Wholesale Superstar
Innovator Myron Soslow Puts His Customers First

Myron Soslow, the dynamic leader of Kalan LP, grew up a child of the 1960s. Like many young men of his generation, he wore his hair longer then. And his free time was more important to him in those years immediately after high school than were rapid accomplishments in either college or business.

Unselfconscious and unpretentious by nature, Soslow acknowledges the fact that in his youth he was a laidback character of the times. But what he goes on to say is that in his twenties, he evolved into a man with a bottomless well of creativity and energy for business. Ever since joining the novelties distribution firm, Kalan LP, in 1974, Soslow has been eager to get to work everyday at 7:30 a.m. This enthusiastic effort paid off with his election to CEO.

And the individualistic personality traits that led him to spurn taking on a lot of responsibility in early adulthood have actually aided him in becoming the leading businessmen he is today. He's an innovative spirit who isn't afraid to seek out new avenues to solve problems and satisfy customers. "I don't mind reading about Warren Buffet and Bill Gates and people like that, but this is a creative business...I walk to the beat of my own drummer," Soslow said from his office in Lansdowne, PA. "One thing I want to make clear is that my personal philosophy on business is that the customer is 'Number One.' Satisfy the customer and you will thrive. And that's always been the policy of the company."

More importantly, Soslow also understands that accepting the mutual risk of B2B wholesale to retail transactions has been key to his successful and long lasting customer relationships. And that's why he meets them more than halfway on the road to revenue.

The Kalan customer policy is that if the client cannot move any of the products purchased, Soslow will see to it that his company replaces the merchandise with something that will fly off the shelf. This specific mode of operation has helped Kalan fortify a countless number of relationships with gift shops, drug stores, supermarkets, truck stops, convenience stores, music outlets and other types of boutiques.

"If the footage in a customer's store is the most important thing they own, then we have to take that shelf space very seriously, and we do," Soslow said. "We are devoted to getting customers something that will sell in their stores. Not everything works. So you have to be able to back it up."

One of his top associates, Jackie Pope, national sales manager for Kalan, added, "When we get something new in, our customers trust us. They know that they are not going to get hurt because of how we have always dealt with them. They know that we are going to take care of them; that we are going to be honest and fair because of Myron's style of leadership."

What's Hot At Kalan
Kalan has made its name by not only providing excellent customer care but also the best lines anywhere of key chains, shot glasses, greeting cards, bath & body products, party goods and stationary items. Yet recently, the distribution firm has seen growth in its metal signs division rising at an enviable rate. For years, Soslow's company has done both a humorous and generic line of rectangular metal signs. The signs have been crowd pleasers and moneymakers for all in the business. However, Kalan is about to go headlong into a new area of signs that might rise so quickly and highly, you'd think they were making a stairway to heaven.

Yes, that Stairway to Heaven. Kalan is introducing 8 by 11 signs depicting the concert posters of yesteryear for classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin. Soslow said that they have a licensing agreement with Led Zeppelin for the signs and there are many other deals in the works with popular bands of that era. A variation of the line will feature metal signs with lyrics from Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan and other famous musical acts from the 1960s and 70s. Soslow said the line of street sign sized signs could grow into other specific areas of pop music. "It's a whole new concept," he said. "It may very well put us where we are the number one metal sign maker in America."

Kalan got its start as a company by becoming a popular gift card distributor in the greater Philadelphia area, but it eventually branched out into other niches. Soslow said that his firm is the number one key chain distributor in the United States, if not the world, and has been for 20 years.

Pope said that the reason for that is simple. Her in-house team of eight sales people and the 200 independent dealers nationwide understand the product line through and through. They know what makes the items unique and sellable.

"Our key chain line is always kept fresh," she said. "We keep it alive. We do the same thing with our shot glasses and metal signs. Every few months, we bring in a lot of new, exciting products."

Soslow emphasized the idea of creativity when it comes to his style of both leadership and merchandising. He said the quest for finding the best products and presenting them in the highest manner is an ongoing process he takes seriously.

"Our business is all about the design, whether you are talking about key chains, shot glasses or metal signs," Soslow said. "The product has to be current, the copy explaining it has to be well written, the images need to be enlivening."

The key chains, shot glasses and metal signs seen at www.kalanlp.com are priced in an easy to understand fashion. Key chains and shot glasses average at $1.25 wholesale, while the shot glasses have a median cost of $2.50 wholesale per unit.

That style of price points is just one of the reasons the firm has grown 10 percent annually in recent years and keeps a fulfillment warehouse larger than 40,000 square feet. The company also offers the world's largest greeting cards (16 by 24 inches) and pop culture oriented Back To School items such as stationary, buttons, spiral books and pens, among others.
"We as a company have just continued to grow and grow," Soslow said. "We've gotten bigger in so many areas over the years, particularly in the novelty area. To a certain extent, we were in the right place at the right time. We developed a line of paper posters that retailed for a dollar. The line became very successful, and we started a relationship with Spencer Gifts." The sales job by Soslow and the Kalan staff on the Spencer Gifts account was like a grand slam home run. Spencer Gifts bought the $1 posters for 650 stores, and the relationship has lasted 23 years and is still going strong.

"The Spencer Gift stores gave the $1 posters a platform to expand our business," Soslow said. "I think the creativity of the company has a lot to do with how successful we've become. I think the turnaround time we've developed for people has been a big factor. We service the customer. Once again, the number one priority is to protect the customer from getting hurt. If the products we sell them don't work out, we'll either exchange them or take them back."

The Exciting Future Is Now
Just because Soslow decided to meet adulthood head on some 30 years ago to become a business dynamo hasn't kept him from thinking like a kid. In fact, thinking like a 12 to 18 year old is vital to the continued success of his business. He has to know what movies are going to be big hits, what the hot TV shows are, what bands are cool and what trends for the youth market are on the horizon. Soslow, who's married and has two children, said that staying young is his nature and has allowed him to thrive in wholesaling and distributing merchandise for adolescents.

"I do have a sense what the kids are looking for," he said. "I talk to kids. We also canvass and do our homework. We find out what the kids are looking for; or, in other words, what our retail clients need in the square footage of their stores. I have to know what the girls and boys are looking for. We have to stay on top of that stuff. We have to keep from getting stale, which isn't a problem because of the effort we put into it."

Soslow said that the relationships his firm has cultivated over the years help it also keep in touch with the marketplace. "We constantly get calls into accounts from customers who ask, 'Can you get this for us? This is hot, can you find it?" he said. "We jump right on those requests, and then we fulfill them."

Meanwhile, the website, www.kalanlp.com, has opened up a new universe to Kalan as it's been able to sell products to a wider base and helped it find merchandise that years ago would have been hidden in the world's nooks and crannies. "It's created a whole new avenue," Soslow said. "It's just amazing, product wise, customer wise... a couple years ago seems like prehistoric times. It's great for business what we are doing with technological development in the world. The day of the brochures and the pamphlets and the catalogs is gone."

Pope agreed with the directional turn that has occurred in B2B communications. "Because of the Internet, we can show our customers what we are doing faster," she said. "We update www.kalanlp.com daily. Our advertising in Web Wholesaler Magazine has also always turned out very well. We couldn't be happier with the way things are going on both fronts."

Recently, Soslow brought aboard an executive with expert experience that should allow Kalan to continue to thrive. In the last few months, Ted Wyman, formerly of Toys R Us, has become vice president of sales and marketing at Kalan.

"His history is in mass merchants and that's something this company has not gotten into as deeply as we would have liked thus far," Soslow said. "So we are talking about the Wal-Marts of the world, the Targets, the likes of Toys R Us. He will help us develop product and merchandise for those types of accounts."

Pope all but predicted that Wyman would become a fixture at Kalan for years to come. It's due to the fact, she said, that working with Soslow is nothing short of a treat. "I've been here for 21 years, and most of the people in sales have been here 18, 19, 20 years," she said. "People don't want to leave because Myron has created a fun atmosphere. He's fabulous, he's generous, he's fair and he's honest. He makes the workplace fun. And he's a hands on executive. He's not some boss in an office hidden in the back somewhere. He knows everything that goes on here."

Kalan LP
97 S. Union Ave
Lansdowne, PA 19050
Tel.: 610-623-1900
Toll Free: 800-345-8138
Sales Dept. Fax: 610-623-0366
Business Office Fax: 610-623-9437
Email: sales@kalanlp.com
webmaster@kalanlp.com
Website:www.kalanlp.com