In the last three articles, we talked about the post-Pandemic  “new normal” and how life will change for distributors, customers, and suppliers.  In each post, we explored how we might position ourselves for greater success by anticipating these changes.  In the next few articles, we will spend some time thinking further about customer shifts.   Research, unrelated to distribution, has shown keen interest in several initiatives being studied by our customers.  In most instances, the interest was there ahead of the COVID shutdown, but economic storms tend to accelerate trends and push new ideas to the forefront of business executives’ minds.  Very few of these changes are as pronounced as the growing interest in robotics.  If you believe the researchers (and I do) the growth in all things robotic will come like a gigantic 64-foot wave sweeping into Honolua Bay in Hawaii.  As an industry, we are faced with a couple of choices.  We can hum ...

I have long suggested distributor salespeople read the publications covering their customers’ industries. Back in the  old days, I signed up for subscriptions to magazines covering everything from food processing to the mining and quarry publications. About one a week, I would devote a leisurely evening to skimming through the articles. Why? It, simple, because I wanted to know what might be on my customer’s mind. To an extent, I still look into topics I believe impact the operations of distributors’ customers. As I perused Plant Engineering Magazine, a publication serving customers of many knowledge-based distributors, I came across an article I believe needs to be examined. This article is titled “ 2018 Maintenance Survey: Playing Offense and Defense ” and offers some thought provoking stuff. Allow me to share. Two ways of of viewing Maintenance The author believes the whole topic of maintenance could be broken into a couple of components. First, as a defensive ...

Last week I was honored to lead a discussion on fee-based services at the Association for High Technology Distribution ( AHTD.org ). For those of you not familiar with the group, allow me an introduction: AHTD is the trade association for distributors, Automation Solution Providers and manufacturers providing a long list of technical “products” (things like programmable controllers, software, sensors, motion control, machine vision and robotics) into the North American manufacturing segment. It’s a highly technical group and literally all members provide some very expensive products and service bundles. Historically, the members of this group have provided a wide array of both technical and logistical services to their customer base. Most openly admit salespeople are the gatekeepers for these services. Further, management oversight of service deployment ranges from “informal” to “talked about it in a sales meeting last year.” Ironically, even companies with well-developed...

Both my iPad and my iPhone could fit in here! True confessions: I started my career working in this industry back in 1977.  No, this isn’t going to be some old-timer’s story of the good old days.  Instead, it’s a personal observation of four decades of selling styles.  While going through an 18-month factory training program designed for future sales engineers, I was force fed massive amounts of product minutia and drilled on maintaining my trusty new leather bound “Day-Timer” calendar.  Since I was destined to become a “Sales” engineer, I had the opportunity to attend some of the best sales training programs a big company’s money could buy.  I was ready to soak it up like a sponge.   Prehistoric Sales Techniques The state-of-the-art selling technique of 1977 can be summed up in two words: features and benefits.  After the aforementioned training, I became a master of features and benefits.  In a time before massive competition and the ens...

Most distributor salespeople identify themselves as solution sellers.  Yet, experience dictates only a few dedicate the time and resources to truly comprehend the drivers behind customer decisions.  When questioned, most struggle to understand customer issues outside of their own products.   Truth is, their version of solution selling is mostly service and support wrapped around the technologies they sell.  While this wrapping of service and support probably does justify the “solution seller” mantra, I believe we, as sellers, will soon be obsolete if we don’t move our attention to providing solutions which push beyond supporting our line card.  Many agree with this opinion, but just don’t know how to get started. For years, I have advocated for distributor sales professionals reading the trade publications covering their customer’s industry.  Because so many of our readers are actively calling on manufacturing facilities, I thought I would shar...

Last week, we explored the distractions presented to management during solid growth economies. Process breakdowns and loss of strategic initiative focus were on our minds.   This week we cover a couple of people related topics which can create roadblocks to success in distribution.  Since people represent the biggest single expense for distributors – actually something like 60 percent of our gross margin dollars go to employees – it’s prudent to explore the potential pitfalls. Issue Three:  Good Economies Drive up People Costs One byproduct of growth economies is an overall increased call for good people; the law of supply and demand kicks in.   Since distributors are notorious for poaching employees rather than developing themselves, the prevailing wage goes up.  Sales departments are heavily affected because the business level gives commission paid guys a lift in compensation.  Hiring someone during the upswing mostly sets a new base-li...