The Advantages Distributor Salesperson of the Year and award finalists were determined by a panel of ASI staff using the following criteria: annual sales, year-over-year increase in sales, colleague testimonials, prestige of clients and creativity in recent promotional campaigns.

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Aaron Greenberg
Genumark (asi/204588)

This year will mark Aaron Greenberg’s 30th anniversary with Toronto-based Genumark – an impressive career for a self-described “aimless” college student whose father (a doctor for Canadian boxing champions) wanted nothing more than for his son to go to medical school.

Instead, Greenberg tried his hand at promotional products, helping his brother’s close friend (who happened to be at Genumark in 1988) while the latter recovered from surgery. He never looked back.

“It wasn’t intentional,” says Greenberg, now the company’s vice president of national accounts. “It turns out college did help me in my new career, because I was a student before the internet. So you had to do actual research to find anything. I learned how to start with nothing and get an answer.”

And his research skills translate into an uncanny ability to source very specific promotional products. Daniella Wilenski, an account manager at Genumark, calls Greenberg “the product knowledge guru,” adding, “he can always find the product or answer you’re looking for.”

Having started with Genumark in its early days when the team was much smaller, Greenberg was fortunate to have done every job possible at the distributor, including selling, sourcing, coordinating, warehousing and everything in between. It gave him an appreciation for the business, and conditioned him to the inherent strains of the industry. “There’s something in me that does well with pressure,” he says. “I’m OK with the ups and downs, the gamble of it. It’s never boring, but it does come with a lot of responsibility and unpredictability.”

In fact, it’s the excitement of facing new challenges that keeps Greenberg motivated, since opportunities can come from virtually anywhere. For instance, while on Facebook one day a few years ago, his childhood friend asked about custom-made promotional chocolate. Greenberg responded immediately with his willingness to help. It turns out she was responsible for sourcing product for a large restaurant chain.

“We got their signature French fries molded into solid chocolate,” says Greenberg. “During the holiday season, if you ordered a specific meal on the menu, you got a bag of them as a bonus dessert. We’ve done it for the past few years, at well over a million pieces at this point. It was fun, creative and different. We’re often the last guys that companies pay attention to, but there’s value in what we offer.”