“Magic mirror, won’t you tell me please, what other people think of me…” So goes the bridge of an old song of the past. But think for just a moment, then let me ask you a few questions: Doesn’t it make at least some sense to better understand how important partners see our behavior? And what if these partners were coworkers who share at least one major goal: increasing your bottom line? Is everybody meeting the needs of their coworkers? Are we as efficient as we believe ourselves to be? More importantly, are we as efficient as we should be to survive? For years, Human Resources Departments have encouraged us to use 360 degree reviews for our performance. Why not apply this time-tested concept with our supply partners? How about investing time streamlining the communications between operating departments in our own organization? We have observed distributors with no proactive interaction with their Purchasing Department and their Sales group. The results include ...

Industrial Supply Magazine recently published River Heights Consulting Founder Frank Hurtte’s follow-up article on scams facing distributors.  Read here . http://www.industrialsupplymagazine.com/pages/Print-edition---JanFeb17_Hurtte.php We have received even more notifications from distributors who were suckered or nearly swindled out of their hard earned dough.  Most of these scammers are pretty sophisticated, others not so.  Either way, our informal study into the subject indicates scammers are costing distributors mega bucks.  We have had our fair share of those looking to spare others by sharing their horror stories: "Watch out for those customer willing to accept full list price. In this day and age people can find competitive pricing instantly with a few clicks of the mouse. Why would an experienced purchasing agent not shop or a least haggle." "Be wary if a customer calls in an order with a credit card and sends someone else to pic...

Picture it: September, 1965- 5th grade. Brushy Branch School.  The sun gleaming through the tall windows after recess. School had started the week before, and no one had bothered to tell the weatherman. The days were long and balmy, perfect for playing outside. But there we sat, marshaled in old-style  stamped army surplus steel  school desks. Our first big homework assignment of the year was due. All the kids were excited by the prospect of impressing the new teacher, except Johnny. As we proudly turned over yellow papers featuring our finest cursive hand, we heard the now-famous line. “Mr. Stanko, the dog ate my homework.” Shy of selecting a fresh slab of bologna over a clean sheet of ruled paper for a writing tablet, the whole K-9 misadventure sounded a little “fishy.” Somewhere along the way, many sales managers have heard a grown-up variation of this excuse. If you haven’t heard a story like this, there’s a good chance you aren’t demanding enough process fro...

Some might call it eavesdropping, but we call it our uniquely unscientific methodology for tracking distributor trends. We listen. Plus, we get phone calls, emails and occasional text messages from distributors. When we hear the same topic mentioned more than a dozen times in the course of a month, we know the topic is coming to the surface. For some reason, the topic of sales compensation is showing up --- repeatedly. Here are a few questions I believe are pertinent to any thinking directed to the topic. Point One: Do you see you sales efforts becoming more team focused? • Do you see your business employing more or fewer people in the sales function in five years? (Potential new positions might be Specialists, Project Managers, Customer Crib/VMI maintainers, Tele-sales, Application Engineers and others.) • Do you believe a well-developed team could sell more than semi-autonomous salespeople? • Do you believe your current outside sales force will be or should be part ...

For those of you who don’t know, Santa Claus and I have a special relationship. It began way back when I was still knee high to a short elf. It seems my grandfather, who was a jolly sort of guy himself, was somehow connected with Mr. Claus. Imagine being 3 or 4 years old and learning Grandpa and Santa were buddies. Special feeling? You bet. I knew it was real when Santa greeted my Grandpa with, “Hey Red (my Grandpa’s nickname,) how late did you stay down at the Eagles’ Club last night? If they weren’t pals, how in the world could this jolly red suited man know these details? Santa knew me by name, too. Really! And since that day back in the early 60s, Old Santa and I have enjoyed a close and special friendship. According to Santa, yours truly has managed to make the “nice” list for 5 of my 62 years, but this story is not about me. It’s about distributors. During a slow point down at the local mall, I managed to grab a few minutes of the jolly old elf’s time. After our...