The Distributor Channel

End of Year Planning Time is Here The famed return flight of the swallows to the chapel courtyard in Capistrano is celebrated in both art and song.   Each year, their return heralds a new season, a reawakening of life, a mark in time.   Similarly, the desks of distributorland experience a similar return sometime each November or December.   It’s the late afternoon flight of the planning sheet. Most of our brothers in the wholesale trade compare planning more to the annual reappearance of buzzards in Hinckley, Ohio than the romantic fluttering in Capistrano.   And some distributor folk would rather watch buzzards circle over their sun-blistered body on a Mexican fire-ant hill than face the planning beast.   Truth is: very few people like end of year planning. If you hate planning, this article isn’t going to change your mind.   Instead, let’s just say it’s a necessity of good business.   And, in turbulent times (like today), a strong annual plan is critical to success.  

Profit Vampires: Out for more than just blood. Vampires are everywhere. True Blood on TV, the Twilight books, Return of Dracula at the local Drive-in and now in a purchasing office near you. Industrial Supply Magazine just featured an article on Profit Vampires. Read the tale of Count Purchasing and his evil gang here .

How can these products help your customer? Skill Six: Product Knowledge  Let’s face it, most distributor “sales” training is actually “product” training.   Many of my clients employ salespeople who are technicians, graduate engineers or carry some other high level credential who can often spew the technical ins and outs of their products.    A mentor once coined the phrase “doubledipthonghydristor syndrome” to describe the phenomenon.   They have all this information, but they don’t understand true product knowledge.      To go back to my own youth at Allen-Bradley, Engineers in training were forced to memorize the six step coating process for solenoids.   Most of my contemporaries could never really connected on the why this may or may not be important to the customer.   Product-centric minutia by itself doesn’t equate to product knowledge.   Instead, we believe product knowledge revolves around understanding how your product can help customers make more money.   As