Interesting article in Electrical Wholesaling, “Amazon Business is Growing. Do Distributors Have a Plan” written by Unilog essentially saying you need to either join or fight Amazon Business because they are / will be taking over the distribution business (and since Unilog placed this article in EW, presumably they believe that the electrical channel is at risk.) The article, … [Read more...] about Amazon Business is a Nominal Electrical Distributor Competitor
Sales & Marketing
Spinning products to improve customer experience
Over the past six months we’ve seen a number of distributors upgrade their websites – either the “look and feel”, evolve to a webstore or upgrade both. Why the investments? Because these distributors recognize that “table stakes” for at least some customers is requiring, or will require, offering an e / omni-channel experience. Customers are evolving to seeking more information … [Read more...] about Spinning products to improve customer experience
A changing MRO environment?
Recently I participated in a networking group that included a number of MRO buyers. The subject was trends in the MRO space. Granted many of the attendees were larger MRO buyers, but the feedback indicated a change in buyer purchasing behaviors. Over the years I\'ve sat in a number of these meetings, albeit with different attendees. The buying and eCommerce trends centered … [Read more...] about A changing MRO environment?
Developing Your Team Through Channel Dynamic Sharing
Last week we shared thoughts on 10 channel dynamics that are impacting, and will have a greater influence in 2019. To reiterate, these dynamics are: Whose brand is valuable?Size mattersManufacturers support channels, but you?Products or Customers? What do you sell / what is your focus?Reaching / driving influencersDigital divide from the top, through the channelDefining … [Read more...] about Developing Your Team Through Channel Dynamic Sharing
10 Channel Dynamics as Turning the Page into 2019
As we turn the page into 2019, welcome to new opportunities, new challenges, new initiatives and perhaps some new ways of doing business / serving your customers to ensure a record 2019 … whatever your goals may be. While we thought about making predictions, we decided to leave those to others and share some channel dynamics that we’ve been observing that we feel are … [Read more...] about 10 Channel Dynamics as Turning the Page into 2019
What do your customers value the most from you?
Lately I’ve been thinking about “value”. Not necessarily from a financial / pricing / cost viewpoint but from a “what does your customer value THE MOST from you?” You may ask why I’m thinking about this? It relates to customer satisfaction, customer experience, value proposition, customer retention, lead generation, account penetration and potentially profitability … [Read more...] about What do your customers value the most from you?
Distributors. Has Amazon Business Been Good for You?
Conventional wisdom is that Amazon Business is not good for MRO and construction distributors.They are a technological behemoth that knows nothing about “our space” and are only successful because they can: throw money at the issue / opportunity have the most advanced technology and know-how to mine data have access to consumers who work in companies (and hence are … [Read more...] about Distributors. Has Amazon Business Been Good for You?
