Superheroes in Sales: Meet Your Iron Salesman By Desiree Grace Who’s YOUR favorite superhero? Mine is Iron Man, Tony Stark, billionaire inventor and party animal turned do-gooder. He’s also one of the founding members of the Avengers, alongside Captain America and Thor. Iron Man reminds me of one of the superhero roles in B2B sales: the technical specialist. Savvy manufacturers, and even some high-tech distributors, know this role is a game-changer. Why? Technical specialists, like Iron Man, combine brains and engineering talent with another superpower: sales skills. They need a rare combination of technical depth, problem-solving abilities, and people skills. A true tech specialist can walk into a customer site solo, solve problems on the spot, and keep the deal moving forward. At a minimum, they keep customers happy. At best, they close the business. Their skills differentiate your brand from the competition, much like Tony’s repulsor rays knock enemies out of the fight...

From Catamarans to Conference Rooms: What Guides  Can Teach Us By Desiree Grace Ever notice how travel expands your mind and your life? Drink strong Greek coffee, and suddenly your coffee routine at home changes. Eat real Mexican food and never spend a penny at Taco Bell ever again. Appreciate how the Europeans take vacation seriously and rethink your out-of-office time. I spent a few days on vacation and had the opportunity to observe some real professionals at work. Tour Guides are masters of managing crowds and people. While this might be the tourist trade, a lot of the lessons and skills are transferable to any trade, especially Sales and Management. As a gesture of goodwill and international cooperation, I share with you the following 6 lessons learned from Tour Guides.   1.      How you start matters a.      “Hello, Beautiful People! Welcome to our catamaran!”  Wow, what a way to start. You cannot get much more positive ...

Turning Cost into Cash: A Podcast with Frank Hurtte Hire Slow, Fire Fast might sound harsh, but Frank Hurtte isn’t pulling punches when it comes to sales success. In this latest IEDA podcast episode, Frank dives into why your dealership’s sales team should be more than just “expense-report addicts in logo shirts” and how strong leadership, coaching, and accountability can turn new hires into revenue drivers. Whether you’re behind the wheel, on a jog, or grabbing a coffee, this is the kind of straight-talk sales wisdom you don’t want to miss. Listen on the Independent Equipment Dealers Association Group page OR...  Want to listen during your drive time? Click for Spotify and Apple Podcasts . About the Author Frank Hurtte has nearly 50 years of industrial sales experience and is the founder of River Heights Consulting. He’s the author of The New Sales Guy Project and several other books, a sought-after speaker, and a regular magazine columnist. Frank is known for telling ...

Tour Guide Tactics for Everyday Leadership By Desiree Grace, with a little help from some friends   I spent a few days this month in a foreign country and had the opportunity to observe some real professionals at work. While their job title was “tour guide,” the lessons they shared go far beyond the travel industry. The skills that make a guide successful are remarkably transferable.  In the spirit of goodwill and international cooperation, I’m sharing a Baker’s Dozen worth of wisdom gleaned from tour guides.   1. How you start matters “Hello, Beautiful People! Welcome to our catamaran!” Talk about a first impression. High energy and warmth set the tone for a positive, engaging experience. Approach your projects the same way, begin with intention and enthusiasm.   2. Shake off a miserable client Your first group of the day might be demanding sourpusses. Do you let them ruin the entire day? Absolutely not. Shake it off, reset, and start fresh with the ...

Before You Pack the Sunblock, Pack a Better OOO Reply by Desiree Grace A Distributor Channel Marketing Moment By Desiree Grace Ready for some R&R? Rushing out the door to leave work behind? Don’t forget the sunblock, the spare charger, and an extra credit card. And please, before you set that “Gone Fishing” vibe, take five minutes to craft a professional, friendly, and useful out-of-office message. Out of office? Who cares? Your customers and colleagues, that’s who. The tone of your greeting matters. Include an emergency contact who has agreed in advance to be your backup, and provide a way to reach you in a true emergency. Your auto-response while on vacation tells people a lot about you. Forgetting to create one also says a lot, and none of it good. A couple of real-world examples: “Out of the office until August 31.” “Hi! I’m out of the office on holiday, returning August 31. While I may not be checking emails, your message is important to me. Bill can help y...

North Stars: The Distributor’s Original GPS In Defense of My North Stars Why I Still Trust My North Stars (Even in the Age of AI) By Frank Hurtte Forgive the extra titles, I just couldn't decide on the perfect one to reflect this post! I’m not exactly sure when the concept of “North Stars” first became part of my thinking. It may have been from Peter Drucker, whose books-on-tape I devoured back when I was a young sales guy working through an MBA reading list on the road. Drucker hammered home the importance of enduring principles and mission-driven leadership. Later, Jim Collins in Good to Great reinforced this idea, showing how great companies cling to their core values even as they navigate massive change. For me, North Stars are those steadfast principles that offer clarity and direction, especially when markets shift and trends whirl around like the weather here in the Midwest. Never one to let a solid idea slip by, I developed my own set of North Stars for distributors...

Reactive Selling Isn't a Sin if You Do It with a Purpose By Frank Hurtte Proactive, proactive, and more proactive! Selling stories flood the internet like a tsunami of advice. Is it just me, or is every sales expert on the planet preaching some kind of “Max Overdrive” model of proactive action? Truth be told, that approach might be completely impractical for a big segment of our industry. We’ve bought into it, too. Every time a sales manager steps up in a conference room and unveils their vision of a 100% proactive future, the team shudders, digs in their heels, and covertly begins planning how to avoid it. True Confessions I used to be one of those guys at the front of the room pontificating about proactive selling. These days, I’m convinced reactive selling has an important place, especially in the world of knowledge-based distribution. Through up-close observation and dozens of interviews with successful sellers, I’ve learned that reactive selling, done right, is far from passiv...

When the Heat Is On, Only the Cool Brands Survive Staying Top of Mind with the Evoked Set The Evoked Set (aka the Consideration Set) is that short list of brands someone immediately thinks of when they need a product in a particular category. For example: It’s hotter than Hades in your warehouse, and you need fans. Right now. Boom! Enter Big Ass Fans. That’s my Evoked Set. If you press me, I might recall Hunter or Epic Fans, but I’m reaching. The point is, when someone has a problem to solve, especially under pressure, they go with brands they know, trust, and remember. Price? Secondary. Availability and quality? Top of mind. No, this isn’t a sponsored post. It’s a brand awareness lesson . People are decision-making machines, and they want to be efficient. That’s why smart companies invest in brand-building marketing,  to earn their spot in that Evoked Set. If you're selling fans, fuses, or fire extinguishers, your goal is the same: Be one of the top 1–3 brands your custo...

The Sales Gold Rush: Digging Beyond the Easy Wins By Desiree Grace Are you struggling to hit your goals? Is the mid-year review giving you that sinking feeling? If so, it’s time to dig deeper—because there’s still gold in them thar hills. But you’ve got to put in the work to uncover it. Start by prospecting for new customers. If that sounds obvious, it's because it is—but if it were easy, everyone would be doing it. So, work smart. Ask yourself: which customers are currently winning with you? Who genuinely appreciates what you bring to the table? Find more just like them. For example, if industrial contractors are a stronghold in your portfolio, seek out similar prospects—like other industrial firms or large commercial contractors. Leverage your strengths and replicate your past successes. Next, mine your existing customer base. Are you maximizing your current relationships? What product categories aren’t moving that should be? If something’s not selling, find out why. ...