source: Linkedin In our  last post , we discussed people; hiring the right people, building a solid distributor-centric onboarding process and the advantages of retaining experienced workers. Today, let’s turn the tables a bit and look at coaching and managing the very life blood of distributors – the people. Front-line managers make a difference According to work done by the Gallup organization first detailed in First, Break all the Rules , employees join companies but quit because of bad managers. Realizing the management structure of many distributors appears flat on paper with everyone reporting to just a few people, many of these front-line managers may not even have a m anagerial title. We might call them something like warehouse lead, inside sales supervisor, senior buyer, or perhaps they carry no real title but direct the work of others. To a lot of your workers, they are the “go to” person and reflect the day-to-day voice of the company. Oftentimes, they have n...

Deep Dive – It’s Time to Think About People By Frank Hurtte We will be posting a lot about people over the next couple of weeks.  Why?  Without people distributors basically become an empty warehouse, a collection of well-used computers and an assortment of worn out office furniture.  Speaking with an assortment of folks (from inside and outside the industry) looking to purchase distribution businesses, the conversation typically revolves around three major points – profitability, solid customer relationships and stability of people.  Take away the latter two and the distributor is valued somewhere near zero.  Further, it might be argued, without the people there are no solid customer relationships.  So talking about people is doubly important. Our brand of wholesale distribution is one of the most people-intensive business models in existence. Sure, we have warehouses, inventory, customer credit, computers and company fleets of cars, trucks and lord ...

Once again, the whole topic of non-competes, non-disclosures have raised their ugly legal heads. A well-known electrical distributor recently appealed a lower court decision and the case is being revisited. Based on estimates from legal experts, the attorney costs alone are most likely pushing $25-30,000 for both sides; and this doesn’t account lost time and wasted energy. I would like to go on record as stating I believe every distributor needs to have and enforce their non-disclosure agreement. In distribution, we don’t have patents, top secret ingredients or other trade secrets. Instead, we have customer contacts, supplier relationships, market price data, a keen understanding of the competitive lay of the land and emerging employees. Some of us invest massively in product training, sales and other job related skills. And, when an employee leaves, we must make absolutely certain that minimal information goes out the door with that former employee. Most think of key emplo...