2020 Top Distributors: Proforma's Greg Muzzillo on Adapting to Change

By Sean Norris

Each year, Promo Marketing compiles the top promotional products distributors into one comprehensive list. We asked some of the 2020 top distributors for their thoughts on the industry, their plans for the future and more. Here, we talked to Greg Muzzillo of Proforma, the No. 3 company on our 2020 Top Distributors list.

To say Proforma had a good 2019 would be an understatement. The company grew its promotional products sales from $378.8 million in 2018 to $501 million last year (32 percent), enough to jump from No. 4 on last year’s list to No. 3 this year. Greg Muzzillo, Proforma’s founder, and Vera Muzzillo, its CEO, credited the jump to the addition of new affiliate owners and the company’s business success resources, which include ProVision, a $15 million technology platform launched in 2019. In development for four years and in beta for three, the platform contributed to big gains for Proforma affiliate owners.

“We are most proud that owner affiliates on the system for more than one year have seen sales growth of over 20 percent and gross profit increase of over 17 percent,” said Greg Muzzillo.

Outlook: Proforma has also fared well overall during COVID-19. Muzzillo said sales are up compared to prior periods, and as of this writing, the company had not laid off or furloughed any staff. Part of this is due to what Proforma calls its “Pivot Team.” Made up of executives and managers, the team began developing business strategies for the then-looming COVID-19 crisis in early March, and has since continuously monitored products that are selling and industries that are buying, while providing marketing resources and training for affiliate owners. Muzzillo said Proforma’s diversified product offering—the company also sells print, packaging and other categories—is also helping it maintain active revenue streams.

“It appeared that a number of other companies were focused on what percent industry sales were down,” Muzzillo said. “We were focused on what percent of industry sales still existed, and worked in the relentless pursuit of helping our owners see and earn that business.”

View the full 2020 Top Distributors list (including a separate list of the fastest-growing distributors) here, or click here for stats, trends and analysis from the list.