Distributors Stay Strong Despite a Weak Economy

Reporting $96.8 million in annual sales for the past fiscal year, GBS is up $2 million from last year's numbers. The jump is mainly the result of a newly developed team-selling approach, in addition to targeting markets that are in a growth mode, such as print-on-demand and labels, explained Dragoiu.

What has also contributed to GBS' increase are a few internal changes, including the first full year of employing a completely new executive management staff, as well as the implementation of a formalized sales process, a CRM platform, a new company-wide marketing initiative, a new NetFileManager tracing system and the integration of supply chain initiatives.

In terms of adjusting the the current economy, GBS implemented new sales techniques. Said Dragoiu, "At our Filing Solutions division we altered our sales approach by leading with total solutions selling, which offers traditional products supported by the latest in technology-based solutions. At our Computer Solutions and Document Solutions divisions we use team selling and again, technology-based solutions."

Dragoiu added that GBS has been able to push through tough times because of its commitment to excellence and noted that the company's ISO 9000-based quality management system contributed to GBS' rise.

As for a company mission, Dragoiu said, "Our newly drafted quality mission statement commits us to exceeding our customers expectations by providing innovative and effective solutions through continual improvement of our business processes, products and services."

Founded in 1971, Dragoiu said GBS is 100 percent employee owned and is comprised of three business units addressing different facets of information management.

Some of the products GBS provides include traditional business forms and related materials, labels, marketing literature, point-of-sale materials, ad specialty and promotional materials, filing systems, document management systems, document imaging, and customized industry specific software for credit unions, medical offices, government entities and contractors.