Proforma

This stable market niche held strong in 2002 amid tough competition and price wars. Here's a telling story of two men in a camp who are approached by a man-eating bear. One of the men starts to lace up his sneakers and the other man asks him, "Do you really think those sneakers are going to help you outrun the bear?" And the man answers, "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you." Greg Muzzillo, founder and CEO of Proforma, Cleveland, recounted that story when explaining his company's belief that competition is a much greater concern for them than

While some forms are experiencing a serious decline in sales, others are experiencing great innovation. Form sales are not declining as much as they are changing. It's a classic example of out-with-the-old and in-with-the-new. Clearly, multi-part forms are heading for that big collator in the sky. Yet industries such as health-care, retail, insurance and education are giving birth to a whole new generation of innovative form applications. In fact, solution-oriented distributors are discovering that opportunities abound for new form designs that facilitate today's workflow systems, particularly when marketed with value-added services such as on-demand production, warehousing and distribution. To find out how

Distributors find that promotional products open doors and increase sales. Whether promotional products are used to add value to traditional printing solutions or as stand-alone sellers, distributors are becoming more drawn to them because they have the potential to open doors in an industry that has never even been knocked on before. And even though there are some drawbacks to supplying promotional products—like contending with expensive overhead—many distributors concur that promotional items are becoming a more vital part of their overall businesses. Sales Report In fact, Bob Troop, CEO of The Shamrock Companies, Westlake, Ohio, reported a 25 percent growth in promotional

Labels hold their own as widespread applications become the norm and technology takes them in a new direction. From their inception dating back to the 1700s, labels continue to hold their own in today's technology-driven society. These necessary business tools carry weight with bar-coded and other quick-run designs, and are used on everything from shampoo bottles to heavy equipment. In terms of distributor sales in 2002, labels accounted for $218 million—a comfortable 10.1 percent of total market dollars, according to the BFL&S Top Distributor report of 2002. In an attempt to find out just what keeps this booming industry booming, four executives provided

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

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

For Greg Muzzillo, building a network meant more sales would come. When asked what it is that makes Cleveland-based Proforma such a success, Founder and co-CEO Greg Muzzillo was quick to deflect the attention from himself. Having created a company based on teamwork and camaraderie, Muzzillo isn't one to forget those who have worked to build Proforma into a major player within the print and promotional products industry. In fact, Muzzillo is quoted as saying, "Proforma's success story is not that of an individual, but rather the success of literally hundreds of great people who are the Proforma family." Such a philosophy is credited

A lifetime of creativity pushes Rick Lewis to the No. 1 position of this year's top designers for BFL&S. The oft quoted sports adage says, "It's not winning that is important, but how you play the game." But for Rick Lewis, president of ProForma Preferred Systems in Long Beach, Calif., how he plays the game is a big part of why he wins—and boy, does he. In addition to winning seven awards in the BFL&S Top Design Contest in 2001—including Best of Show—and gold and silver medals in commercial printing in 1999, Lewis also won awards from the Admissions Advertising and Marketing

Spend some time with the American Business Forms folks at their annual meeting and you can't help but be impressed. They're a nice group of people who are well-prepared for a bright future. ABF has leveraged its position as one of the largest distributors to gain access to products which broaden the company's scope. Not only are promotional products a good fit in addition to forms, labels and tags, but on the exhibit floor at ABF's meeting, you could also find packaging materials, office products, janitorial supplies, music CDs and statements, direct mail and workflow solution providers. Individual ABF associates can sell any

Platinum Award: Labels & Tags. A Remedy for Wine Labeling Headaches. It may be true that wine is fine, and that liquor is quicker, however, at the James Arthur Estate Vineyards, nobody was getting anywhere fast. The problem at the nascent Nebraska winery was trying to find a more cost-effective, less inventory-intensive way to label its 22 different wines, while at the same time promoting brand recognition, the Nebraska region and the ambiance of the estate where the winery is located. Despite the high potential for difficulty, Rita Willmott, president of ProForma Marketing Resources in Omaha, Neb., said the biggest concern wasn't combining