American Solutions for Business

Rose Virnig has been named vice president of sales at American Solutions for Business, Glenwood, Minn. Virnig became the company's first female sales associate when she was hired 20 years ago. In her new position, Virnig will coordinate the Sales Steering Committee, help sales associates to increase sales, and recruit and train new sales representatives. One of the company's top 20 sales associates, Virnig was recently awarded the Dusty DePree Memorial Award—an annual recognition of an individual who exemplifies American Solutions for Business' highest traditions.

American Solutions for Business, a Glenwood, Minnesota-based distributor of printing, promotions, office supplies, corporate apparel, e-commerce solutions and enterprise-wide document management, was recently recognized as a 10-year member of the Minnesota Keystone Program. The program recognizes Minnesota businesses that contribute a minimum of two percent of pre-tax earnings to address community needs. Since its inception in 1981, American Solutions for Business has been involved in a variety of corporate giving opportunities. One of the company's core values states that "American encourages participation and support in order to promote, develop and improve the areas in which we live." The American Community Stewardship Group, comprised of volunteers

Six distributors share the secrets and strategies that put them on top. Workflow What makes the same distributor retain the No. 1 spot on the BFL&S Top 100 Distributors list for four consecutive years? According to Rick Wesley, president of Workflow (formerly SFI), a Norfolk, Virginia-based distributor, the formula for success lies in managing customer supply chains effectively. "Our strategy for the past three years has been to do an analysis of potential customers' supply chain needs, propose a better solution than what they have, and then begin managing their products on the iGetSmart e-commerce platform," said Wesley. The iGetSmart system is the

Sales hold despite a difficult economy. In spite of the economic woes of the past year, total revenue for the BFL&S Top 100 Distributors remained above $2 billion at $2.16 billion, which is exactly equal to last year's total. The most likely reasons that the industry was able to hold its ground in terms of revenue were an increase in product diversification, an increase in the number of franchises held by Proforma and American Solutions for Business (formerly American Business Forms), as well as outright acquisitions by other large distributors. Forms sales for the Top 100 decreased to $793 million from $831 million last year, accounting

Shaky times did not disturb these top distributors. Lead by CEO Tom D'Agostino, Jr. and President Rick Wesley, Norfolk, Virginia-based SFI has captured the coveted No. 1 spot in BFL&S' Top 100 Distributors ranking for the third year in a row. Proactive thinking and hands-on involvement by SFI management has been at the heart of its success, for as D'Agostino observed, "When the decisions are made by an organizations' bankers or people in ivory towers it loses it competitiveness and esprit de corps." And the rate of obsolescence of printing needs has inspired SFI to move its market share forward to provide supply