2019 Top Distributors: BAMKO's Phil Koosed on Culture, Connections

By Sean Norris

Each year, Promo Marketing compiles the top promotional products distributors into one comprehensive list. We asked some of the 2019 top distributors for their thoughts on the industry, their plans for the future, what they love about promo and much more. Here, we profiled Phil Koosed of BAMKO, the No. 18 company on our 2019 Top 65 Distributors list.

When we last caught up with him (on our podcast), Phil Koosed, president of BAMKO, was talking about the innovative ways distributors are using promotional products to help clients connect with audiences. It turns out that’s something of a mantra for BAMKO, our No. 18 distributor.

“We are in the connection-creation business,” Koosed tells us now. “We need to be obsessed with creating connection with both our employees and our customers. Give people something to connect with and feel great about, particularly in today’s world, and you’ll go far. We derive incredible joy from connecting with our customers, creating extraordinary experiences for them, and helping them build their businesses. That joy animates everything that we do.”

All about culture: “We’ve grown substantially, made acquisitions and hired more than 15 new sales reps, and through it all, our culture has grown stronger,” says Koosed. “We’ve seen other companies struggle with their culture under the weight of growth and acquisitions. We’ve experienced the exact opposite. Our culture has gotten stronger and our team is more connected and positive than ever. It’s something we’ve been extremely intentional about—only bringing on individuals and partnering with companies that can positively contribute to our culture. That purposeful focus has made all the difference, and it’s something I’m particularly proud of.

Success secrets: “Putting our salespeople in a position to succeed by surrounding them with an incredible team that contributes to their success. We view selling as a team sport. We invest a lot of resources in surrounding our salespeople with the best team and set of resources anywhere in the industry. It’s a big bet that we make because we believe that our salespeople have the ability to thrive if supported in a major way. We want to put them in a position where they’re not just selling themselves, they’re selling the unique opportunity to work with our team and all of the resources we have to offer customers. It’s a huge competitive advantage that contributes to a talented sales team growing ever more successful.”

View the full 2019 Top Distributors list (including a separate list of the fastest-growing distributors) here, or click here for stats, trends and analysis from the list.