How do I find out how much a promo distributor relies on year-end gift orders?

Start with the monthly sales report, not the annual total. A promo distributor can look steady on paper while the last quarter quietly carries the whole year. Put several years side by side and see whether the gifting peak is growing, flat or fading.

Then go customer by customer. Ask for the list of clients who bought gifts, what they ordered, and whether the order was planned in the summer or rushed in at the end. Planned programs with named contacts are sturdier than last-minute requests that could go to any competitor. Ask the seller how the off-season is filled. Trade show giveaways, uniforms, onboarding kits and event merchandise can smooth the calendar, and you want to see invoices proving it, not a promise. Keep notes on any year when a large corporate client changed its gifting plans, moved to a rival or cut its budget. Those stories show how fragile or steady the season really is, and the seller should be able to tell them without hesitation.

Look at cash too. A heavy season can mean paying suppliers or carrying stock before clients pay. Ask how the owner funds that gap and whether the business leans on credit lines to get through it. Your accountant can read the financial statements with you and test whether the seasonal swing is something you can carry.

Key takeaways

• Request monthly sales by customer across several full years, not just annual totals.
• Separate repeat gift programs from one-off rush orders.
• Ask how off-season months are filled and how the seasonal cash gap is funded.