EMCOR Shows the Way for Electrical Distributors

Yesterday there was an interesting ad in The Wall Street Journal. An electrical and mechanical contractor, EMCOR, with almost $7 billion in revenues of which about 25% is electrical, was advertising their services. While the reasons are obvious – developers and business owners are readers of WSJ, the message was interesting and provided a clear indication of where the company sees growth opportunities.

The ad highlighted the market segments that the company is pursuing:

Lead segment -healthcare. This was the focus of the ad as the ad emphasized that demand for hospital beds is to increase 37% within the next 20 years.

Other categories included “Green Building”, “Energy Infrastructure”, “Water Management”, “Healthcare Facilities”, and “Security Systems”.

What does this mean for electrical distributors and manufacturers?

1. First, it shows contractor and industrially-oriented distributors where a leading contractor feels there are growth opportunities.
2. Secondly, if you sell to EMCOR, you should be understanding their needs for these markets and be helping them pursue these opportunities. If you don’t sell to them, which of your contractors compete with them and how can you help them?
3. Third, if you are a manufacturer, consider how you can work with your distributors who have focused initiatives to growth revenues in these growth markets.

While distributors need to ensure that their core business is “protected” in 2009, identifying niche growth areas can turn a challenging 2009 into a prosperous 2009. Perhaps EMCOR provided a roadmap?