Creating deeper relationships with customers and suppliers make it easier for distributors to show their worth, says Roger Woodward, president of Alliance Distribution Partners LLC, Gallatin, TN, in ‘Doubling Down’ on Distributor Relationships, part of the 2015 Distribution Trends Special Issue.
Distributors must provide a higher level of consultation, which means having a better understanding of their customer's business, Woodward says.
It is also important for distributors to take into account that the way relationships are managed is evolving because of changing customer and supplier expectations, as well as the proliferation of the Internet as a commerce tool. Therefore, distributors should make sure they are maintaining relationships in a way that best suits their customers and partners.
Read more about distributor relationships in ‘Doubling Down’ on Distributor Relationships.
