While many think that there will be a number of distributors, and maybe some manufacturers, that close due to COVID-19, perhaps the bigger impact will be on distributors who survive now, hoping for brighter days, but who only survive, struggle and ultimately sell in the next three years. Resilience is the the key to maximizing your selling price. This was the point of a … [Read more...] about Resilience is Key to Maximizing Selling Price
More Insights
Moving from Survivability to Thriveability
In talking with distributors and manufacturers it is clear that many are actively in the planning and pivoting mode, moving from survivability to thriveability. They’ve stabilized their business financially, emotionally (from a staff viewpoint) and operationally. Now they are looking at “doing business” and more financially secure ones are identifying ways to take … [Read more...] about Moving from Survivability to Thriveability
The Future of Counters
Distributor counter areas have been spotlighted in the first month of the COVID-19 era. Counters represent between 5-30% of a distributor’s business with the importance of counter sales being directly tied to target audience, locale and business focus. What is their future? According to our Mid-April Electrical Market Sentiment survey, 56% of distributor respondents … [Read more...] about The Future of Counters
Market Targeting – The story of Chicken Little
Chicken Little arrived in the US in mid-March and declared \"the world is falling\", and it started to … and has. Humpty Dumpty fell and he then said, since his horsemen were missing (probably unemployed), \"Carmen Sandiego will help in finding the pieces (after the government offers money to stabilize employment)\" So, let’s find the pieces and help you in … [Read more...] about Market Targeting – The story of Chicken Little
COVID Content, Concepts & Comments
Have you felt “overwhelmed” with the amount of COVID-19 information that has been arriving in your mailbox the past couple of weeks? Rather than post this information regularly, hopefully curating it to identify some key content and sharing some concepts makes it easier for you and, hopefully, more informative. Today is the last day to participate in our second COVID-19 … [Read more...] about COVID Content, Concepts & Comments
Increasing Sales Effectiveness, a COVID Opportunity?
A potential outcome of COVID-19 is a rethinking of sales organizations. You\'ve now had an opportunity to consider their effectiveness in a different sales environment and hopefully are starting to think about your sales organization \"post COVID\". Consider … prior to the pandemic outside salespeople believed that they needed to spend time behind a windshield and needed … [Read more...] about Increasing Sales Effectiveness, a COVID Opportunity?
Coronavirus Sales BC vs PC
We\'re in an environment that could be called BC vs PC - Before Coronavirus and Post Coronavirus. The challenge is that PC, which could be defined as Q3 and Q4 don\'t look pretty. Everyone, at least manufacturers, are asking \"what is the forecast?\" The challenge is that all want an answer for the short-term. \"What will be \'this month\'? Next month? Q2?\" The … [Read more...] about Coronavirus Sales BC vs PC
Business in the Coronavirus Era
We’ve gone from looking at the coronavirus from afar to being in the middle of the coronavirus storm. It’s obviously changed the business and outlook for the year. While tragic, and disruptive, the phrase “this to shall pass” should be kept in mind. Keeping calm, making sensible decisions and keep #AmericaStrong. Some thoughts regarding doing business in the coronavirus … [Read more...] about Business in the Coronavirus Era
Selling Services Requires a Plan & Marketing
Much is talked about how distributors needing to sell services to differentiate themselves. They need to create / provide solutions and will need to generate revenue from these services. While some of the discussed services are unbundling, what is currently provided / expected, others are more consultative in nature or services that customers / contractors can outsource to … [Read more...] about Selling Services Requires a Plan & Marketing
POS Integral to Rep Commission Model
Throughout the fall Channel Marketing Group surveyed NEMRA reps and also interviewed dozens of them on behalf of NEMRA for the upcoming Rep of the Future report, which will be unveiled at the upcoming NEMRA meeting. While the objective of the research was to identify the traits needed for the rep of 2025, we also gained deeper insights into the financial model of … [Read more...] about POS Integral to Rep Commission Model
