What if your very first promotional products sale was $30,000?
That is exactly what happened to Mark McCormack on his first day in the business. As a college senior working at an ad agency, he watched 18 people quit on the day of an acquisition. With his job shrinking before his eyes, he was asked to make a sales call. He did, he landed a massive order, and he was hooked on promo forever.
Today, Mark is the founder of Identity Marketing Group and the winner of our Shops Innovation Award. He has built a powerhouse agency by ignoring the traditional boundaries of a distributor. Instead, he operates as a "Brand Quarterback," running multiple revenue streams per client and cracking the code on landing the kind of accounts most distributors only dream about.
On the latest episode of skucast, we sat down with Mark to discuss the "Agency Model," the death of inventory, and the math behind finding million-dollar accounts.
Mark operates on a fundamental truth: "If you’re the person who has the logo, you control about 80% of the client's spend."
But capturing that spend requires moving beyond just selling merch. Mark’s team integrates themselves into the fabric of their clients' businesses by offering between seven to eight income streams per logo. This includes not just promo, but social media management, print, HubSpot/Salesforce management, and video production.
By becoming the keeper of the brand standards (not just for letterhead, but for every physical and digital touchpoint) Identity Marketing Group creates a "moat" around their clients that competitors can’t cross.
The Rule of Thumb:
Start with $1,000 per employee. (e.g., 300 employees = $300,000 potential marketing/promo spend).
Analyze the Sector: Is it Tech? Bump that up to $1,500.
Analyze the Work Style: Are 80% of them mobile? That means high-end backpacks and tech accessories.
Add Retainer Services: If they have a 15-person marketing team, can you manage their social media or local search for a monthly fee?
As Mark explains in the episode, when you stack these services, a company with 1,500 employees is a potential $2.5 million account.
Mark also drops a bold prediction: "Everything is going to be POD in the next three years."
Having learned the hard way that holding client inventory can be a liability (like the client with 2,000 polos sitting on a shelf after a logo change), Mark has pivoted aggressively toward Pop-Up Shops and Print-on-Demand solutions. This strategy not only won him the commonsku Shops Innovation Award but has allowed his business to scale rapidly without the drag of warehousing dead stock.
Why sales teams need to look for "revenue streams," not just orders.
How to position yourself to sell print and digital services alongside promo.
How Mark is using AI and data sampling to generate leads.
The role of commonsku’s connected workflow in scaling without increasing headcount.
→ Wish to Learn more, Book a demo with our team
[00:02:00] Mark's $30,000 first sale
[00:05:47] The 80% rule
[00:06:58] Seven to eight income streams per client
[00:10:01] Why everything goes POD in three years
[00:13:09] Why Mark switched to commonsku after trying six systems
[00:17:34] Diversifying portfolio: networking at PPAI
[00:22:56] The employee headcount formula for account sizing
[00:30:05] Being brand quarterback vs. the order taker
This post was lovingly co-crafted by Claude (AI) and Ritz, with final editorial oversight by Bobby.