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...

I can remember the first time I saw this picture. It was a very long time ago; before computers, cell phones, faxes and most of the technology we take for granted today. After returning to the office from a weeklong trek across Iowa, I found the picture taped to the wall near my desk (it was the pre-cubicle era too). I got a heartfelt chuckle, then proceeded to make a couple of copies to pass along to other sales buddies at the local watering hole later that night. Over the years, I have seen variations of the picture literally dozens of times. Today, a client used the cartoon as an example I hadn’t thought about. Allow me to tell the story. We arrive too late in the customer process If you don’t understand customer issues until after the customer tells you about them, you may be arriving too late. Great sales teams uncover problems and make their customers aware of them before they actually turn into emergencies. Once the customer is knee deep in fixing things...