Bad advice disguised as a how to compete against Amazon article Vultures circle high overhead.  Stumbling, struggling, maybe even crawling way down below, we see the cadaverous body of the wholesale distributor.  The experts are once again predicting the demise of distribution.  Unless we heed their costly advice, our lifeless corpse of an industry will be served up as carrion caviar.  And the folks at Amazon will dance a merry jig around our tombstone. It’s not too hard to imagine the advice these guys are tossing out.  Spend money on building your own e-commerce site.  Hire them or their company to assist you in growing your very own mini-Amazon.  For our kind of distributor operation, this is a terrible recommendation.  What is our kind of distribution? A few years ago I coined the term “Knowledge-based distribution” to describe our type of business.  In this knowledge-based world, w...

I just had a conversation with an old friend; somebody I worked with back in the 70s.  We were both young Turks on the training program of a major manufacturer. Armed with freshly minted engineering degrees and lots of ambition, we felt we were poster children for “manifest destiny” or at least something like that.  Early on we kept in contact, but then life happened.  And now, after all these years, thanks to the good folks at LinkedIn and unusual last names, we reconnected. Did someone say FREE SUPPORT? It turns out we both ended up in distribution.  I asked him to tell me about his business.   Somewhere midway through the description he said, “We are a high service distributor in our market.  We have engineers, highly trained sales people and we provide tons of free support for our customers…” With mass quantities Starbucks caffeine already surging through my veins, my blood pressure did a flip-flop.  My muscles tightened, the fight or f...

As featured in Industrial Supply Magazine online this month.  I would like to suggest a new term to the lexicon of selling: value engineering. Today, many of the worst and some of the very best salespeople touch up against value engineering for completely different reasons. Let me elaborate. The worst of sales guys use a low-end form of value engineering. With no real eye for adding new value for the customer, price is their crutch. Armed with the customer’s bill of materials, the price seller searches for discount opportunities. Sacrificing their own margin and that of their suppliers, they look for ways to provide the same stuff at discount prices. Basically, the customer gets a minor discount at the expense of those who actually came to the party with ideas in the first place. In extreme cases, these low-skill sellers suggest lower quality parts without regard to customer application, life cycle needs or improved performance. The high-end sellers take a completely dif...

Check out the feature in Industrial Supply Magazine to see if your ways are becoming extinct! If you've read the book , we'd love your feedback!  Feel free to email your thoughts.   Be sure to leave your name and city if you would like your review posted.

If you've been reading us a while, then you're probably aware of our position on charging for services.  Maybe you didn't know a book was in the works! So, without further ado, we are pleased to introduce: This is The Distributor's Fee Based Services Manifesto by Frank Hurtte.  And because you are reading this, YOU are part of a select group to get a first crack at reading it.  You also get the best price.  Currently listed on Amazon.com for $40, we are offering it to our group members and subscribers for only $20 INCLUDING SHIPPING!     While there is no catch for this, it would be nice if we could get reviews, good and bad.  You know...in your spare time! Send $20 payable to Frank Hurtte along with your address to: River Heights Consulting Attn: Manifesto 226 Hillcrest Avenue Davenport, IA 52803  We're happy to include a receipt for your records.  Let us know if there is a PO number. This is only good through Labor Day , so put i...