You’ve heard of the popular inspirational book series, Chicken Soup for the Soul. Well, each January we bring you chicken soup for your sales, if you will – inspiration in the form of advice and heartening stories from our Sales Reps of the Year, as well as additional top contenders.

Herein, you will find brief profiles on 10 distributor sales superstars and 10 supplier sales superstars, including their best tips. I came up with the idea for my editor’s letter based on this advice Greg Greemon shared from his dad: “You got to make chicken soup out of chicken poop.”

Don’t you just love it? Greemon, account executive at Activate! Promotions + Marketing (asi/141964), says he lives by that motto. It would seem from our interviews with the top nominees that each and every one of them does the same. It’s clear that all of them have extraordinarily positive attitudes and believe that getting into the ad specialties industry was the best decision they’ve ever made.

Harry Ein of Perfection Promo is our number one rep on the distributor side, as well as our handsome cover model. He puts it this way:  “I love having the chance to share ideas. I honestly love what I do. I don’t think I’ve ever woken up and thought ’I’m not enjoying this.’ People I know who are successful in this industry all feel that way.”

Our top reps are flexible and balanced. Many of them reported being Libras (yes, of course we asked that, do you know me?). Libra is the zodiac sign for which the Balanced Scales is the symbol. Although Dustin Wicks of BIC Graphic (asi/40480) told me, “I’m not going to lie; I had to Google it.” Appalled, being that I check my horoscope every morning, I told him I couldn’t believe he didn’t know his sign. He said his wife also gave him a hard time, but he honestly didn’t know. Turns out, he is a Libra too.

Our top reps are super-responsive. David Gleckman of Fantasy Designs (asi/541037) was only one distributor who enthusiastically nominated Joe Pellegrini of SanMar (asi/84863), our number one rep on the supplier side. “By far he is our most interactive and responsive rep we have from all our vendors,” Gleckman wrote. “Not only is he on top of the most current products SanMar has, he is also aware of the industry as a whole. He keeps us informed through email and personal presentations.”

Pellegrini says he wants to be the “Easy Button” for his clients. He’s also a Libra.

Finally, our top reps are funny. When I informed Tiffany Anderson of DRI DUCK (asi/50835) that she had been nominated, she wondered if they would let her expense a makeover for her photo. No need, Tiffany. Each rep spotlighted in this issue is a supermodel of sales savvy.

Congrats all!

P.S. – We received many more nominations and know there are tons of other stellar reps out there, too. We wish you all continued success in 2015.