Friendship, $200 and some big ideas were all it took to grow Proforma into a $430 million organization—or so the story goes.
In 1978, Greg Muzzillo and a college friend emptied their pockets and joined forces to launch Cleveland-based Proforma. They quickly turned that $200 into $250,000 worth of sales, and expanded their client base to more than 300. By 1982, sales reached $1 million and Proforma made the Inc. 500 (the magazine’s annual list of the 500 fastest-growing companies).
But why stop there? Muzzillo explored other routes to continue Proforma’s rapid success. In 1986, he developed the Proforma franchise model—a network of independent distributors working together to build strong supplier relationships—and the rest is history.
Here, Muzzillo shares his thoughts on the industry and talks a little about himself.
Print+Promo (P+P): How do you set goals for yourself? For your business?
Greg Muzzillo (GM): I don’t set goals. I set dreams. I know what I need to do to grow my business, but before I can focus on how to grow my business, I need to think about why I want to grow my business. I think the challenge for most people, like myself, is staying focused on those tasks that are truly wealth-building activities. We get easily sidetracked by the day-to-day stuff and we get stuck in a rut. The key to success is keeping our dreams top-of-mind.
P+P: How does the economy continue to affect the industry?
GM: The economy is improving. Businesses and banks seem to be more open for business than they have been in recent years and the stock market is recovering. Businesses are feeling positive and print and promotional product sales are up as they begin to invest in growth again. Sales at Proforma were up 10 percent in 2012 and I’m optimistic about what’s in store for the industry in 2013.
P+P: How does your company remain nimble and ahead of the curve?
GM: Although we are a $430 million organization with more than 1,000 member owners and support center team members, we refuse to create any ivory towers. Our leadership structure is pretty flat and we have created two advisory councils to help keep our leadership team nimble.
We meet with our Owner Advisory Council monthly. [The council is a group of owners elected by other Proforma owners to represent their region.] They keep us educated on the realities of the marketplace and give us guidance on how to best utilize our resources. Their input is invaluable for keeping a pulse on market trends and identifying areas we need to focus on as a company.
We also created the Support Center Advisory Council in 2012 as a way to open the lines of communication between the leadership team and Proforma’s support center team members. The Support Center Advisory Council meets regularly with our leadership team to discuss ways we can provide better support to our owners as well as implement fun ways to keep Proforma one of the best places to work in the industry.
P+P: What keeps you up at night?
GM: I believe that Proforma has the absolute best business model for distributors of all sizes to grow their sales to the next level. If I lay awake at night it is because I want to find more ways to tell our story to more people. I truly believe everyone can be successful in this industry. At Proforma we’ve created more than 100 millionaires and we want to continue to help more people reach their dreams. Every day I wake up anxious to spread the word about Proforma and the opportunities we offer to be successful in this industry.
P+P: What do you think is the most exciting, cutting-edge thing your company is doing right now?
GM: Let’s face it: Selling stinks. But at Proforma we have so many exciting programs that are helping our owners overcome the challenges of selling and start having fun in this industry. We have teams that are helping owners with recruiting and training sales representatives, setting appointments, negotiating major deals with big accounts and more.
We also recently completed a $5 million investment in developing an enterprise solutions technology platform. This system was created to significantly increase our owners’ North American and global enterprise client base. This was an investment in cutting-edge technology upgrades to help streamline business-to-cash management systems, develop a state-of-the-art ERP system and integrate advanced CRM techniques.
P+P: What would people be surprised to learn about you—hobbies, special interests, etc.?
GM: [My wife] Vera and I have 10 children (12 including our two sons-in-law) and we just welcomed our first grandchild. We love spending time with our family and it keeps us very busy.