www.inddist.com I just had the opportunity to review Industrial Distribution Magazine’s annual survey .  This year they focused on distributor value and quite frankly, I am not shocked by the results.  I am, however, deeply disappointed.  The survey question asked “Which are the primary reasons your customers do business with you?”  The respondents reported the following reasons: 85.17% Relationship 74.16% Product Availability 68.42% Technical Support 62.20% Delivery Time 50.72% Price 31.10% Engineering Capabilities 30.62% Vendor Managed Inventory 28.23% 24x7 Support 3.35%    Other This was the 69 th edition of this survey; meaning the very first edition fell well before my father started in the distribution business back in the 50s.  Silly me, but somehow I imagined our industry had progressed. With a couple exceptions, the results look like something straight out of 1965.   I am disenchan...

The original CRM with notes scribbled on the sides of business cards Sales experts have extolled the virtues of building a personal relationship with customers since the invention of dirt. Arguing that sellers devote time and resources on activities not expressly focused on business, they encourage salespeople to learn about the customer’s family, hobbies, personal interests and more. Many years ago, Harvey MacKay developed the MacKay 66 , which was used by many organizations to understand and log customer interests. But that was back in the “olden days” before the internet, Amazon.com, big data, global competition and all the rest. The question really becomes this… In the age of big information does customer friendship matter? Let’s think about three points: 1. Most of us think of ourselves as (or aspire to be) “solution” providers. Why? Because solution sellers are able to command a little higher gross margin than “parts sellers." 2. There is a certain risk to ev...