Being Proactive Still Matters Why Distributors Should Ask Manufacturers the Hard Questions Now Years ago, when I was a young rookie factory salesman responsible for a dozen or so distributors, a cornerstone requirement of my job was providing each distributor with a customized, semi-formal annual review. While many of my coworkers treated the exercise as a simple “check-the-box” activity, I saw it differently. To me, it was a rare opportunity to step back, take stock, and outline how each distributor could be a better partner to my employer, and, frankly, how we could be better partners to them. As a young guy who still had a few dark hairs remaining, those annual reviews also gave me something just as valuable: time. Time to sit face-to-face with distributor owners and managers who had been in the business far longer than I had. It gave me a chance to show them that while I was part of a different generation, often viewed as “green as the grass,” I was serious about the work. ...

Why Smart Leaders Celebrate Their People A Distributor Channel Marketing Moment By Desiree Grace The unsung heroes of your success are the people behind the scenes. Behind every great actor is a costumer, a makeup artist, a lighting designer, and a whole crew whose job is to make the star shine. Business is no different. You have a crew, too: suppliers, service providers, partners, and stakeholders who quietly make your success possible. No tips are required, but this is the time of year to pause and reflect on the people who support your business behind the scenes. And then? Thank them. I mean it. Take a moment. Send a text. Write an email. Maybe even pick up the phone. (I know that last one is hard for some of you.) That supplier who saved you with next-day air. That recruiter who found the perfect product manager. The cleaning service that makes your office a decent place to work. The logistics partner who gets your shipments out on time and correctly. Really, where woul...

The Customer Complaint is a True Gift By Desiree Grace and Frank Hurtte “We don’t care. We don’t have to. We’re the Department of Motor Vehicles.” If you’ve been inside a DMV lately, you already know what customer service isn’t . Endless lines, rigid processes, and staff who look like they’re allergic to joy. They can get away with it because there’s no competition. But if you’re in the real business world? Customers always have other options. And the ones who complain might just be the ones saving your business. Complaints, demands, and challenges…they’re all gifts in (slightly annoying) disguises. Clear, specific, and sometimes blunt customer feedback forces us to improve by having us rethink our habits, modernize our tools, and strengthen our relationships. Meanwhile, the silent customers, the ones who quietly defect without saying a word, are the ones who should keep you up at night. The non-complaining customers are often the ones who go away silently. They don’t com...

Ho Ho Hold Up! Santa Has Advice for Distributors By Frank Hurtte Santa Claus and I go way back to when I was knee-high to a short elf. One year at the Eagles’ Club, Santa greeted my grandfather with, “Hey Red, how late were you out last night?” and that was all the confirmation my three-year-old brain needed: these two weren’t just acquaintances. They were pals . Santa always knew my name, too, and we’ve kept up the friendship ever since. According to him, I’ve made the “nice list” five times in seventy-some years, a statistic he brings up more often than I’d like. But during a rare quiet spell at the mall, the Big Guy pulled me aside and said, “Frank, distributors need to hear this.” Think of it as Santa’s masterclass in business disguised as holiday cheer. Let’s unwrap Santa’s six lessons. Lesson 1: Segment Your Customers Santa learned early that segmentation matters. Once he started dividing his audience into “naughty” and “nice,” operational efficiency skyrocketed. ...

From Aria to Action: Making Your Message Sing A Distributor Channel Marketing Moment By Desiree Grace Voluptuous divas, dramatic plots, and soaring arias, that’s Opera with a capital O. One of the best-known works, Aida , tells the tragic tale of a love-struck Egyptian general and an Ethiopian princess. Beautiful? Yes. Relevant to modern marketing? Absolutely not. In the world of marketing strategy , AIDA means something very different. It’s the classic model that guides effective advertising and keeps your message moving through the sales funnel . The acronym stands for: Attention Interest Desire Action And no, AIDA is not a dating manual…though it wouldn’t hurt a few marketers to ask for commitment a little more often. First up: Grab ATTENTION. Your message must pull in your target audience. Not the whole world, just the people you actually want to talk to. Without this step, nothing else matters. This is Marketing Job #1. Next: Create INTEREST. Once you’ve ca...

Taking the Pain Out of Annual Planning By Frank Hurtte It’s November. Out here in the Midwest, Iowa’s trees are showing off, fiery reds, deep oranges, and every gold shade ever invented. A little warmth still hangs on, but Thanksgiving, December, and the holidays will sprint by before we know it. And with them come two unavoidable realities: yard cleanup and annual planning. As I write this, I can practically feel the blister forming from the rake I’ll be wrestling with on some future Sunday. You can recruit the neighbor kid for yard duty. Unfortunately, you won’t find an $8-an-hour stand-in for your End-of-Year Planning. But good news: planning doesn’t have to be the monster lurking behind the garage. Let’s break it down and remove the dread. Start Early Many leaders wait until the last moment to tackle planning. Some procrastinate so masterfully, they’ll reorganize their desk drawer before facing it. But starting early prevents last-minute panic and gives you space to think, really ...

Marketing Moment: Keiretsu (pronounced kā-rĕt′soo͞ ) By Desiree Grace Healthy eating. Cleanliness. Politeness. Respect for elders. These are traits we often associate with Japanese culture, and they’re worth admiring. But Japan’s business culture offers equally powerful lessons. After World War II, Japan partnered with the United States to rebuild its economy. (If only that level of civility and collaboration were common practice today. Imagine the progress we could make if adversaries worked together for the greater good.) From that partnership came LEAN manufacturing, Zero Work in Process, and other best practices still shaping global industry eight decades later. One of the most compelling concepts from this era is Keiretsu . What is Keiretsu? Loosely translated, Keiretsu refers to a deeply connected, intentionally cultivated business partnership, one that transcends a standard vendor-customer relationship, and certainly not anything underhanded. Instead, it is an eleva...

Gardening Your Way to Sales Growth By Desiree Grace I love raspberries. I love them so much that I’ve planted, nurtured, and harvested them at three different homes. But raspberries aren’t easy. They demand time, patience, commitment, and an understanding of what they need to thrive. Growing raspberries reminds me a lot of business development. That connection came to me recently as I picked my second massive basket of berries in just two weeks. Lesson One: Understand the Needs We won’t dive into targeting today. That’s a topic for another post, but once your target is clear, the real work begins. My target was raspberries. Yours might be local contractors, the transportation sector, or power utilities. Business development, like gardening, takes research, homework, and a lot of questions. Know your target. What do they like? What helps them grow? Raspberries need sunlight and room to spread. Your contractor might thrive on good pricing, fast delivery, and reliable em...

A Distributor Channel Marketing Moment Omnichannel or Bust: The Future of B2B Sales By Desiree Grace Your best contractor customer? He may not be your best customer for long if you can’t meet him where he’s at, be it the office, the job site, or somewhere in between. He’s busy and looking for solutions, expertise, and value. And value? It’s no longer just about price and product quality. It’s about the ease of doing business. In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, B2B buyers aren’t just searching for products; they’re demanding seamless experiences. That’s where omnichannel sales come in. It’s not just a marketing buzzword; it’s a strategic shift that’s transforming how businesses connect, sell, and grow. It’s how you maintain loyalty and earn repeat business. What Is Omnichannel Sales? Omnichannel sales is the practice of offering customers multiple integrated ways to interact with your business, across digital platforms, inside sales, in-person meetings, phone calls, video cha...