July 2nd is the mid-point of the year.  Whether business is BOOMING (see what we did there) or you're feeling the summer slump, we all need to look ahead to the rest of the year. When we're all back, relaxed and FOCUSED, we will dive into how to use your current situation to be more successful in the latter half of the year. In the meantime, enjoy your parties or picnics with family and friends. Have a safe and happy Fourth--without trips to the ER! Don't want to miss it? ...

Empowering Female Innovators Worldwide Every year on June 23rd, we celebrate International Women in Engineering Day (INWED) to recognize and applaud women's exceptional contributions to engineering. This global initiative aims to raise awareness about the achievements of women engineers, promote gender diversity in engineering, and inspire the next generation of female innovators. By highlighting the accomplishments of women in engineering, we hope to create a more inclusive and equitable industry that benefits society.   Closing the Gender Gap Historically, engineering has been a male-dominated profession. Women faced numerous challenges and barriers to entering the field. INWED serves as a platform to break barriers and foster a supportive environment for female engineers. It encourages organizations and educational institutions to address the gender gap and work toward gender equality in engineering.   Inspiring Future Generations One of the primary objectives o...

Sales managers are under pressure to increase sales calls and productivity. This leads to scrutiny of call reports, which often reveal poor results.  To improve their reports, salespeople are counting drop-by visits with no customer contact as sales calls, which is ineffective. Several factors contribute to the lack of customer visits: poor time planning, inefficient travel, failure to make appointments, getting caught up in trivial tasks, excessive focus on customer emergencies, and complex individual situations.  To address these issues, you need a coaching plan. Over a 6-8 week period, sales managers should review each seller's planned activities for the upcoming week, log data on their plans, and compare them with the actual results. This allows for the identification of: • Scheduling issues.  Are they really planning ahead? • Issues with setting appointments.  Do they need some coaching here? • Emergencies that took them out of the field.  Are they j...

Come see why your services, especially those with a fee, are your ultimate differentiator when it comes to competition.   Making changes NOW will mean success in the future. Special thanks to IMARK Now Electrical Magazine for getting the word out! Frank Hurtte, Founding Partner of River Heights Consulting, shares his personal experiences with 28 years of "in the trenches" training and 18 years as a consultant.  He serves as a personal coach to industry leaders across many lines of distribution.  He has authored 5.5 books (one is almost done) and has written hundreds of articles for national trade magazines, including IMARK Now Electrical Magazine. Frank is also a sought-after copywriter of marketing materials for technology companies.  His charismatic, yet laid-back, easy-to-follow manner makes him a favorite among public speakers. ...

I recently attended the AHTD Spring Meeting.  I always enjoy these meetings.  They keep me up to date with the industry and always provide plenty of networking opportunities.  It's important to eat meals and have drinks with future friends (I've never met a stranger) to gain insight.  During an after-hours meeting one night, a brand-new sales manager asked me about keeping customers as prices continue to rise. I thought back to an article I wrote for IMARK Now Magazine.  Specifically, I addressed how distributors could find new customers and nurture their current customers.  I began the article with these half dozen thoughts I believe distributors everywhere should use to better focus their businesses:    Thought One:   Over the years, distributors have done a poor job of selecting their customers.  In many instances, it is the customer who selects the distributor for reasons often unknown to the distributor. Thought Two: The cost of br...

Over the past couple of weeks, I have spoken with several folks about best practices for a first-time sales call.  This group was more than just rookie sellers launching their careers.  It included a couple of experienced sellers, a sales manager doing a “sanity check” on his gut-level feelings, as well as a seller in an expansion territory.  Based on this phone traffic, I would guess many others are also wondering about first-time sales calls.  With this thought in mind, I decided to weigh in on the topic personally. Quoting one of these conversations, “Years ago my first boss insisted we all carry a line card and present it to every new customer or new contact at an existing customer.  The line card was his baby; printed on high-quality (and laminated) card stock.  He even made us practice presenting it through role-play exercises in his office.” This gentleman’s comment about his boss’ pride and devotion to the line card caused me to recall my early ...

  Yesterday, I had the opportunity to address the sales team of a very progressive distributor. Zoom meeting etiquette calls for the speaker to introduce themselves and provide a bit of background.  As I thought about my presentation, I had an epiphany.  Every presentation I have made in the past 20 years could be tied to four or five guiding principles first developed when I joined a small Electrical/Automation Distributor in about 1991.    1.       A distributor needs to not only know the technology of the products they sell, but they also must know how the product is applied. 2.       That knowledge of both product and application must be used as a competitive advantage to sell more. 3.       A distributor should be paid for what they know.  Whether they are paid through higher prices or via fees attached to services, it takes money to fuel the study and training to know more. 4. ...