Lori Kates has overseen many transitions since she first began as controller of Vitronic in 1996. Honored as ASI’s Supplier Woman of Distinction in 2013 and listed on The Counselor Power 50 for the past 4-years, she continues to pursue excellent operating principles intended to propel Top 40 supplier IMAGEN Brands to even greater heights.

Todd Pottebaum is the President of Quality Resource Group, a $35 million promotional products and print distributor with over 50 salespeople, located in the Minneapolis, MN area. This episode reflects on principles of success, particularly personal and professional development, and how we can implement these into our own experience.

skucon, the conference for entrepreneurs, mavericks, and both young and young-at-heart professionals, is back, and it's at an all-new venue with a stellar lineup of some of the brightest and best in the business. In this episode, Mark Graham and Bobby Lehew provide a quick overview of topics and highlight some of the speakers who are taking the stage.

Dan Frailey is the President of RuMe BrandSuite, the promotional division of the wildly popular retail brand RuMe (which stands for “reuse me”). RuMe BrandSuite has taken the industry by storm and was recognized this year by ASI’s The Counselor magazine as the fastest-growing supplier.

Andy Thorne, Co-Founder and Sales and Marketing Director at Outstanding Branding, was our special guest at commonsku University at The ASI Show Chicago, discusses the realities of partnerships, building a brand, utilizing a business coach, healthy margins, workplace culture, and more.

Recorded live at commonsku University at The ASI Show Chicago, we discuss what it takes to climb the path to success, and we chat about key factors that contribute to growth: net profit, mentorship, sales persistence, margins, and more.

In this episode, we sit down with Mitch Freed, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives with Genumark and we explore how to begin to affect change that invigorates and transforms your business!

In today’s skucast, we discuss successful distributor client shows and, through the lense of a learning perspective, we share the evolution of the commonsku events. Mark Graham shares the sweat, the fear, the risk, the return, and the reward of spectacular event marketing. We hope this episode inspires you to build community events with your customers!

The author of “Promo Plight,” Counselor Magazine’s Executive Editor Chris Ruvo, joins us to highlight his research. We discuss what this pressure means for the health of the industry, and, most importantly, how distributors are responding to market pressure with positive solutions.

Tactics! From referrals to uber-like sample delivery, Mitch Silver of Printable Promotions shares some of the secrets to building a robust inside sales organization in the promotional products industry.