NAED 2015 Eastern Observations … 3 Days in Marco Island

Last week Stan and I attended the NAED Eastern in Marco Island.  While NAED likes to go to nice places, and the Marriott has a very good lobby area for meetings, looking out the window at crystal blue skies and nice view of the Gulf isn’t fair (even if it did rain on Sunday)!

Overall the meeting was good once expectations are set.  We had many meetings, which made it effective for us.  At last count there were 580 registrants, so maybe 550 attendees.  Doesn’t sound like much but this is the “new Eastern”.  There are less distributors in the region due to consolidation, many smaller distributors do not attend and the AD and IMARK meetings precede the regional by a month or so, hence many manufacturers have recently met with most of the distributors.

Observations and what we heard

• At the Manufacturer Advisory Council we heard that manufacturers were essentially asked “What keeps you up at night?” Reportedly the answers were, and it depends upon your product category,
  • the impact of “platform companies” (our term) such as Eaton and ABB and “leveraging” of business
  • the changes in the lighting industry due to the continued growth of LED and the confusion (some use the word “chaos” the Big 3 lamp companies (Philips, GE, Sylvania) are undergoing
  • and there is talk about changing the NAED Eastern to either run the same time as the Western, sometime in Q1 or to cancel it given the reduced attendance and the increased value of the marketing group meetings.
• There were a few new / small distributors who attended.  This is an audience that NAED has been challenged with.  The question becomes, “what would be of value to them”? as most also do not attend the IMARK meeting.  And it is a challenge for them to meet with manufacturers due to the limited amount of time for the meeting and that many manufacturers are not visible during the meeting due to reserving meeting rooms and suites. This is becoming a challenge for NAED as it has reduced the networking value of the meeting.
• While we didn’t get to the breakout sessions we heard that Sean Leahy’s presentation was well received with about 50 people attending the morning session and 30 attending the afternoon session.  The other sessions, we were told, had low attendance (ranging from 4-15). Perhaps NAED would better serve the membership by reducing the number of sessions, keeping them industry focused and reduce speaker expenses?
• We met with a number of manufacturers that were new to an NAED meeting.  Unfortunately, due to their unfamiliarity with the format, most didn’t have many meetings.
• The general session was well attended.  During the NAED session there was mention of identifying ways to improve the SPA process and possibly identifying solutions that could result in an industry platform (while providing manufacturers some flexibility. Another topic was Millenniums and hiring / retention challenges. This is an issue that everyone faces and is addressing individually.  During the speaker’s presentation, Millenniums were classified as “lazy and narcissistic”.  The challenge with this is 1) it stereotypes all Millenniums and 2) aren’t people of this generation either our kids or grandchildren? Which of us would brand our children / grandchildren this way? And weren’t we similar when we saw need for change or wanted “new” tools when we were at a similar age?
• At the general session there was also mention of a new NAED study titled “Selling Services Benchmarking Study”
• From a 2015 growth perspective, there is some optimism. Manufacturers for the most part are projecting 6-7% increase (except lighting companies). Many expect the commercial construction market, especially in metropolitan areas, to be strong.  Everyone we spoke with who is in a metropolitan area commented that there are cranes in their areas.  Suburban and rural areas expect minimal / slow growth unless there is a major project planned (except for areas that have oil / gas.
• As 2014 comes to a close, many distributors and manufacturers reported an uptick in business. While Q1 was a disaster for many, it appears that most, if not everyone, will end up the year either even or with growth (some even towards double digit).
• A number of distributors, and some manufacturers, were talking eCommerce…launching new sites, asking about generating demand and manufacturers providing new tools for distributors.  Unilog and Insite were at the meeting.
• IDEA is supposed to select its new leader soon, but no sense on candidates or if they come from the industry.
• More distributors are using customer satisfaction tools / surveys. We spoke with 3 distributors who are using Net Promoter.  Channel Marketing Group offers a proprietary program that identifies what customers value, how the distributor performs and calculates a Customer Satisfaction Index (email me for more information).

If you attended, what were your observations?

If you did not attended and reside in the Eastern region, what would get you to attend (or why don’t you attend)?

And, how could NAED be a better resource for you?