When sales declined 11 percent in January, industrial distributor DXP Enterprises turned to Plan B: Expand products and services, grab market share and reduce the bets on the table. The plan may not be unique but the fact that it is already working – February and March results improved, according to President and CEO David Little – offers a positive outlook for the distributor for the rest of 2009.

The worst-case scenario presented during its year-end conference call by the distributor of pumping, supply chain management and MROP products and services was for sales to be down 20 percent in 2009. That’s based on multiplying January’s results by 12 months, Little says.

“There’s not a lot of clarity on what’s …