PPB April 2020

La r i ck Assoc i a t es , I nc . 100 Years Of Family Leadership Larick Associates, a family-owned distributorship in Port Washington, New York, celebrates 100 years of milestones, memories and major decision making. by Danielle Renda N ancy Larick, MAS, is the president and owner of Larick Associates, a third- generation, family-owned distributor that’s celebrating 100 years in business this year. For the business, and for the Larick family, it’s been a century of hard work and difficult, forward- focused decision-making, along with many surprises. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises is Larick’s long-time leadership role with the company. She never thought she’d join the promotional products industry or become owner of the business—all of which is rooted in the hands-on guerilla marketing and sales strategies that originated with the company’s founder and Nancy’s grandfather, Emanuel Larick. Emanuel founded Larick Associates as Larick Manufacturing Company in New York in 1920, but previously, he worked for Elwood Myers Company, a leather manufacturer in Springfield, Ohio. That same year, Emanuel’s employer reorganized and eliminated its sales force, but saw Emanuel as an integral part of the team, a “priority,” Nancy says, “and they wanted him to stay on.” It’s no wonder, because Emanuel didn’t just sell products, he created them, too. Emanuel took the company’s leather pieces and gold-stamped them by hand, adding a custom option, and sold the leather goods to insurance companies. When the orders started slowing, Emanuel would hop on the train from New York City to Albany and try his hand at selling leather goods to passengers. He hand-made the Larick Desk Aid, a three-by five-inch Bakelite plastic memo box with a gold-stamped custom message on a leather swatch on top. When the company started selling calendars, Emanuel would approach clients, boldly asking, “Howmany thousand do you want?” and it would generate sales. “It was a whole routine he had, and he was good at it,” says Nancy. One of Emanuel’s most- memorable sales tactics, however, was the unusual way he’d show customers the durability of his products. He’d remove his watch, Nancy says, and throw it against the wall and say, “That’s how strong my products will hold up.” The watch eventually broke, Nancy says with a chuckle, but the routine garnered a lot of business during its time. When Nancy’s father, Stuart Larick, joined the company in 1945, he employed a far different approach. Stuart, formerly an electrical engineer, had a more methodical style of selling. “He was an intellectual, a scientist, he built things, and he decided to join his father’s business and bring a solution and problem-solving orientation to the business. He would go in to see customers and ask, ‘What’s going on?’ and ‘What are your challenges?’(which is how we should all sell)—and he’d then come up with a solution.” Nancy recalls many evenings throughout her childhood when her father would be in his home office, heavily researching and developing new ideas. The company became a member of PPAI (then called Specialty Advertising Association) in 1964. When Nancy took over the company with her brother, Bob Larick, in 1980, Larick Associate's current team consists of Lisa Duffy, Eric Mohr, Nancy Larick, Patricia Ahumada and Charles Mohr, with office pup, Shelby. 18 | APRIL 2020 | INNOVATE