Customer service ranks second to price in importance.
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
Tom Gale
Tom Gale has been an MDM researcher and industry analyst for 30+ years on independent distribution channel trends, consolidation, technology and competitive landscape. He is a frequent speaker and moderator on these topics at company, marketing group and association meetings in North America and Europe.
Posts By Tom Gale
Outlook has a mixed message: Full speed ahead, but watch your back.
Subscribers should log in below to read this article.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:
- The Critical Role of Employee Training
- 7 Key Investments to Grow Online Revenue
- Distribution 3.0 – The Next Cycle
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
We recently worked with a distributor to identify the market potential for its portfolio of hydraulic and pneumatic products. A second objective was to identify untapped potential in its current customer base. Like many companies, it was working with anecdotal information from the sales force, and wanted to establish an external benchmark for a realistic addressable market size.
B2C and B2B customers require different things from e-commerce websites.
Analytics is not a one step process, or a search for a single answer. Its about guidance, according to Tony Pericle in an interview with IMIs sister company, Modern Distribution Management.
Sonepar’s acquisition of Industrial Distribution Group is, in many ways, an end mark on a 20-year timeline of industry trends, challenges and shifts, all rolled into one deal. Where shall we begin? The best place is back to the future.
Subscribers should log in below to read this article.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:
- Disruptive Technologies: Behind the Drivers of Driverless Delivery
- Trends Snapshot: Electrical Distribution
- Global Competition on a Local Level
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
Using data can show how your organization can start leveraging data about your customers and prospects more effectively to build competitive advantage. Whoever has the best visibility into where opportunity exists in the marketplace can best focus on how to monetize it.
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
Reflector of light, partner hero, rainmaker, relentlessness, passion: remembering an industry leader.
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
Take the time to lay the groundwork before embarking on too many projects at once.
Reflector of light, partner hero, rainmaker, relentlessness, passion: remembering an industry leader.
Using hard data provides real intelligence on opportunities for growth.
What can baseball and Scotland possibly have to do with each other? More than you might think.
Subscribers should log-in below to read this article.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:
- The State of Analytics in Distribution: 2014
- MDM Interview: Why Analytics is About People, Not IT
- Making Money with Small Customers
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
Sales models in distribution are under stress like never before. Traditional and non-traditional competitors are reaching into what used to be your customers pockets as they become more receptive to change and new supply resources.
Wholesale-distributors know the value of analytics, but they are often frustrated with how ineffectively their organizations integrate data into their strategic initiatives. This industry focused report looks at the use of data among wholesale distribution companies.
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
Earlier this year, Tacoma, WA-based Stellar Industrial Supply announced the addition of Larry Davis, former president of ORS Nasco, to its executive team as executive vice president and chief commercial officer. The move was part of a strategy by Stellar to grow “faster and more effectively.” MDM Publisher Tom Gale recently spoke with Stellar’s executive team, including President & CEO John Wiborg, Executive Vice President & COO Steve Slater and Davis, about the shifts in the market that drove the shift in strategy and where the company is heading.
This article includes:
- Why Stellar Industrial hired Larry Davis
- The goals the distributor has for shifting its strategic focus
- How the move will impact Stellar’s customers and partners
Subscribers should log-in below to read this article.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:
- Cost-Effective Channel Alignment
- Who's My Coach? The Changing Role of Sales Managers in Distribution
- Redwood Plastics: Success through Online Engagement
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
Rebate structures are still driving dysfunctional behavior, making distributors vulnerable. The article addresses how today's rebate structures make individual companies, and in most cases entire channels, more vulnerable in current market conditions.
Subscribers should log-in below to read this article.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:
- Who's My Coach? The Changing Role of Sales Managers
- Interview: Operations as a 'Lever for Innovation'
- U.S. Economy: Out of 'Surviving' and on to 'Thriving'
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
Every year about this time we release our annual Wholesale Distribution Economic Trends Report and also produce a Mid-Year Economic Update Webcast. We may be far from the good old days, but most distributors I talk with are more than OK with 2014 so far.
This article includes:
- How previous years’ recovery is affecting today’s economy
- MDM’s forecasted growth for 2014
- Changes brought by shifts in investment levels
Subscribers should log-in below to read this article.
Not a subscriber? Subscribe below or learn more. Subscribers also have access to the following related articles:
- Disruptive Technologies: The Rise of Robots in Distribution
- Zandi: Economy to Pick Up Through 2015
- Commentary: Dont Invest in Technology for Technologys Sake
To access this page, you must purchase MDM Premium Subscription, MDM Premium Subscription – Monthly or MDM Premium Subscription – Annually.
Competitive gaps emerge from shifting customer patterns.
Don't let the hype over AmazonSupply prevent a strategic approach to e-commerce.
