The Advantages Distributor Salesperson of the Year and award finalists were determined by a panel of ASI staff using the following criteria: annual sales, year-over-year increase in sales, colleague testimonials, prestige of clients and creativity in recent promotional campaigns.

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Rose Sarro
Promo Direct (asi/300477)

Rose Sarro worked as a cardio technician for a number of years, but when the recession hit, she was forced to find a new job. Despite having every intention of staying in the medical field, her career path took a detour when Dave Sarro (her brother-in-law and president and CEO of Promo Direct) asked her to join the company while she was job hunting. Having no sales experience, she was nervous. Even her husband Dan, the company’s director of operations, didn’t think she could do it.

Eight years later, Sarro is a senior account manager and the first company rep to reach a million dollars in sales. “If you put your mind to it, you can do anything,” says Sarro, who triples what the average sales rep at Promo Direct brings in. “You would always see the monthly goal leaders and there would be no women at the top. Well, I like to compete. I like to play with the big boys.”

Naturally, Sarro’s biggest clients are in the healthcare industry, many of which have done business with her since she started. Treating her customers like dear friends, she maintains a steady dialogue with them throughout the year, emailing them links to her favorite product of the week. “I love my clients; they knew me before I had a gray hair,” she says.

A proud grandmother of nine, Sarro drew inspiration from her brood when developing a promotional giveaway for Santa’s Workshop. She customized a 14-inch teddy bear with the Santa’s Workshop logo on the bear’s T-shirt. It was a huge order requiring outsourcing from overseas, but the client loved it and reached out again to brainstorm the next campaign.

“I put myself in my client’s shoes,” Sarro says. “I don’t like to go to a car lot and hear a sales person talking a lot. I know what I want, and I just need your help. So I talk less and listen more to the needs of my customers.”

Sarro credits her successful transition into the promotional products industry to her relentless drive, people skills and support of her family. “As part of our Filipino culture, we’re just really close,” she says. “Every time my son and I talk, he says I’m so good at this. I’m proud that he thinks that.”