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 only 38,000 jobs and that March and April data were revised downward. In other words, a weak jobs report and outlook. While the jobless rate fell it was felt that this was due to individuals … [Read more...] about Weak Jobs Report Impacting Electrical Industry?
Growth Strategies
Is Joint Business Planning a Dying Art or a Growth Differentiator?
An issue we\'re starting to hear more and more about is Joint Business Planning (JBP). We started hearing rumblings just before the NAED National from some larger distributors and manufacturers that the planning process was taking too long (not getting done until late Q1) field planning was not as strong as it historically was (there\'s an correlation between the quality of … [Read more...] about Is Joint Business Planning a Dying Art or a Growth Differentiator?
Driving Your eSales Rate
As mentioned last week, one of the topics of various sessions, and with distributors, was eCommerce and eSales. The companies that are viewed as more progressive, perhaps more profitable and who are positioning for future growth are driving their business this way. Some of discussion at the NAED National may be due to Amazon stating that Amazon Business crossed the $1 billion … [Read more...] about Driving Your eSales Rate
Why Product Launches Fail
We\'re finally through the planning season (yes, it is April and distributors now have less than 9 months to achieve supplier objectives!) and some of manufacturers discussed their new product launch plans (and maybe a distributor shared their approach to new product introductions.) During the planning process some manufacturers communicate to their distributors about their … [Read more...] about Why Product Launches Fail
Drive for Data
Over the past month or so Allen and I have had a number of calls for data. Some are from owners / senior management, some from marketing personnel and some from operational staff. The calls are from manufacturers and distributors. The commonality is that there appears to be a call for more quantitative information for companies to benchmark their business, understand their … [Read more...] about Drive for Data
Moneyball for Growth
If you are stymied with geographical growth and think that many of your customers are not buying all they can from you, the odds are stacked in your favor that they aren\'t. Why? Because you don\'t know. Unless you have access to all your sales data and more importantly your sales people have access to it, then you are flying blind. Compound this if you are running a 10+ year … [Read more...] about Moneyball for Growth
B All You Can B For Sales Effectiveness
Earlier this week I was speaking with distributor and we were discussing sales effectiveness. Throughout his career he has been in sales roles, inclusive of sales management. One of the areas we discussed is the attributes of successful salespeople. He told me about an article he wrote for his company\'s sales newsletter a number of years ago. He recently published it on … [Read more...] about B All You Can B For Sales Effectiveness
Sales Persistence Pays
Recently I saw a posting on LinkedIn that shared these sales statistics. Having been in sales, managed sales teams and consulted with clients regarding their sales organizations, it struck a cord. Common perceptions of most distributor sales organizations include: Not too effective at new account development Variably effective at account penetration Very good at account … [Read more...] about Sales Persistence Pays
