The National Association of Wholesalers (NAW) publishes a daily email called SmartBrief.  It goes out to over 100,000 leaders in every “line of trade” in the distributor landscape – this is the biggest circulation of any publication electronic or otherwise.  Because our work is laser-focused on a very narrow group of Knowledge-based distributors, they rarely see our work.  As a matter of fact, in the course of 16 years of writing about our kind of distribution, we have only been recognized by NAW’s SmartBrief a handful of times.  Here is the article as posted in Industrial Supply Magazine and featured by SmartBrief.  For those needing to copy and paste, here's the link.  https://industrialsupplymagazine.com/pages/Print-edition---SepOct21_Hurtte.php Frank Hurtte, Founding Partner of River Heights Consulting, has been featured in dozens of national and regional trade magazines.  His easy-going demeanor and “Iowa-speak” make him a relatable favorite as a...

  After the Pandemic – Working Remotely The Customer Situation   The distributor world revolves around customer needs.   Our customer needs are an ever-evolving thing.   Knowledge-based distributors exist exclusively because of our willingness to follow, and sometimes, lead customers through their changes.   Thinking about the evolution of distributors, before the early-80s distributors all operated about the same.   Their sales efforts were mostly personality-driven and local inventory was the drawing card.     To illustrate this, allow me to journey back to the early days of my career.   The standard delivery from my factory in Milwaukee to Iowa – just over 200 miles – was five working days.   If a distributor did not have the product in stock, the customer could be out of business for a week.   This all changed when UPS and Fed-Ex entered the scene.   With local inventory out of the equation, smaller independent di...

We recently wrote an article where we asked the question, “Who’s doing the work?” By sheer coincidence, the last few days I have received several calls from distributors complaining about supply-partners who practice “saturation” distribution. To define the saturation approach, allow an explanation. Some manufacturers believe customers have a natural desire to buy their product and to hedge their bets, they decided to sign up every company willing to place a stock order and, maybe, place their products into inventory. Some distributors even say things like, “Acme Anvil allows everybody with an oversized garage and a business card to be one of their authorized distributors.” While the situation may not be anything like the previous (distributor provided) description, it does present a bit of an issue for distributors who are actively selling the products. Let’s break distribution down into two basic categories and do a bit of comparison. Introducing the Logistics Distributo ...

Several years ago – June 7, 2013, to be exact, I hit on the  topic of direct sales. Ever being the purveyor of catchy phrases, I called out the practice for what it can be and often is - “More Channel Killing Blunders: Direct Sales Policies.” Being an easy touch for requests from readers, especially those who flatter me with kind words and mentions in their group posts, I decided to touch the third rail on more time. Moistening my finger, I have fortified myself for hate mail and ardent argument. Receiving these questions from a friend in Latin America where the water drains in a clockwise direction, the Southern Cross (constellation Crux) serves as a navigational guide and I am happy to say distribution flourishes. I decided to share my thoughts with everyone. ⦁ What would happen if the manufacturer had to deal with all the contractors and electricians in the country? ⦁ If a manufacturer chooses to “cherry-pick” some of the best geographies to work direct, who handles t...

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...

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk about one of my favorite topics (distribution) with a young gentleman from Europe.  It was an interesting conversation.  Exploring the best way to get his products into the North American market, we came to the topic of distribution.  I got excited and launched into one of my rants on the importance of distributors and why so many companies “stunt their growth” in the US and Canada by not using a strong channel. Somewhere along the way, I noticed my young friend was not following me very well. I asked a few questions and quickly realized he wasn’t quite following me. With all due respect to the few distributors in Europe who follow a model similar to the US, distributors across the pond don’t resemble the people we work with on a daily basis. I can’t remember exactly when I started using the phrase, but I call “our kind of distributors” Knowledge-based Distributors. I thought I would share a bit which might be used...