industry. Speaking on the value their viewpoints bring to the company, Wakeling says, “It’s been huge for us. Knowing how to sell to a distributor is a huge asset to us. It’s a different kind of business model, selling to a distributor versus selling to an end-client, and we’re trying to provide content for the distributor to reach their buyer.” Alley adds, “It helps from both a marketing and sales perspective. We understand the business model, we understand how and why they buy certain items, when they may need certain products for their promotions, how end-users actually take advantage of the products. Having some distributor sales and marketing expertise In Seattle, Major Account Manager-West Melissa Massey (second from left) chatted with Cutter & Buck staff members (from left) Brad Moxley, corporate business development manager; Kelly Chapman, national corporate sales administrator; Dana Kleckner, director sales operations and customer service; and Andrew Pudduck, director of marketing. 100 | JANUARY 2019 | CONNECT