Created by Kues1 - Freepik.com Looking back at American manufacturing, a New Renaissance took place in the latter two decades of the 20th Century.  It started slowly, but by the mid-1990s, companies large and small began to apply principles tied to lean manufacturing and the related quest for continuous improvement. Coming out of the movement was the “Black Belt.”  Initially, Black Belts worked entirely within the manufacturing process; leading teams through what was once viewed as the hazy world of plant floor work and material flows. By the turn of the new millennium, the concept had been pushed to other processes. Things like order flows, procurement systems and even human-centric processes were scrutinized.  Similar to the manufacturing world, massive improvements were made.  Companies enjoyed new found efficiencies and gained a competitive advantage. One person saw the advantage of putting the same principle to work on the pricing process.  Enter ...

Both my iPad and my iPhone could fit in here! True confessions: I started my career working in this industry back in 1977.  No, this isn’t going to be some old-timer’s story of the good old days.  Instead, it’s a personal observation of four decades of selling styles.  While going through an 18-month factory training program designed for future sales engineers, I was force fed massive amounts of product minutia and drilled on maintaining my trusty new leather bound “Day-Timer” calendar.  Since I was destined to become a “Sales” engineer, I had the opportunity to attend some of the best sales training programs a big company’s money could buy.  I was ready to soak it up like a sponge.   Prehistoric Sales Techniques The state-of-the-art selling technique of 1977 can be summed up in two words: features and benefits.  After the aforementioned training, I became a master of features and benefits.  In a time before massive competition and the ens...

The economy is expanding. Noting comments from economist Alan Beaulieu, of ITR Economics ( view more here ,) the 2017 economy looks like a great year for growth. The forecast calls for a bright, sunshiny sky with 3.7 percent growth. It’s been a mighty long time since we’ve enjoyed this type of up cycles. Now is the time for distributors to raise their prices. Join with me as I outline why and where to look for price increases. Why we’ve got low margins today… Downward pressure on margins is the universal distributor complaint. New competitors, supplier sales teams setting prices at unsustainable levels, the internet and customer pushback are all finding their way into the discussion. Further, in spite of some major productivity advancements, operating costs continue to rise. One distributor, who closely monitors operational costs, commented costs have risen nearly 25 percent faster than offsetting gross margin gains over the post-recession era. Clearly, we need to ...