Earlier this year Channel Marketing Group conducted research regarding joint business planning and released the results earlier this fall. Some of the key findings revealed that: Manufacturers talk sales; distributors talk profits ... and then sales Distributors who invest in planning processes outperform those who \"gloss\" over the process and are content with goal … [Read more...] about Attend Free Advanced Business Planning Webinar
Sales & Marketing
Are you interested in new customers? New sales?
Companies are currently planning their 2017 initiatives. Corporate typically sets the revenue goal (okay, they may ask for input, but ...) A portion of the objective comes from an expectation of recurring revenue / customer retention. An element is expected growth from existing customers. Maybe there will be a branch opening or an acquisition. Perhaps you\'re funding for new … [Read more...] about Are you interested in new customers? New sales?
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, sometimes (many times for me), you need to change the club you are using based upon circumstances to get a good shot. As you plan for 2017, understanding your course is critical. While the core of your game may … [Read more...] about Sometimes You Need to Change Your Club
Marketing Your Warehouse
Have you ever thought about how you can monetize your warehouse in a way other than operational efficiency and increased throughput (which you should be doing with a continuous improvement process guided by a metric management mentality?). Think about how your warehouse can be a sales tool. And if it can\'t be, consider this video from Werner Electric While it is designed as a … [Read more...] about Marketing Your Warehouse
“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 now be hearing Verizon calling. And electrical and lighting distributors may be hearing from a new competitor ... a new channel. While Verizon is known as a telecom company, it is also well known to … [Read more...] about “Can you hear me now?” – Verizon
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 conjunction with Verde Associates, fielded a JBP survey to a wide group of planning process participants from both manufacturing and distributor companies. The purpose of this survey was … [Read more...] about Survey Finds Joint Business Planning Partners “Dissatisfied”
Grainger Q2 Earnings … Industrial slowdown continues
It\'s Q2 earning season, providing distributors (and manufacturers) with an opportunity to benchmark their performance, gain insights (or confirmation) on what they are seeing in the market and possibly learn a little from publicly held companies. First up is Grainger whose results reaffirm that the industrial slowdown continues, albeit it is no longer in free fall. Grainger … [Read more...] about Grainger Q2 Earnings … Industrial slowdown continues
Getting Found Online…Site Optimization (SEO)
Do you know if your website, including eCommerce engine is optimized? Is your company an SEO master? Whoever said “build it and they will come” never developed a website. Making the investment in a website (and eCommerce) is, as they say, “the easy part” as it takes money, process / project-oriented people and product content. The hard party is generating traffic to your … [Read more...] about Getting Found Online…Site Optimization (SEO)
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?
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
Ace is the Place For …
You may remember the iconic jingle of \"Ace is the place with the helpful hardware folks\" but did you know that Ace is the place for LED lighting? According to an article in the April issue of Hardware & Building Supply Dealer, according to Brian Wiborg, VP retail development and supply, Ace intends to use LED lighting as a \"a crowbar in into the B2B market\". They plan … [Read more...] about Ace is the Place For …
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
