PPB June 2021

generating activities that reduce spend while remaining effective. We are proud of the resilience and hard work that everyone at Stran has put forth over the past year. We have remained consistent with our cultural values that support the long-term health of our business. We have an outstanding reputation, over 26 years of success, and are very well positioned to capitalize on the opportunities that will arise from a recovering economy. What actions have you taken to restart sales for your business in the past fewmonths? We have been focused both on re- engaging with our current client base while also uncovering new opportunities. We have also worked on adding new services and other value-added offerings to our portfolio that help our clients deliver even more effective results at a lower cost. How do your sales in Q1 2021 compare with sales in Q1 2020? Our Q1 sales in 2021 were down roughly 19 percent over Q1 2020. Factors including businesses not being fully opened, a lack of in-person events and decreased marketing budgets have led to decreased demand for our products and services in Q1 this year compared to last year. Although we have been able to capitalize on the demand for PPE, sales of those have slowed significantly, as there’s less demand for PPE. What are the biggest issues or trends that are influencing your sales right now? The biggest factors at the moment are that PPE sales have slowed down (or are at least at a trickle right now) and while we have seen lots of activity for our traditional offerings through RFPs, pricing initiatives and proposals, those activities have not necessarily resulted in immediate revenue generation. It seems like clients are spending cautiously but are consciously preparing to spend more than even at pre-pandemic levels. Events are being planned but are still a ways out and uncertain. Retail is coming back, but they are being cautious. And in many cases, people are still working from home so face-to-face meetings with clients, prospects or partners are still virtual. In general terms, what are your revenue expectations for the company by year-end? Although revenue is down in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 2020, we have seen encouraging signs of recovery. There has been a significant increase in the amount of RFP requests and other customer inquiries, which leads us to believe that companies are starting to prepare to spend at previous or increased levels. We are expecting Q1 and Q2 to remain somewhat flat but expect that in Q3 and certainly in Q4 there will be a lot of pent-up demand that should compensate for potentially slower earlier numbers. Nancy Schmidt CEO AIA Corporation Appleton, Wisconsin In broad terms, what has the past year been like for your company financially? It’s been an interesting year with unique challenges and opportunities. The drastic change in product mix drove companies— AIA included—to adapt balance sheet, cash flow management and income statement performance. At AIA, we were well-positioned to mitigate the drop in traditional promotional product sales through alternative revenue streams such as PPE. What changes have been necessary in your company over the past 12 months? It was and is critical for businesses to adapt to the financial and operational challenges of the past year, but also to respond to rapidly changing humanitarian issues. The pandemic and social unrest created circumstances that were isolating and stressful for many within our company’s reach. For AIA, this led us to be intentional about creating a strategic plan for 2021 that supports a reimagined owner experience. We invested in attracting and retaining industry talent and reorganized our team to support increased proactive outreach, relevant educational content (such as Ask the Expert), peer networking (Partners in “ IT SEEMS LIKE CLIENTS ARE SPENDING CAUTIOUSLY BUT ARE CONSCIOUSLY PREPARING TO SPEND MORE THAN EVEN AT PRE-PANDEMIC LEVELS. ” —Andy Shape FEATURE | What Distributor Principals Are Saying About Sales 48 | JUNE 2021 |