A typical Iowa summer storm-2013 Recently, I had an opportunity to visit with some old friends. We’ve known each other for a very long time and I felt as though I really knew their company. Back when I knew them, they were innovative, entrepreneurial and aggressively nimble in their approach to opportunities. Lately, the supplier grapevine is rife with reports of their slow-down. Instead of the glowing stories of the past, comments like “can’t make a decision to save their soul” and “everything is a committee” flowed through the market. Even competitors had chimed in with tales of grabbing business opportunities away from their company. None of the stories seemed right or reasonable, based on my previous experiences. But things change… My conversations with these old friends were telling. As we talked about business and all that was going on in their lives, I recognized something. Somewhere over time, this company had changed from an organization that learned from m...

Marketing is not just a department down the hall Here’s a story. A couple of weeks ago I was working in Eugene, Oregon. It was lunch time and rather than eat at the hotel, I decided to let “Yelp” (a great free app for your iPhone) do the deciding. I plugged in restaurants and took off for a hole in the wall joint with great gyros. The directions took me to a “locals only” joint with a walk up counter and a few seats out on the sidewalk. I placed my order and started taking in the ambiance. One side was plastered with pictures of Chicago, an Albanian flag and dozens of grease drenched documents produced by local patrons who had consumed mass quantities of the lamb specialty. The opposite wall displayed posters announcing local festivals, concerts and Independence Day events. A table in the corner held a collection of business cards; everything from termite terminators to tae kwon do masters – and one very special card. Photo: www.NathanWallner.com The card carried thi...

Independence, Freedom and Adios Autonomy It’s Fourth of July Week in the United States.   Independence Day, America Day and the Fourth of July are all names marking American Freedom.   The distant beat of John Philip Souza patriotic melodies mingle with the steel gray smoke of fireworks in the distance.   Folks, kids and cousins gather at the local park, braving the summer heat, grass stains and mosquitoes. To steal a phrase from my pal, Tom; “That’s the way we roll in America.   We’re celebrating Freedom and if you don’t like it-- tough.”   Under this great backdrop of Freedom, Independence and Liberty, I would like to raise a discussion.     Electronic Privacy in the Sales Department The word is out.   The government has accessed the phone records and electronic data of all of us.   Deep within some top-secret vault in a non-descript suburb of Washington DC, they have our text messages, our emails, and other good...

My assistant came back to the office today with a distinct look of disgust.  Apparently she did some last  minute dress shopping over lunch.  She went on to explain how infuriating it is when a salesperson tries to cram a “hideous mess of a dress” on to anyone willing to buy.  She further explained how she had met this salesperson before and was given a song and dance about how great an outfit looked, when clearly it was just meant for a mannequin.  This trip, she tried to avoid this salesperson and with good reason.  While I laughed at her fitting room trials, I couldn’t help but think about how it’s not just mall employees who push their way in for a buck. Tips for the New Guy – Don’t sell a square peg for a round hole Want to ruin your career?  Just establish a reputation as a guy who “force fits” the wrong product into customer applications. Customers will never forget or forgive you for it.  I call the practice selling square peg...

Distributor Policies – Worst Practice Mistakes Revisited In the past couple of weeks I have been bombarded with horror stories of distributor policies gone wrong.   I have to wonder how and why so many manufacturers fall into the same traps.   Perhaps they don’t have a vehicle for benchmarking distributor practices.   Manufacturers with strong distribution channels typically participate in Distributor Associations and one can surmise networking takes place to some extent or another.   If not directly with other manufacturers, then information may be exchanged by way of distributors sharing best practices.   The others, well some days it’s tough to imagine where they get their input.   Management teams from Europe and Asia often don’t truly understand how the channel works in North America.   The whole concept of distribution sounds as goofy as buying hot dogs at a barber shop to their native sensibilities.   I mean, if you don’t re...

We have long pushed for Distributors to get involved in the training business. This is especially true for those wholesalers involved in technology oriented businesses. But allow me to add a point of clarification here; when many think of technology they think of Silicon Valley - computers, data-communications and the like. Technology is nearly anything that changes and needs a bit of training to understand. Distributor members of HARDI, NAED, PTDA, AHTD, NIBA, SEDA and others should be considering training as a potential source of revenue. We believe that Distributor Specialists need to be involved in the training. Many upper quartile distributors have already figured this out, others are quietly ramping up their efforts. A resent survey conducted by accounting firm, RSM McGladrey, detailed the need for skilled workers. “One in five companies cannot find the workers they need for today’s advanced technology manufacturing and wholesale distribution environments,” said Karen Kurek, mana...