Yep, it’s that time of year again. Even though I am busy with client year-end planning, new salesperson training and steering a couple of distributors toward fee-based services, I take time away from work to visit my long-time (being born in 270 AD, he hates it when I say old) friend Saint Nicholas – aka Santa Claus. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know Santa. The back of the earliest picture of us together has a timestamp of 1957, but I know we visited prior to that day when our paths crossed at the Downtown Houston Foley’s. Based on my early recollections, Santa was a great friend and business advisor to my grandfather. Following one of my short meetings with the “Jolly One”, I overheard the two of them talking about meeting down at the Eagle’s Club later. As politically incorrect as it is today, my five-year-old olfactory nerves sensed Santa and my grandfather shared the habit of smoking a cigar after a hard day at work. Over the years, Mr. Claus has become a frien...

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...

Created by Kues1 - Freepik.com Looking back at American manufacturing, a New Renaissance took place in the latter two decades of the 20th Century.  It started slowly, but by the mid-1990s, companies large and small began to apply principles tied to lean manufacturing and the related quest for continuous improvement. Coming out of the movement was the “Black Belt.”  Initially, Black Belts worked entirely within the manufacturing process; leading teams through what was once viewed as the hazy world of plant floor work and material flows. By the turn of the new millennium, the concept had been pushed to other processes. Things like order flows, procurement systems and even human-centric processes were scrutinized.  Similar to the manufacturing world, massive improvements were made.  Companies enjoyed new found efficiencies and gained a competitive advantage. One person saw the advantage of putting the same principle to work on the pricing process.  Enter ...