TABLE 5: Revenue From Top Three Clients Distributors $100M+ 12% Distributors $25M-$100M 25% Distributors $10M-$25M 25% Distributors $3M-$10M 28% Distributors Under $3M 62% “We’re pretty diverse in our clients, so our top three make up only about 15%-20% of our revenue,” says Craig Kornblum, owner of Georgia-based distributor Jeckil Promotions. Ken Leslie, president of California-based distributor IMAGEN, didn’t expect the top three clients to still account for, on average, about a quarter of total sales for most size segments. “Top of mind for us right now is the concentration of sales among our top clients,” Leslie says. “Coming out of 2024, we identified the need to grow our other existing accounts and attract new, high-caliber clients in order to reduce the high concentration of sales in just a few clients.” When it comes to the concentration of sales by the top 10% of sales reps, Leslie is interested in seeing a comparison metric showing the number of orders written by those top reps. “Are the top sales reps, on average, simply writing more orders? Or are they writing a similar number of orders but at higher values? Ultimately, our goal is for our top reps to be writing about the same number but with higher value per order,” Leslie says. TABLE 7: Average Full-Time Sales Rep Distributors $100M+ 239 Distributors $25M-$100M 29 Distributors $10M-$25M 17 Distributors $3M-$10M 5 Distributors Under $3M 1 This is the first example of a large contrast between staff size in segments that repeats in the next two categories. Predictably, the largest distributors have a much greater pool of sales reps working for them. However, this doesn’t necessarily guarantee an obvious ceiling for companies with fewer sales reps. Savvy investments in technology and online orders can eliminate friction in the order process, which could give some companies the ability to operate at a high level with fewer customer service personnel. Across all segments except for those under $3M, distributors have fewer customer service reps than sales reps. In fact, distributors with over $100 million in revenue have an average of more than 100 sales reps than customer service reps. In the case of the smallest companies, though, that creates a greater burden of responsibility. TABLE 9: Average Full-Time Finance Staff Distributors $100M+ 36 Distributors $25M-$100M 16 Distributors $10M-$25M 5 Distributors $3M-$10M 2 Distributors Under $3M 1 TABLE 6: Revenue From Top 10% Of Sales Reps Distributors $100M+ 26% Distributors $25M-$100M 26% Distributors $10M-$25M 29% Distributors $3M-$10M 37% Distributors Under $3M 85% TABLE 8: Average Full-Time Customer Service Reps Distributors $100M+ 119 Distributors $25M-$100M 14 Distributors $10M-$25M 8 Distributors $3M-$10M 4 Distributors Under $3M 1 Must Read | The State of Growth 2025 38 • JULY 2025 • PPAI
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