Like all of us, I have politics on the brain—my text messages and spam calls have been reminding me about the election for weeks! However, we can learn a few valuable lessons from politicians, which apply to trade shows and conferences.  Yes, it’s trade show and conference season. While some folks are busy counting down the days to Christmas, others are looking down the road and realizing the NAED Eastern meeting is coming up in January. It is not advisable to do all your holiday shopping on December 24, just as waiting until early January to prepare for the upcoming conference is unwise. Let’s discuss the best practices for trade shows and conferences so you aren’t doing the last-minute scramble.  Job 1: Plan and Strategize Job 2: Network and Take Notes Job 3: Follow up Job 4: Debrief your team Start planning early. Your conference is in January, in this example, so you had better start planning in October or early November. 90 working days before the event is the ideal time ...

Over the past few months, I have been working closely with David Gordon of the Channel Marketing Group.  David is laser focused on the Electrical Distribution Channel.  His blog, Electrical Trends is widely read by those who call themselves electrical distributors.  This is a large and diverse group.  They range from people who are full ahead knowledge-based distributors to those who might be better categorized as “supply houses”.    We have discovered, the issues are very similar.  A good many in the electrical channel wonder who is doing the selling.  More importantly, how does this selling impact the operational costs and how should a distributor (and their supply partners) look at the overall direction of their business?  As suppliers continue to broaden their product offerings and fight for market share in sometimes niche areas, these suppliers must review and take a new look at precisely who is doing the selling.    Wi...

Many segments of the wholesale business use rebates as a plan to modify and reward distributor behavior. While the roots of these end of year rebates and similar programs are mostly lost to history, they have become an important part of the distributor financial sheet. For example, Electrical Distributors typically report around 40-60 percent of their bottom line comes by way of rebates. Other lines of trade indicate similar numbers. This information is not anecdotal. This is not beer talk, the Profit Reports published through groups like NAED and others back up the statement. Without rebates, the channel could be in serious trouble. Marketing and Buying Groups help drive the rebate dollars Many independent distributors receive their rebates through   marketing groups. Organizations like IMARK and Affiliated Distributors (AD) in the electrical industry come to mind, as do groups in other lines of trade. Here is a short list (mostly top of mind): • Distributor P...

We are gathering information and building a list of frequently asked questions.   I am often asked about commission structures within the Automation, Electrical Distribution Industry and other knowledge-based distributor operations (Power Transmission Distributors PTDA, Fluid Power Distributors FPDA and Industrial Distributors). Considering the frequency of the question (from potential salespeople, experienced seller, managers and others,) I feel it appropriate to post some thoughts on the practice. While this is not our typical kind of post, I wanted to create a forum for discussion. Commissions based on Gross Margin are one of the most commonly used incentive practices on the channel side of the business. On the manufacturing side, many people are still paid based on their gross sales numbers. Often you will hear distributors refer to this practice as paying on “tonnage” because sales professionals compensated in this matter really aren’t required to worry about whether ...

Marketing the Last Frontier Marketing plays an important role in business. By definition, marketing works to inform customers of the value created by an organization. Extending further, marketing also complements the sales department by acting as the mechanism for collecting customer data, determining why customers buy, developing a comprehensive value message and matching a company’s product/services to various customer groups. In years gone by, Distributors sorely lacked marketing knowhow. When a marketing person was on staff, they were most generally described as event coordinators and keepers of the trinkets. I’m not saying they didn’t work hard. Nor, am I implying these early marketing folks weren’t an asset. But they certainly did little to actively direct the Distributor to higher sales or greater gross margin. Happily, those days are gone. Last week, I attended the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) AdVenture Marketing Conference in C...

Women in Industry- the New Trailblazers I squint my eyes and let my mind wander back to those days spent inside the ivy covered walls of the Illinois Engineering campus.  Drab colors, institutional sanitizer and well-worn army surplus furniture stood against the backdrop of overly caffeinated students hustling, bustling and shuffling off to the next class.  And, those students came from every continent, every culture; literally every walk of life.  Except one thing was missing: women.  Actually, my own graduating class was small, around 50 students.  And, only two of them were female.  That’s a whopping 4 percent.  Now fast forward to interviews, job offers and graduation.  Based on my college experience, it didn’t shock me when I discovered zero female presence in the sales training program of my new employer.  Thinking about the whole thing in today’s terms is mind boggling. A common misconception in the past of women in male ...

Way back in 1994, I had the opportunity to briefly meet with George Gilder, a best selling writer, techno-Utopian intellectual, and Presidential Advisor. Mr. Gilder had just written a book called Life after Television which predicts a future where everyone has the technical capacity to produce and distribute their own TV and radio programs. A couple of weeks ago I met somebody who is bringing this vision to life. Eric Dudas (of Fasteners Clearing House) has created Fully Threaded Radio. Fully Threaded Radio is a bi-weekly radio program devoted to the fastener industry. This hour and a half show is designed to be downloaded to your I-pod or listened to via your computer. If you are part of the fastener industry - I recommend you make this a regular download. And if you are part of another industry, let it be known, it's about time we move the wholesale distribution channel into the 21st Century. And by the way - listen to me on Fully Threaded Radio Episode 9 . I cover two topics: H...