For a distributor in South Texas, a chance client request eventually led to the largest order in the company’s history.

Several years ago, Fully Promoted McAllen (asi/384039), a franchisee of Top 40 distributor Fully Promoted (asi/384000), was approached by DHR Health, a doctor-owned healthcare network in the area, with a request for embroidered wheelchair backs. Manager Miguel Leal knew it was an order they should take.

“I thought, ‘Hopefully this will pay off,’” Leal says. “Since then, we’ve expanded into about 10 other departments in the system. We committed to taking care of them – we do what they want because they’re a big client.”

Miguel Leal, Fully Promoted McAllen

Leal decided to be more intentional and proactive about identifying lucrative sales opportunities at DHR Health, instead of waiting for the client to come to him. He gradually built a network of contacts there and suggested ways to use branded items. “They want to source products locally, which is good for us,” he says. “Now, people refer us to each other, so it’s a lot of word-of-mouth and maintaining our reputation there.”

Since the initial order for wheelchair backs, Leal and his team have done a slew of different items, including personalized jackets for Nurse of the Month. They also manage a company store where staff can purchase essential apparel like scrubs, lab coats and polos; the e-commerce site alone brought in $31,000 in revenue last year for Fully Promoted McAllen.

But it was a special observance that helped Leal secure his company’s biggest sale in its history. This past March, he collaborated with one of his long-time contacts at DHR Health – a major player who oversees the nursing staff – to place a 1,500-piece order for National Nurses Week in early May. Inside a custom box with a “thank you” message, they put tri-fold clipboards, retractable badges, tumblers and jackets. At a price of about $60 each, the boxes totaled nearly $100,000.

Leal and his team assembled the National Nurses Week gift boxes at their offices and prepared them to be distributed at DHR Health.

The boxes were so well received, Leal’s contact also ordered items for Certified Nursing Assistants Week in June; she has since referred Leal to her manager, who oversees multiple departments.

“At the end of the day, we need to be reliable and trustworthy, and we need to underpromise and overdeliver,” says Leal. “If we can’t do it right, there’s no point in doing it at all. It’s important to be consistent. Establish a relationship with them and show them you’re a real person – that you’re a local business working with them on what they need. Be you and be genuine.”