Counselor’s exclusive ranking of the suppliers with the most revenue in the promotional products industry.

Spector & Co.

(asi/88660)

Having last been on the Counselor Top 40 list in 2020, Spector & Co. took a hit during the pandemic that caused a significant decrease in the company’s sales. However, the largest stand-alone hard goods supplier in Canada came roaring back last year with 57% growth from 2021 to 2022, a revitalized team, expanded product offerings/imprinting capabilities and a bigger North American footprint.

“Honestly, before COVID, we weren’t diversified enough and it really hurt us,” admits CEO Rob Spector, noting that as the pandemic took hold in 2020, 65% of the company’s product offerings were pens and journals. “When COVID hit, I took a hard look at the team, the products and where we needed to make changes. And then we did just that. When things are going well, it’s easy to stay in the status quo; but when things got bad, I got more involved and really looked under the hood.”

First, Spector began to hire reps all over the U.S. and Canada, realizing that with everyone working remotely, where reps lived geographically wasn’t critical to them doing their jobs. Then he beefed up his leadership team by hiring industry veteran Samantha Kates and doubled down in areas like IT, compliance, sales and sourcing.

And in addition to bringing in housewares and creating the very successful Ora drinkware line, Spector – in the midst of the pandemic – went to Blue Point Capital Partners, the private equity company that bought the business in 2018, and asked for $1 million for specialized equipment to decorate (its Scribl line of notebooks can be intricately imprinted and personalized, for example) and $5 million to open a facility in Las Vegas. And in a testament to its confidence in Spector’s leadership, Blue Point agreed. “Sometimes,” Spector says, “when things get bad you need to take big risks, implode and rebuild.”