Sometimes You Need to Change Your Club
Golf is one of those games that unless you play the same course every time you need to read the course, understand the conditions, evaluate how you are playing and, …
Growth Strategies
2017 Planning – Macro Outlook, Wood Building Construction & Oil
It\’s now about 30 days to the AD and IMARK national meetings. Graybar just held their national meeting. Manufacturers and distributors should be well underway in their individual planning. 2017 …
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“Can you hear me now?” – Verizon
Many may remember the Verizon commercials titled \”Can you hear me now?\” And while the spokesperson may have moved to Sprint and is focusing on price, the lighting industry may …
Is Amazon An Alternate Channel or Just Meeting Customer Needs?
Yes, Amazon Business is a competitor to distributors. It is also an opportunity for manufacturers given that it represents an additional distribution channel to reach customers. Why? Because some customers …
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Welcome to 2017 Planning Season
Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer as well as the unofficial beginning of the 2017 planning season in the electrical industry. While we know a number of manufacturers …
Survey Finds Joint Business Planning Partners “Dissatisfied”
Following the completion of 2016 planning cycle, we heard a lot of frustration with the current Joint Business Planning (JBP) process. In response to this issue, Channel Marketing Group, in …
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Do Vendor Published Rebate Programs Drive Decisions?
Rebates are a fact of life and the first marketing group rebate negotiation, in 1968, was designed to capture incremental revenue (for a wire company) with the distributors collecting the …
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A Shot in the Arm
Earlier this year Codale Electric, a Sonepar operating company, acquired Grove Madsen. Two months later Codale and Grove Madsen have big growth plans. A recent story in the Northern Nevada …
An Industry Undergoing Change
We\’ve just passed the 6 month mark for the year and while there has been much change, the past month highlighted many and accelerated some. Consider: Consolidation Shealy sells to Border …
Weak Jobs Report Impacting Electrical Industry?
Earlier this month the headline that many were commenting on was \”U.S. Hiring Slowed Dramatically in May; Jobless Rate Falls to 4.7%\”. The story emphasized that non-farm payroll was up …