Impressions - January/February 2022 - 35

NOR TH GE ORGIA PROMO TIONS A T A GLANCE
COMPANY NAME: North Georgia Promotions
ADDRESS: 4040 Nine McFarland Drive, Suite 1200, Alpharetta, GA 30004
FOUNDED: 2010
NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 7
DECORATING METHODS OFFERED: Screen printing, embroidery, sublimation,
heat printing, wide-format printing
COMPANY WEBSITE: ngapromotions.com
After receiving a 100-piece cap order,
North Georgia Promotions invested in a 6-head
embroidery machine to handle more large orders.
take over their home, the LaFaves landed
a brick-and-mortar location. Two moves
and scores of boxes later, North Georgia
Promotions relocated to its 5,000-squarefoot
Alpharetta location, strategically
situated in Atlanta's northern suburbs.
Not unlike the journey that any entrepreneur
takes, there would be other turns
and twists in the road. Early adopters of
DTG printing, North Georgia Promotions'
business plan wasn't set up to continue
offering the decoration process, so LaFave
sold that equipment. He decided to add
a large-format printer and heat transfers,
followed by a manual screen-printing press.
Eventually, a Workhorse Sabre 10/12
automatic screen-printing press and an
Interchange MD-8 gas dryer were added
to the equipment mix. In addition, North
Georgia Promotions has Hotronix Fusion
IQ and 360IQ hat heat presses; a Geo
Knight auto-release clamshell heat press;
a Roland SPi300 printer/cutter; a GCC
media cutter; a BWM Hopkins 6/4 manual
press; and a Pfaff Post Bed sewing machine.
Staying the Course
When one of your biggest business
segments is corporate clients, a highly contagious
virus with an unprecedented global
reach isn't good for business. In the first
five months of the COVID-19 pandemic,
North Georgia Promotions' sales decreased
80%, driven downward by the fact that all
its clients' events were canceled.
While current sales gradually are creeping
back up to 2019 numbers, LaFave says
the road back took a Herculean effort -
one that eventually will pay huge dividends.
" We reevaluated everything during this
time and implemented a more streamlined
process to help the business run leaner. Our
client retention was strong. We did not lose
many clients. It just took a reason for them
to start buying again, like employee-client
appreciation orders.
Today, driven by its intimate knowledge
of the B2B market, North Georgia Promotions
knows bigger and better days are
ahead. " We know what [our customers] are
looking for and how they work, " LaFave
says. " We are always working on ways to
increase our saturation into that market.
We know what we do well and we focus
most of our time on those clients. We want
to offer the best products and services so
that our clients will rave about us. "
Resilience Pays Off
The past two years have been filled with
an incredible mix of challenges and
successes - experiences that can push smallbusiness
owners to the very outer edges of
the " bend-but-don't-break " line.
" The whole experience has taught me
that our industry is extremely resilient and
helpful, " LaFave says. " There have been a
number of videos and podcasts done -
more than ever before. People like Charlie
Taublieb from Taublieb Consulting and
Marshall Atkinson with Atkinson Consulting
have been helpful. They have provided
so much great content and interviewed so
many leaders in our industry over the last
few years - conversations that have made
it a lot easier to keep moving forward. Full
disclosure: We have used both consultants
in our business. "
With a business landscape that still is sorting
its way through the continued effects
of the pandemic, there's no telling what
2022 - and beyond - will hold. The best
course of action, as the LaFaves have always
managed to do, is to stay committed to the
plan and make changes when required.
" We plan to continue to evolve with
the current labor shortage, " LaFave says.
" We still need four to six more people to
help us reach our business goals, so we are
committed to finding new ways of creating
efficiencies. We also are planning to finetune
our concierge-level service program
with our top clients so they become more
reliant on us as we service them better. "
The North Georgia Promotions team
also plans to add another 6-head Barudan
embroidery machine in 2022.
" I have always believed that when one
door closes, another one opens, " LaFave
says. " We started by offering promo as a
way to become a one-stop shop but found
that it is so much more than that. Promo
has its learning curve, and without
being involved in our local [promotionalproducts]
association (GAPPP - the
Georgia Association of Promotional Products
Professionals), it would have taken me
a lot longer and would have had a much
bigger learning curve. "
In a way to give back to the association
that helped in his growth, LaFave has been
named GAPPP's president for 2022. The
new year also will see a 900-square-foot
showroom added to North Georgia Promotions'
facility.
" We found that when your clients are
able to come in and compare tumblers
and apparel, they will find more in their
budgets to get the 'nicer' stuff, " LaFave says.
In times of change, it is the entrepreneurial
mindset that is best suited to roll
with the punches - and it's a path the
North Georgia Promotions team is poised
to successfully navigate. 
Michael J. Pallerino is an award-winning writer who has
written for a number of national consumer and trade
publications. For more information or to comment on
this article, email Michael at mpallerino@gmail.com.
JAN./FEB. 2022
P.35
http://www.ngapromotions.com
Impressions - January/February 2022

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