We are currently in the process of researching the top sales leadership duties of knowledge-based distributors.  We know that the assortment of responsibilities ranges from the mundane to strategic, with many of the activities divided between several people.  It is also important to note that both the size and the age of the company can change the number of tasks assigned to an individual, regardless of title.  As companies grow, so do the total number of leadership duties. As we sat down to prepare this list, it was quite small.  It has now grown to a lucky 13 list of major categories, which includes the following: 1. Direct Customer Interaction 2. Joint Calls with Team (i.e. coaching calls) 3. Sales (people) management ( i.e. reviews and training) 4. Sales (people) Strategy/Policy and Direction (i.e. number of calls required) 5. Pricing and other price guidelines 6. Analytics (i.e. customers who are profitable) 7. Supplier Relationships 8. Supplier Stra...

Distributors as Bankers? High interest rates must be on a lot of peoples’ minds these days. During the past month I have received several emails asking my opinion on the distributor’s role as the extender of credit; the organization providing some of the funds necessary for their customers’ operating capital. Let’s look at the current situation: customers who expect extended terms seem to be multiplying like cockroaches in a roadside diner. In the good ole days, customers paid their local supply house distributor at the end of the next month. Some of us even offered special discounts for those who paid by the 10th of the month. Somewhere in the late 1990s, a number of large companies (reportedly led by GE) unilaterally made the decision to pay their local distributors in 60 days rather than the normal 30 days. The conversation went something like this: “The time and effort required to process your invoices takes us longer than 30 days. So, we’re going to start paying in...