Each year, Promo Marketing provides the definitive ranking of the Top 50 Distributors in the promotional products industry. For the next two weeks, we will be counting down the top 10 distributors of 2016 with exclusive interviews featuring the CEOs, presidents and owners of each company. Check back each day for more updates on the biggest companies in the industry. The full Promo Marketing 2016 Top 50 Distributors list will be published on Tuesday, May 30 and in our May issue.
No. 7: Geiger
Answers provided by Gene Geiger, MAS+, CIL, president/CEO of Geiger.
Promo Marketing: What led to your company’s success in 2015?
Gene Geiger: We have been investing significantly in technology and new services. This has enabled our sales partners to attract new customers and hold them tightly to us. In particular, we have seen very strong growth with larger customers with whom we have long-term agreements. It is increasingly about deep relationships, rather than orders.
PM: How did you grow your company into what it is today?
GG: The company’s growth is not something I did. Our company has enjoyed success because we have a superb team of people all across Geiger nation. We share company plans and results in extraordinary detail. Everyone understands our objectives and their roles in helping us accomplish those goals. And we all pull in the same direction. I love my colleagues.
PM: What challenges do distributors face in the promotional products industry? How can they solve them?
GG: The Internet is changing what customers know and how they buy. For all distributors, it is adapt or die. We have to work with our customers when and how they choose—online or in person. We also have to know our business and their needs so well that a purchase from us is easier, more effective and more secure than they can do themselves. Competitors are coming at us from new directions and without our encumbrances. We’ll be forced to do business in new ways and add new value, or we’ll fade away.
Here are the other distributors we’ve featured so far:
