The Distributor Channel

Lately the role of the distributor CFO has been on my mind. I see a need for the fundamental role of the CFO to change from staff accounting and backward-focused record keeping to something more powerful. For one thing, the importance of forward looking analytics grows in importance. Caught off-guard by the last recession, many distributors faced financial stress from systems not geared for a 20-30 percent drop in business. Aside from internal analytics, I see need for customer interaction from the financial side of the business. As an example, many of the services distributors provide create massive financial gains for their customers. Few current customer contacts understand the monetary impact of our services. Distributor CFOs must work hand in glove with their counterparts at the customer to lead the charge in establishing reliable financial metrics. I call the position the Attack CFO. I have a couple of articles scheduled to be published on the topic in trade publication

Pardon me while I rant . One of the original self-proclaimed experts I just finished reading an article by a fresh faced, newly minted and self-proclaimed sales expert. Quite frankly, I don’t remember if she called herself a business coach, sales trainer, consultant or something similar, but her message stressed the point of helping salespeople in two ways: 1) Avoid measuring selling activities as these metrics frustrate new salespeople who struggle to get into the rhythm of setting appointments, making follow-up calls and learning about customers. 2) Measure sales output. Things like numbers of orders generated, gross margin and incoming requests for quotes. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Terrible advice, possibly the worst advice since the neighbor told Noah to expect a drought. And, the whole thing was prominently published in an online distribution magazine. Let me explain why I this frustrates me. Coaching salespeople based on their output doesn’t work. Allo

As with all fairy tales, this one happened once upon a time in a land not so far away. There, of course, was a princess who was quite obviously a mix of hillbilly and ridge-runner descent. Her mother, in a fit of rage or depression, named her Gerpruda, Princess Priscilla Gerpruda XIII to be exact. Anyway, this Princess Gerpruda (the thirteenth) lived in Never-Never Land. (Never-Never turn down a Sales Opportunity and Never-Never think outside the box-land-that is.) Gerpruda lacked typical royal charm and beauty. At the age of 37, her parents thought an intervention was necessary to find a proper suitor. A decree was made and a call went throughout the land for a suitable prince to wed the lovely Priscilla Gerpruda. After twelve years and two months, it appeared there was truth to the rumor that all of the potential “Prince-ton” material had been turned into frogs by a neighboring wizard. In ‘88 the Wizards and Warlocks Frog Turning Competition had been held on the pala