Four Actions Promotional Products Leaders Must Take to Scale Without Breaking the Business
By Mark Zapanta, Engagement Manager at Bryant Park Consulting
I bring a former CFO’s perspective shaped by real operating experience inside a high-growth promotional products business. I served as CFO for a Top 36 distributor in the U.S., and during our strongest post-COVID growth year we approached USD $70 million in revenue.
On paper, things looked healthy. Revenue was diversified across traditional dropship work, large programs, ecommerce, and recognition platforms. But underneath that growth, we were building on a foundation that hadn’t kept pace.
Growth hides problems. Scale exposes them.
In promotional products, scale doesn’t fail because of bad strategy. It fails because systems, roles, and alignment weren’t designed for the business you’ve actually become. Here are four actions leaders can take to grow with control instead of chaos.
1. Stress-test your operating foundation before growth does it for you
Most promo businesses run multiple operating models at once: dropship orders, large programs, ecommerce storefronts, recognition platforms, and custom work. Each behaves differently, yet many companies force all of them through the same workflows and systems.
Early on, people absorb the friction. At scale, those workarounds become operational debt.
If an order only works because a specific person knows how to “fix it,” that’s a risk. If revenue relies on spreadsheets, inboxes, or undocumented processes, that’s a risk. These issues stay hidden when volume is low and margins are forgiving. They surface quickly when volume increases and timelines compress.
The fix starts with honesty. Map where complexity lives today. Identify where people compensate for system gaps. Review ERP customisations and workflows against how the business actually operates now — not how it operated five years ago. Then rebuild deliberately for the business you intend to run long term.
If your revenue mix keeps evolving while your operating model stays static, scale will multiply risk.
2. Fix misalignment between sales, operations, and finance — upstream
In promo, operational debt often starts with the sales order.
Sales moves fast. Operations absorb exceptions. Finance untangles the outcome after fulfillment. When these teams operate in isolation, every order becomes a custom build — and the cost of that complexity compounds with volume.
The solution isn’t more heroics downstream. It’s clearer definition upstream.
Leaders need to define what a sellable solution actually is before it reaches the customer. Operations should be involved early in platform, program, and complex order commitments. Order quality standards should protect fulfilment and billing, not just revenue targets.
Cross-functional coordination isn’t a handoff problem. It’s an ownership problem. When accountability is shared too loosely, no one owns the outcome.
3. Treat systems as the backbone of the business, not tools to work around
Promo companies often say their systems are the problem. More often, leadership avoidance is.
Systems fail when they’re asked to accommodate weak processes instead of enforcing strong ones. Customisations meant to preserve flexibility tend to hide issues until scale exposes them — usually at the worst possible time.
Strong systems create discipline. They push accuracy upstream into sales orders and purchase orders. They surface exceptions early instead of burying them in manual work. They make data reliable enough to support real decisions.
If workarounds are required to keep the business running, scale will always hit a ceiling.
4. Fix the foundation before you automate
Automation and AI are powerful — but only when the basics are in place.
Automation amplifies whatever already exists. Clean data, consistent workflows, and clear ownership create leverage. Poor discipline simply scales dysfunction faster.
The real opportunity with AI in promo isn’t speed for its own sake. It’s better decisions: early warning signals, clearer forecasting, and improved operational visibility. None of that works without a solid foundation underneath.
If you’re scaling a promotional products business, resist the urge to automate around problems. Fix the foundation first. Growth rewards preparation.
Mark Zapanta
Engagement Manager at Bryant Park Consulting
mark.zapanta@bryantparkconsulting.com
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
