3. Integrated Merchandising Systems LLC (IMS)
Morton Grove, Illinois
Principal: Rick Remick, CEO
www.imsfastpak.com
Due to scheduling conflicts, Remick was unable to comment this year.
4. 4imprint Inc.
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Principal: Kevin Lyons-Tarr, CEO
www.4imprint.com
PM: What’s the biggest way technology is changing your business? What do you expect the biggest technological change to be in the near future?
Kevin Lyons-Tarr: There really isn’t a facet of the business that isn’t touched by technology in some way, so to some extent you could argue it’s the ubiquity of technology that represents the biggest change.
PM: In 2011 and 2012, government from the national level down has been vocally condemning its own promotional products as “unnecessary government waste.” What do you think about this? Generic government scapegoating and placation, or something more threatening?
KLT: I’m not sure it rises to the level of “threatening,” but it certainly is unhelpful and disappointing. Then again, so much of what’s happening politically is disappointing. Fortunately, we have many wonderful customers that work in the public sector who know that when used appropriately, promotional products are far from wasteful-they work. I have faith that they will find ways to make the most of their (necessarily) reduced budgets and that promotional products will still have a valuable place at the table.
PM: What’s one of the biggest leadership lessons you ever learned, and how did you learn it?
KLT: Get the right people on the team. Make sure they know what the objective is and how they’ll measure success, and then give them room to “do their thing.” That’s been learned by applying that philosophy here and watching it work!
5. Geiger
Lewiston, Maine
Principal: Gene Geiger, MAS, CEO
www.geiger.com
PM: What’s the biggest way technology is changing your business? What do you expect the biggest technological change to be in the near future?
Gene Geiger: Well, technology basically touches two key areas: communicating information and enhancing business transactions.
We all have access today to vastly more information (data, images, video, user reviews) than we could even imagine just a few years ago. Our customers know-or can find out-about costs, suppliers, and products that we used to hold close. We can source products from anywhere and display them in our web stores. As physical doors have been harder to get through, we now have virtual access via LinkedIn, Facebook and the like.
Of course, we now transact business-move orders, approve proofs, etc.-in minutes. Distance and language are no longer business impediments.
Our challenge and great opportunity is to figure out how we can integrate the many “virtual” tools into the still-vital process of understanding customer needs, collaborating for solutions and delivering value. And we have to do this when our customers are so deluged with information and pressures that they are severely limiting the time and access they will grant us, time we need to do our jobs well.
PM: In 2011 and 2012, government from the national level down has been vocally condemning its own promotional products as “unnecessary government waste.” What do you think about this? Generic government scapegoating and placation, or something more threatening?
GG: The great virtue of our products-tangible, long-lasting-also makes us an inviting target when people are so frustrated with and distrusting of governments. Compare how easy it is to put a pen or bag on camera versus communicating the vastly more costly Medicare fraud or Congress pushing wasteful weapons programs.
I think we have to accept that there is unnecessary spending throughout government, including some of the promotional products that are used.
PM: What’s one of the biggest leadership lessons you ever learned, and how did you learn it?
GG: I’m constantly learning how much I need to learn-or relearn. I’m not sure I can get into the detail that these questions seek, I’ll just say over the last few years I’ve been reminded how organizations fall into routines with an inertia that takes hold. We keep on doing what we are doing and tend to ignore external changes and as the book Good To Great calls it, our “brutal realities.”
I have noticed the consequences of my not wanting to confront new realities and make the difficult adjusting decisions. As the leader of this company I have to constructively keep up a certain level of dissatisfaction and urgency so that we minimize the self-congratulations and recognize and deal with our weaknesses quickly.
