The Distributor Channel

O ur industry has lost one of its early pioneers and visionaries.  I had the privilege of knowing, competing against and collaborating with  this fine gentleman.  We rarely post these kinds of messages but in the case of Don Craighead, feel it needed and justified.   He will be missed. ~ Frank and the River Heights Consulting Staff From Power/mation:

 Hey everyone, Santa here.  Remember me?  I’m the stout guy with the big beard and dapper red suit.  If you can get away from your Zoom calls and COVID concerns for just four minutes, I want to give you a seasonal update. You think you have problems, let me clue you into things at the North Pole.  Things are not great up here.   How about keeping 300 elves in social distancing mode?   Their perpetual diet of cookies leaves crumbs everywhere and every time they rummage around inside the cookie jar it makes me wince.  No hand sanitizer, no plastic gloves, just bare-handed grabs; there is no telling where Sneezy’s filthy little paws have been.  Mrs. Claus is on the warpath too.  These elves seem to be eating toilet paper.  Her snide comments about the world-wide shortage of toilet paper are anything but festive.   Top that off with tens of thousands of kids sending me handwritten cards and letters.  Exactly when did they stop teaching handwriting in the first grade?   Nowadays, your jolly

Let’s review our current situation.  Just about the time we were  starting to get out and visit a few customers, the next wave, second wave, surge, or whatever they are calling it this week, has put salespeople back in their home office.  Is this discouraging?  You bet.  And, based on my conversations with many of your customers, they are getting weary of the situation as well.   Salespeople continue to push forward.   Based on dozens of ongoing coaching sessions with sellers in our industry, today’s activities appear to follow a pattern.  I have listed them in the order of reported time allocated: 1. Keeping in touch with our best customers by periodically calling them to see how things are going. 2. Follow-up on any incoming calls from customers. 3. Receiving calls from supplier sales types who are currently locked up and clamoring for information about specific customers and industry types. 4. Taking supplier calls about new products and attending yet another Zoom Meeting on

Since launching out in my journey as a consultant, writer, and speaker, I have been told at least a hundred times to not use sports analogies.  Sound advice and a good rule to follow?  Maybe, but if following the rules was my strong suit, I probably would not be a good consultant.  So, let the rule-breaking begin. We are well into November.  The Pandemic has been a tough opponent.  We’re behind and it’s time for what my old football coach called the “two-minute game.”  We need to score, and we need points right now.  Here are a few ideas you might want to consider. Do any of your customers have money they need to spend now?   Believe it or not, many larger companies and governmental organizations have funds that fall into the category of spend it this year or lose it forever.  Since some of the projects for 2020 were delayed due to the pandemic, they may need a place to spend this money.  Training funds, product recalibration, spare parts, tools, equipment, and tons of other stuff fall

Here is a good news/bad news kind of story.  Distributors across North America are investing to create webstores and an enhanced online presence – that’s the good news.  Conversely, the bad news is many of them have yet to establish any real level of expertise in the whole digital experience.  Simply put, they’re online but not good at it. Unlike traditional distributor selling where customer experience is based on local competitors and the guy on the other side of town, the customer compares their online experience to global options.  Customer experience with Amazon, Target, Costco, and others sets the bar for expectations.  We can’t have a schlocky webstore and expect great results.     To set the stage, one of the megatrends of the pandemic has been growth in web-based buying.  For instance, according to emarketer.com (Oct 12, 2020), e-commerce sales have grown by 32.4 percent while brick and mortar retailer sales have declined by 3.2 percent.  This trend extends into our industry. 

Let me start with a loud proclamation, I believe it makes sense  for distributors to have a value-add shop.  I see value-adds as a competitive differentiator.  They provide the distributor with an easy way to sell logistically focused customer convenience, programming expertise, multiple part subassemblies, and when appropriate, complete solutions.  In the case of products like linear bearings, bus bar, strut, and T-slot extruded aluminum systems, work done in the shop enables smaller customers to apply the product without purchasing the specialty tools required to create a customer solution of their own.  With all these great things in mind, why start an article with the heading “Does your shop cost your company new business?”   In the past three or four weeks, I have come across at least a dozen examples of distributor shops serving as a hindrance rather than an accelerator of business.  All but two of these came from sellers.   The situation as seen through the eyes of the sellers i

In my last post, I outlined the need for changes in the inside sales team.  These could best be summarized in four statements: 1. Distributors need to begin the process of better understanding the difference between the functions of Customer Service Representatives and Inside Salespeople.  Today the two are used interchangeably and many people perform a combination of the roles. 2. An Inside sales position needs to become a profession with a career path.  Too many distributors use the position as a stepping-stone to something else.  Typically, that something else entails more money and greater prestige within the organization and involves outside sales. 3. A great real inside salesperson can generate at least as much opportunity as an outside salesperson.    4. The COVID pandemic has changed the selling environment.  If not permanently, at least for an awfully long time.  I believe the smart money is betting on a permanent change. With these comments and questions behind us, le