From my viewpoint in this industry, the “new normal” needs to be trashed and redefined into the “new reality.” I’ve been to several wholesale distribution industry meetings the past month, and I have never been more struck by…
Many manufacturers are making plans to move production back to or nearer the U.S., thanks to rising costs elsewhere.
In terms of cost, the sales function in a typical distributor represents the largest expense. Yet it is arguably the area where the fewest analytics have been applied.
Pricing and profitability have garnered much of the attention in terms of process improvement, to good effect. Companies that have changed their pricing policies and …
Distributor builds common platform for standardized processes and smoother acquisition integration.
In a blog I wrote recently at mdm.com/blogs about HD Supply’s sale of its HVAC/Plumbing business to Hajoca, I talked about whether one company will ever be able to consolidate across many different industrial distribution sectors. Over the past half decade, HD Supply made the strongest run to consolidate the diverse sectors that define industrial distribution as it grew revenues past $10 billion.
But if you consider the total size of all the MRO sectors it penetrated …
Distribution models are evolving online; here’s how one MRO distributor is approaching this challenge.
Could markets be too fragmented to pull off a consolidation strategy across sectors?
Data-free planning limits the ability of salespeople to fully target and exploit customer potential.
Bigger doesn’t always mean better in the sales process.
People are the key element to success when looking to move forward in your markets.
Create new ways to help customers or streamline your own operations to become more profitable.
There are three components to the IMI analytical model.
I’ve been stuck on the topic of online marketing recently and its status in wholesale distribution channels. Here’s why. As distributors continue to rebuild in this growth cycle, many are still using the same business development methods: outside and inside sales functions. …
What’s your company’s social media strategy? If your answer is that there isn’t one in place, you are in the vast majority of manufacturers and distributors. But is that the right place to be as we head into the second half of 2011? …
Use the market data to focus your sales efforts.
This issue marks our annual update of the top 40 largest industrial distributors and the largest distributors in 11 other sectors. The big are getting bigger. That is not entirely surprising given the economic rebound. Predictably, those distributors dependent on the construction industry are having the hardest time regenerating their growth rate. Ferguson/Wolseley Canada, still No. 1 no the Top 40 list at $9.4 billion in annual revenues, saw revenues shrink by more than 7 percent. HD Supply, No. 2 with $7.5 billion in annual revenues, grew just over 1 percent.
More importantly, our report on the state of the distribution …
Companies are taking a much closer look at their operations.
Is your strategy granular about where to compete?
Should outside or inside sales handle a particular customer?
The traditional field sales model is inefficient.
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