Lose the Order? Or Lose the Customer? A Marketing Moment By Desiree Grace For many salespeople, the knee‑jerk reaction is to tell the customer what they want to hear and figure out the rest later. That’s a BIG mistake. You may win the order, but what you lose is far more valuable: trust. Let’s get real. Lead times and supply chain snarls are still the norm. Every contractor, distributor, and panel shop is supporting a data center project with the patience of a toddler. The idea that you can “figure it out later” is wishful thinking. You may not be able to move mountains internally. And when you overpromise, you don’t just lose credibility with the customer. You lose it with your own team.  Your colleagues start wondering what else you’re not telling them. We all HATE losing orders. We wouldn’t be in this business if we weren’t competitive, driven sales professionals. But the worst outcome isn’t losing the order. It’s losing the customer.  Anyone who has spent more th...

Tariff Troubles & Supply Chain Scandals By Desiree Grace & Frank Hurtte The plot twists are enough to give you vertigo. Your friends are now your enemies, or are they frenemies? Your cousin next door is persona non grata, and your old arch-nemesis is now your bestie. The pairings and couplings get stranger and stranger. No, we are not talking about daytime drama, aka Soap Operas. It’s “Tariff-Time!” What to do? You can’t change the channel. Eating popcorn and sitting on your couch isn’t advisable, either. Let’s break down some of the challenges and talk about how to cope. While the numbers and countries impacted change by the hour, directionally, we know that products and components sourced from the bid C, China, are most impacted. This impact will flood downstream from manufacturers to distributors and end-users, with potential impact on rep agents, too.  Major issues and concerns – Manufacturers: • Manufacturers are concerned that tariff prices will impact their market ...

Forget the Crystal Ball: Future-Proof Your Business Using Your  AQ                        By Desiree Grace, Special Projects Consultant   Does anybody out there have a crystal ball? A tried-and-true way of forecasting the future? In the movies, a fortune-teller always sees the future using a crystal ball. With the numerous changes on the horizon, especially after the election, we recognize there are also changes we cannot see. In the supply chain, both manufacturer and distributor and rep agents are watching carefully to see what our new president and his team do. One thing we know is that as organizations and professionals, we need to try our best to prepare.   One way to plan is to build your Adaptability Quotient, aka your “AQ.” What the heck is AQ? Well, it’s a form of intelligence, part of a three-legged stool, along with IQ (general intelligence) and EQ (emotional intelligence). It is the ability to...

Kris Kringle, the jolliest boss of the North Pole, called a rare emergency meeting with his top elves. Why rare? Because the man believes in delegation and hot cocoa, not micromanagement. Yet, here we were: garland-lined gloom, cookie plates untouched, and Kris madder than a wet reindeer. The crisis? Supply chain chaos. Machines broken, parts delayed, sugar plums tasting suspiciously like spinach—classic holiday mayhem. And at the center of it all? A new procurement elf, Elf Pricedrop, whose cost-cutting suppliers had efficiency levels rivaling a hibernating polar bear. As Kris laid out the grim situation—Christmas potentially canceled—Elf Pricedrop took the floor, adjusting his fancy tie like he was about to drop some revolutionary wisdom. Instead, he dropped excuses. "We’ve saved money!” he cried. But the other elves weren’t buying it. Elf Evergreen, head of toy production, fired back: “We have machines down and parts are MIA. Your suppliers couldn’t deliver a sled in a snowstor...

AHTD Report Day 2- AHTD is a networking extravaganza. Tuesday marked the official launch of the AHTD meeting.  The morning was devoted to a Board of Directors meeting which only involves a dozen or so members.  However, many attendees showed up early to engage in informal meetings with Supply-Partners and other distributors.  I couldn’t help but notice dozens of distributor groups huddled together to do some benchmarking.  Much sharing of information on the condition of the market and supply chain issues.   The official meeting started at an opening reception where the record crowd munched on appetizers and chowed down on the latest industry gossip.  What was the gossip? Business continues to hold up nicely. Supply chain issues are still a part of the business.  Could this be the new normal? Finding qualified workers is a major deal and the AHTD Future Leaders Program is overflowing with smart folks who will carry the industry into the fut...

I needn’t say too much about the current situation tied to Pandemic leftovers.  If you are one of the three people in Distributorland who hasn’t heard or talked about these three driving issues, let me tell you, they are real. 1. The difficulties in attracting quality/qualified employees. 2. Supply chain issues and shortages of the parts your customers need. 3. Ongoing price increases and inflation. I want to provide a demonstration of how the combination of supply chain issues and inflationary pressures needs some management attention. A glance at supply chain “stuff” It’s not impossible to get products from our suppliers, it’s just impossible to receive them on time.  Despite all the media hype tied to supply chain issues, our customers are not quietly sympathetic.  They still have factories to run and machinery to ship.  Most customers still judge our service on getting products to them when they need them.  They bark, bother, and badger distributor sa...

Adios 2021, Hola 2022... For most of my career, I have taken the week between Christmas and the New Year to reflect on the previous year and plan for the next.  Let me share a few thoughts…   Ten questions that demand answers Our mission as distributors, and those who work in distribution, must include this Top 10 : 1.     How can we make life better for our customers in the next year? 2.     What can we do today that makes it harder for our competitors to attract our customers? 3.     What might we do in the future to attract new customers? 4.     Precisely why do our best customers buy from us? 5.     Which customers drain our profitability and how might we move them into a positive revenue position? 6.     Are there new products we should be selling that we are not currently selling? 7.     Is the productivity of our team better or worse than our competitors? 8.  ...