“Customer intimacy is our stock and trade, our most valuable asset and the reason our supply partners select us as their channel to market…” was the message shared with Supply-Partners during conversations regarding the addition of new product lines, territory expansions and other relational interactions. I totally agree with the statement, but... The question is, what are distributors doing to get a better picture of their customer’s interests? I believe not enough. For years I have encouraged distributors to take a deeper dive, to employ new techniques and look at their customers from a different angle. One way is to use a Voice of the Customer Survey as a tool. More progressive members of the distributor community have made the leap and the findings have been eye-opening. The question becomes why aren’t more using this time-tested tool? Join me as we review the most common reasons why some DO NOT use survey techniques. Reason One: We already know our customers. With s...

Today, more than ever, the need for an unvarnished look at customer opinions is of unparalleled importance. Sounds like hype? It’s not.  Here are a dozen reasons why: 1. We are in the midst of a massive generational shift. Millennials come to the workplace with a much different mindset than your customers of old. What’s more, they are finding their way into leadership positions and their buying power is steadily increasing. They are impatient for change. They question the way things are done. As digital natives, Millennials are more than ready to toss your sales team aside and move onward to another supplier. 2. The choices of communications with customers have gone from phone and fax to a thousand options. Chats on social media, instant messaging on your website, text messages, and new options in development are quicker and easier for your customers. Each customer contact will do business with the organization that matches their preferred method of contact. Do...

I know, everyone body says, “We are constantly gathering feedback from our customers.” The problem is the feedback is filtered: Filtered through the minds of your sales team, strained through the conversations of busy customer service types and sometimes percolated via your supply-partners' sales teams. What’s more, your customers are nice people. Mostly, they don’t like to report bad things. A few don’t take the time to think deep thoughts about their future direction and potential for outgrowing your brand of service. Extending the point further, very few (I’ve only met one in the past 20 years) distributors arm those in contact with their customers with a measurable way of collecting customer feelings on various topics. The results speak for themselves with distributors losing key chunks of business “unexpectedly” even though the move would take months of effort on the customer’s side. An occasional conversation with customers about future direction doesn’t show tre...

If you've been reading much recently, you know how much we love KYKLO around here.  Today we are honored to have KYKLO Co-founder and CEO, Remi Ducrocq just us as a guest blogger.  He recently attended the European Distributor Conference and has agreed to give us his feedback. Welcome, Remi! Early in May, I had the opportunity to attend The European Union of Electrical Wholesalers (EUEW) conference in Brussels. This organization, founded in 1955, is a 16-nation body representing the interests of the electrical wholesaling channel throughout Europe.  During this meeting, I had the opportunity to attend a session conducted by Ian Heller of US-based Modern Distributor Management. His message was timely, poignant and was delivered in a manner that lingered well beyond the meeting and into an after-hours conversation.  Allow me to expand on this.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) will forever change distribution .  AI will enable sweeping efficiency shi...