The Secret Sauce to You Name It Specialties’ CEO Josh King's Success

CEO of San Antonio-based distributorship You Name It Specialties, Josh King, has a lot to celebrate this year from ASI ranking YNIS as the Best Place to Work to being named Facilisgroup’s Partner of the Year at the TASA ceremony. In the latest edition of the Folio Presents, we chat with Josh King about the secret sauce to You Name It Specialties’ success. Plus, we learn when King knew he was destined to be a salesperson and whether he likes being an owner or sales rep more.

Jim Manno: When did you know that you were built for sales? And what was the first product you sold?

Josh King: It would be when I was just a wee little lad. In the back of comic books, there would be advertisements from the Olympic greeting cards and if you sold these greeting cards, you make a commission. So, I must have been like five or six going door-to-door selling greeting cards. Wasn't very lucrative because it was hard to sell it. I think every sale you made a dollar. I didn't do that for very long, but It was very early on that I realized this is what I like to do. 

Jim Manno: I love that. Well, it has paid off. Just last year, you were named a finalist for ASI Salesperson of the Year, and at the time you were quoted as saying “My greatest accomplishment in sales is creating a substantial book of business from nothing.” Tell me a little bit about how you have maintained that quality book of business over the years. 

Josh King: Back in my newspaper subscription days, I wasn't afraid of rejection. It was like if you're gonna tell me no, just hurry up and tell me no because your neighbor wants to buy from me. I've got something of value that people out there want. With my promo business, it's just staying in touch with my clients and addressing their needs, being responsive, and being that guy that they can count on. So, that's been my secret sauce. 

Jim Manno: I would imagine then with your team, you have transferred that knowledge to them. Is that what you're trying to instill in your team?

Josh King: Yeah, definitely. And honestly, I'm learning from my team every day. It's really important that we all recognize no one is infallible and no one is omnipotent. There's even our intern who I learned from. There are a lot of things that you could take away from the people around you and making yourself better by constantly improving and relying on your team and learning from your team is really important. There are some great networkers in our group and I learn from them daily. 

Jim Manno: What’s the best piece of sales advice anyone has ever given you? 

Josh King: Don't try to be all things to all people. When a client says, “Hey, can you do this?” It's okay to say “no”. Don't spend half a day looking for that product that is outside of your wheelhouse and it's not something that you feel comfortable with because you don't have to be all things to all people. There are other suppliers out there and do what you do and do it well.

Jim Manno: In 2017, you acquired YNIS from the previous owner. What spearheaded this decision to move from salesperson to owner? 

Josh King: So I had never really wanted to be a boss. I never wanted to be the owner. I never wanted to start my own business for 20 years. I was very content with servicing accounts and focusing on that. But, I realized I've got a good thing. I've got a great bunch of people that I'm working with. I've got a great environment. We've got a great environment for growth. The previous owner, Becky, was looking to retire. And I knew that with new ownership would come changes. And not only for myself, but I wanted to protect our good thing for the entire group. So, when the sales reps, Janet, and my wife, Faith came together and decided to buy the business - we set out to protect, nurture, and grow this. 

Jim Manno: Now, you've got sort of one foot in both territories because of ownership and leadership as well as your passion for sales. Do you prefer one to the other? Do you still feel like you're a salesperson at heart or what's your preference now?

Josh King: Well, I mean, there are really good things and bad things about both. I enjoy sales because you get paid to make friends, develop relationships, and maintain those relationships. So, that part of it I cherish, but I think we've all been in a job where if I was in charge, I'd do that differently. Or if I was in charge, I would make that decision. And it's, on one hand, it's awesome being the guy in charge because I can make those changes and I can formulate and mold the work environment the way that I think is best. The problem with that is it's my responsibility and our management team's responsibility to provide that environment. So I really, enjoy both.

Jim Manno: Congratulations on being named the ASI Counselor 2024 Best Places to Work. What’s your secret sauce for building a winning culture at YNIS? 

Josh King: I think the most important thing is to get out of the way. You don't bring on a team member if you don't think they're capable, and if you think they're capable, let them be capable. Let them shine. We've hired them for a role…let them fulfill that role. Make it known their voice and their input are valued regardless of what role they are in. You may be an intern, you may be the warehouse manager, you may be in marketing, but you have input and you have insight that can be valuable in other roles as well. So, I think it's just important to get out of the way and really listen. 

Jim Manno: So tell me a little bit about the team and what it is you're doing to attract that right talent. Do you have any tips on how other distributors can draw fresh talent into the promo industry? 

Josh King: I think the number one thing is to retain. If you're not replacing, the number of people you have to add is usually a lot smaller. So, we have a very, very small amount of attrition because we listen. The number one thing would be to focus on the people that you have and make sure that they feel valued and they're heard. Then number two, if you're doing that, they become the best ambassadors for you because they're telling their friends, they're going home to their family and saying, man, “I love my job. This is such an amazing place. I come in and I really cherish what I'm doing” and then they become ambassadors and they become your recruiters. We've really had a lot of success with utilizing the network of our team members and them making recommendations. If you're making a recommendation of someone to your current place of employment, you don't recommend the guy that you met at a bar. You recommend someone that you know is going to do a good job because you're going to be working alongside them. So, I think utilizing the network of your team members is a really great recruiting tool.

Jim Manno: If someone didn't know anything about promotional products and they are considering a career in this industry, what advice would you offer to them?

Josh King: There's just not a lot of prestige in promotional products. You can tell somebody, “Yeah, I sell swag” and they're like, “Oh, okay.” Our industry is about the same size as the music industry. I mean, it's $26 billion. Like that's not chump change. That's a large, vibrant industry…We should do a little better job of being out in the world and sharing and educating the populace about what we do and about the opportunities and just being educators. 

Jim Manno: You Name It Specialties was named Facilisgroup’s Partner of the Year. Congratulations again on that distinction. Very, very, very well deserved. You guys have accomplished so many things over the last number of years, but what is the future of You Name It Specialties? Give us a peek into what you have planned for the rest of the year and beyond.

Josh King: So, for the rest of ‘24, we're still celebrating the honor of being named Partner of the Year. It was a great honor and we were very humbled…We had a goal last year to be Partner of the Year. It was really like buying a lottery ticket. So by getting the award, it was like winning the Powerball. We're still kind of basking in that. But as far as future planning, it's really important that we position our company in such a way that as opportunities present themselves, we can take advantage of those opportunities. Whether that's fiscally or within our own network and our support. We need to make sure that we're ready to take the next step and are positioned to take advantage of opportunities. So while I don't know exactly what the future holds, I do know that we're going to continue to be vibrant, we're going to continue to look for opportunity and we're going to cheer on the next Partner of the Year next year.