Ben Roberson

Because of Covid and the changes that not only the world was facing but also the Promotional Products Industry I was asked by Vantage to become an Independent rep. My responsibilities were the same as when I was a salaried factory rep but my compensation was now straight commission. I was able to acquire a few more lines, but Vantage continued to be my main line at meetings and trade shows. Everyone still new me as the Vantage rep throughout the territory. I continued to call on the same territory until the spring of 2024 TN was giving to the GA rep. Even then my sales remained consistent with loosing one state.

As a factory rep for Vantage Apparel I covered the SC, NC, TN, WV and southern region of VA promoting Vantage Apparel,decorating and webstore capabilities that Vantage offers. I met with distributors all over this region at their offices, homes or where ever we could meet. I exhibited at regional trade shows, (CAAMP, VAPPA, PPAMS, ASI Orlando and REP2REP) throughout the year. I also was a part of many end-user shows and end-user office meetings for distributors clients. Not only was Vantage Corporate Apparel discussed but also the decorating capabilities that Vantage has to offer. As webstores began to emerge I also discussed how Vantage could handle these for distributors and set them up with the Vantage's internal webstore department. I also assisted in ordering samples, virtuals, specs and questions that distributors needed. Anything for the distributor to make a sell. I not only serviced existing accounts but I also brought many new clients to Vantage Apparel that had never used Vantage before.

In 2013 after working on the Distributor side for twenty years I transitioned to the Factory side. I was able to start with Instepp Marketing covering the NC SC WV VA MD territory representing up to 7lines over that time. I was a salary plus commission employee for Instepp Marketing. Instepp is based out of GA and I covered this region. In the spring of 2015 I was referred to Vantage Apparel to apply for the open factory rep position for the NC SC WV TN and southern VA area. I was hired and began in April of 2015.

I became a part of Geiger when Forrester-Smith merged with Geiger in the spring of 2007. Because of Consumer Concepts selling to Forrester-Smith in 2006 and then the merger of Geiger and Forrester-Smith in 2007 I was now with Geiger. Each year I was with Geiger I qualified for the Geiger Galleria sales trip. My sales at Geiger were $500,000 plus each year.

Forrester Smith purchased Consumer Concepts from distributor Phil Martin in 2006. In that year I increased my sales to win a trip for 2 to Hawaii in the spring of 2007. 2007 Forrester Smith merged with Geiger.

I began my career in the Promotional Products Industry in November of 1992 with Consumer Concepts. Consumer Concepts had started in Rocky Mount, NC in the late 1970's by a former Hardees food system executive and his wife Drew and Theresa Harrell. Consumer Concepts became the preferred distributor for Hardees Food Systems all over the US. In the late 1980's The corporate office moved to Morehead City, NC keeping a sales office in Rocky Mount, NC. I was hired to work in the Rocky Mount office. My sales at the time grew to over $400,000 per year. I was able to acquire the Centura Bank program not long after I started. This was well over a $300,000/yr account for Consumer Concepts at the time. This was before Internet and all orders were shipped directly from the Morehead City warehouse. I also handled the Centura and RBC Centura calendar program with sells of over $180,000 each year. Eventually Royal Bank of Canada purchased Centura and became RBC Centura. We rebranded everything. Sales continued to grow until RBC cancelled the contract and went with Accolade the company that RBC used in Canada. RBC sold Centura within 3 years to PNC.

Centura, RBC Centura was not my only client but my largest. Consumer Concepts was only a $3.5 Million dollar company during that time so my accounts definitely made a huge impact on sales for Consumer Concepts. In a few years after that the owner sold to Forrester Smith. Hardees was always the largest account but I did not handle that account.

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