PPAI Supplier Star Award Winners | FEATURE to serve an ever-increasing market while maintaining the multi-million-dollar operation of today. With 250 million pens sold annually and 300 talented employees on board, HPG is proud to continue delivering the highest quality product to the promotional products industry. Award of Merit Gemline Lawrence, Massachusetts Founded in 1958, Gemline is an award-winning, design-centric supplier providing high-quality branded products to the promotional products industry. The company’s product line includes bags, luggage, business accessories, drinkware, electronics, stationery, writing instruments, gourmet foods and lifestyle gifts. In addition to its strong portfolio of house brands and Gemline-branded products, the company offers other indemand retail brands such as American Tourister, Igloo, RuMe, Samsonite, Moleskine, MiiR, Corkcicle, Modern Sprout, Paper Mate, Sharpie, Slowtide and Zebra. $100,000,001+ Supplier Star SanMar* Issaquah, Washington Family-owned since 1971, SanMar Corporation is a national supplier of 21 retail, private label and mill brands. It provides apparel and accessories to screen printers, embroiderers, promotional products distributors, athletic dealers, industrial launderers and more, whether they are outfitting a Fortune 500 corporation or the local bowling team. SanMar’s vision is to create a canvas for good using blank apparel as its canvas to improve the lives of people around the world, to positively impact its employees and to enable its customers who are often touchstones in their communities. Award of Merit PCNA* New Kensington, Pennsylvania For more than 20 years, PCNA has been a premier supplier of high-quality promotional products, with goods ranging from pens and drinkware to bags and mobile tech. With an in-house product development team and dozens of leading retail brands, PCNA continually introduces products with the look, feel and performance customers want while maintaining award-winning service and cuttingedge decoration capabilities that ensure a seamless experience from start to finish. *The asterisk denotes suppliers that won Supplier Star or Awards of Merit in the same category last year. Berres Filipski is the former editor and director of publications at PPAI. just stands behind what they sell. Customers want to feel they are the most important customer. Find out what the hot buttons are for your customer and work to deliver on those. Be honest, forthright and transparent from start to finish— especially if there’s a problem. Be more than available when the customer calls, be proactive. 4 Stay engaged beyond the sale. Delivery of the order isn’t the time to slow down your communications with the customer. Reach out to see if everything is as ordered, ask what they’ve heard from the buyer and continue to check in frequently, even just to say hello, to keep you and your company top of mind. –Tina Berres Filipski Be honest, forthright and transparent from start to finish—especially if there’s a problem. | MAY 2022 | 25
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