Members of The Partnering Group, LLC, an industry distributor organization, have been on the move in recent months, including a tour of supplier SanMar’s distribution center in Preston, Washington, and speaking at skucampn 2019.
SanMar has eight distribution centers nationally; the one in Preston was the company’s first. During the tour, The Partnering Group members learned how product is transitioned and readied for orders as well as how SanMar’s catalog is created and printed. They then headed to SanMar’s headquarters in Issaquah, where its leadership team gave presentations highlighting key features that SanMar provides to the promotional products industry.
At skucamp 2019, The Partnering Group’s Secretary, Sara Webb, president of InTandem, spoke on shaping a culture while building a company. Without any formal training, Webb grew her business from a home-based business to a multi-million-dollar distributorship and made the transition from top salesperson to learning how to be a CEO. Shifting her role forced her to let go of her identity solely as a salesperson and to start leading her company through the evolving mission of a CEO. In her session, Webb shared the lessons learned on how to shape culture through building a team, designing the right infrastructure, building a strategy that aligns with company culture and creating an inspirational brand.