Choose Your Channel Wisely (Or End Up in a Dead End) A Distributor Channel Marketing Moment 🕒 3 min read By Desiree Grace Would you go on a road trip or a boat trip without a map or GPS? Sounds foolhardy and a little scary, too. Nobody wants to run out of gas or end up in a fleabag motel. When communicating with your customers, you need the advertising equivalent of a map : the communication model and a clear sense of direction . You need to know where your customers are and where you’re going. That’s where channel choice matters. Would you try newspaper classifieds to reach Gen Z? Would you contact industrial hand‑tool customers on Instagram? Of course not. These ridiculous examples illustrate the importance of understanding the Communication Model. Good communication means defining the correct target market, refining your message, speaking to people in their language, amplifying your message above the noise or clutter, paying attention to feedback, and, for today’s discussio...

A Perfect Failure Series Part 1: Stop Waiting to Feel Ready to Sell 🕒 3 min read By Frank Hurtte Early in the research for my book, The New Sales Guy Project , a new seller (sales guy, salesperson...) asked me a question I’ve now heard a hundred times since. "How much do I need to know before I start calling on customers?" It's a reasonable question. Every new salesperson worries about making a fool of themselves. Nobody wants to stand in front of an important maintenance manager, a techno-centric engineer, or a busy plant manager and discover halfway through the conversation that they've forgotten the one specification that really matters. The fear is real, maybe even excruciating for some. Unfortunately, the answer isn't all that soothing. "You’ll never know enough." For someone fresh out of a grueling engineering program, that thought was, shall we say, discouraging. But it's the reality of selling technical products. Forty-eight years ...

The “Situation” Every Leader Should Avoid " 🕒 3 min read  By Desiree Grace Your body’s hotter than a brothel in Guam." Singer‑songwriter Johnny Blue Skies drops this line in his song Situation , where he describes becoming infatuated with a woman, losing all good sense, and landing himself squarely in a “situation.” It’s a great song with an even better lesson. Give it a listen ,  though I cannot recommend the video . Johnny Blue Skies’ lyric captures the exact tension leaders face today: the pull of short‑term gratification versus the discipline required to make decisions that support long‑term organizational health. Some sales leaders and salespeople find themselves in a similar predicament when they become overly fixated on an attractive bonus. They forget that certain decisions require consideration of company goals, organizational alignment, and overall brand reputation. These situations are the professional equivalent of the aforementioned object of Johnny’s infatuat...

 Is Your Team Practicing Good Channel Etiquette? 🕒 4 min read By Frank Hurtte The longer I work in distribution, the more convinced I am that we need to talk openly about Distributor–Supplier Etiquette,  or more accurately, the growing lack of it. Our industry is moving fast. Automation, AI‑supported workflows, hybrid sales models, and shifting demographics have changed how distributors and suppliers interact. We now have seasoned veterans, mid‑career leaders, and early‑career professionals all sitting at the same table, often with very different expectations for communication and partnership. And yet, despite all this progress, the same old friction points keep showing up. Miscommunication. Power struggles. A surprising shortage of basic professional courtesy. For reasons I can’t quite explain, nobody seems eager to bring this up, even though everyone feels it. So let’s bring it front and center. A Good Example of a Bad Example Not long ago, I sat in on a distri...

Networking 101: How to Build Connections Without the Fear Factor 🕒 5 min read By Desiree Grace Networking often gets a bad reputation. For many people, especially introverts, the word alone triggers discomfort. It shouldn’t. Networking is an opportunity, and skipping it is a missed one, especially at events designed to expand your professional circle. Networking matters because your network matters. It helps you learn, helps you help others, and often prevents costly mistakes. Have a tricky situation or a new‑to‑you problem? Your network can help. I once found myself selling in Mexico for the first time. A casual connection had deep experience in that market. I reached out with a specific request for his insight, at his convenience. We scheduled a meeting, I learned exactly what I needed, and followed up with a thank‑you bottle of wine. He will take my call again. You may get a call asking for your input. Take it. What goes around comes around, and that favor may pay off la...

Is Work-Life Balance a Myth? Here's Your Sanity Check. 🕒 8 minute read By Desiree Grace (with a blurb from Jenny Shannon) Returning from a recent Women in Industry conference, I found myself reflecting. Reflecting on my mother, grandmother, aunts, sister, female friends, daughter, mentors, mentees, and the dynamic conversations at the event. Those reflections brought me back to two recent conversations with younger working mothers and one of the conference’s recurring themes: the elusive idea of “work‑life balance.” Twice in the last six months, I’ve had nearly identical conversations with smart, talented working mothers who were filled with self‑doubt. Several women at the conference openly shared similar struggles. They asked whether it was possible to be impactful at work while still being a “great” mom. They wondered if they could do both. My answer? Yes. Yes... but . You will have to make tough decisions. You will have to get comfortable saying no. And you will h...

What 250 Years of Independence Teaches Us About Sales 🕒 4–5 min read By Jenny Shannon There’s something powerful about celebrating a country’s 250th birthday . A quarter of a millennium. Generations of people who built, rebuilt, and carried forward the idea of freedom , not as a perfect concept, but as a guiding one. And when you think about freedom like that, it becomes more than fireworks and long weekends. It becomes a reminder of the responsibility that comes with helping others make choices. That’s where sales comes in. At its best, sales is an act of service . It’s not persuasion, it’s stewardship. It’s helping someone move from uncertainty to clarity, from hesitation to confidence , from confusion to direction. Freedom in sales looks like: Giving people honest information Removing friction and pressure Respecting their timeline Empowering them to choose what’s right for them When you do that well, you’re not “closing deals.” You’re honoring the same spirit that’s carried ...

The Bloodhound Test: Can Customers Trust Your Brand? A Distributor Channel Marketing Moment ⏱️3 min read By Desiree Grace Authenticity: A Multisyllabic Fancy Word. Why should you care about authenticity in your marketing? Speaking frankly, customers can sniff out BS faster than a Bloodhound trees a raccoon. They know the difference between marketing fluff and the real thing. What Is Authenticity in Marketing? Authenticity in marketing refers to a brand's ability to communicate honestly and genuinely with its audience, reflecting its real values, purpose, and identity rather than presenting a polished or manufactured image. It means engaging deeply with customers, making them feel heard, and fostering trust and connection. Authentic marketing emphasizes transparency, reality, and consistency, allowing brands to humanize themselves and resonate with their audience. In simple terms, authenticity means telling the truth about who you are, what you do, and what you can...