The Distributor Channel

National Boss’s Day – an official holiday since 1958 – falls on the workday closest to October 16 th .  Back in 2015, I proposed the addition of another holiday, National Bring your Boss to Work Day.  With tongue firmly planted in cheek, I outlined why I felt sellers needed to get their bosses out of the office and in front of customers.   This message is even more important today than in the past.   For the enjoyment of our younger readers, we started our message off with a snapshot of an era when dinosaurs ruled the planet – circa 1978. It was the age of leisure suits and wingtips.  Sales offices were richly adorned in thickly shagged carpet and orange metallic furniture.  The computer, fax machine, Internet, smartphone, tablet, and text message were decades away.   The latest bit of sales technology centered on the auto-flip Rolodex.  Times were different; very different.  And to further amuse our younger readers, several decades ago, distributor owners and sales managers spe

The Supply Chain situation is creating critical issues.  Important customers are going without the products required to keep their factories running at peak performance, OEMs cannot ship machines to their customers, and contractors have projects “almost” completed, not finished.   In our research with distributors across North America, Supply Chain issues are of critical concern compared to the recent past.  We asked distributors to rank their current situation with receiving products on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being awful and 5 being just the normal flow of business.  The highest-ranking report we have received is a whopping 2 ½. Most are ranking things as awful.   The big news across the internet started with tales of an electronic chip shortage.  For the Automation industry, that equates to just about everything with Drives, Servo, and Human-Machine Interface (HMI) systems getting the most mentions.  However, the shortage extends into everything – literally everything.  Products as mu

We are honored to be featured on the cover of the latest IMARK Today magazine.  It's a quick, but worthwhile read on how to find and nurture new customers. Check it out  HERE . ~or~ copy and paste: https://imarkelectricalnow.imarkgroup.com/Editions/Fall-2021/Features/How-to-Find,-Nurture-New-Customers Frank Hurtte is the Founding Partner of River Heights Consulting. He combines the battle scars of 28 years of front line "in the trenches" experience with over 13 years of service to knowledge-based distributors and their manufacturer partners. Email or call today to make these virus-driven times work for you.