Using the Cloud to Connect “Community”, Improve Service & Close Sales

Each element of the channel is talking about information sharing and digitizing of processes. Distributors seek “better” and “more” product content to power their websites, manufacturers and distributors talk about the need for “data” to enable them to do “analytics”, and manufacturers want more transparency into “their” sales pipeline from their independent manufacturer representatives while the representatives want “better” access to information that will enhance their service to their distributors and end-users / contractors.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to improve the flow of information. There is an expectation that data is accurate (and, in reality, there is no malicious intent). The biggest challenge, in many instances, is getting disparate systems to talk to each other.

Talk to a techie and they’ll say “APIs can make that happen” but, to us non-techies, it hasn’t happened fast enough. The why, inevitably, is the integration of systems.

DCKAP is a solution for distributors as they can streamline integrations between different systems with a distributor’s ERP system.

For connecting different CRM systems to a manufacturer’s CRM system, mETaL may be a solution.

mETaL debuted at this year’s NEMRA Annual Conference. The service was brought to NEMRA’s attention by a leading manufacturer. The company is slowly working with some leading electrical and electronic manufacturers and agencies. But, like all technology in our industry, it takes time. We asked Peter Heigis, president of mETaL, to share his thoughts.

Old Habits Die Hard…. but They Need to Die!

“Some things in life just make sense.  Having a “send” button in Outlook.  Making wheels round rather than square.  Easy syncing of CRM data between businesses….

Unfortunately, many companies across all verticals are not using available technologies that would/could save their company time and money. Amazingly, and unfortunately, in this day of automation, salespeople still do a variety of manual tasks and chores on a repetitive daily basis.  From manually entering information about sales opportunities into their systems (CRM, ERP etc…) to calling up their principals to ensure they received the latest and greatest pricing.  Sadly, more than 50% of a salesperson’s time is obtaining or entering data into different systems, that they should already have at their fingertips.  Imagine if they could get that time back and be more present for their customers, their prospects and their sales team and be more productive in the sales cycle?

Why don’t companies adopt technology more readily?

• Takes too long to implement.
• Doesn’t work as advertised.
• Costs too much.
• Just doing things the “Old Way”.

What if we could change those thoughts?

There is a new initiative in town, sponsored by NEMRA (and ECIA in the electronics industry), and it’s called mETaL.  These associations are so excited about mETaL’s potential, they have invested time and money into helping promote the idea to their members and partners.

Through a groundbreaking collaboration between thought leaders from Phillip Gerard at Panduit to Frank Flynn of Sager Electronics, comes the idea to eliminate the redundancy of manual sales processes across all companies that work together to Rep, Sell and Manufacture electronic and electrical goods.

NO longer do salespeople need to manually enter new sales opportunities into each of their own respective systems. NO longer do you need to update products, pricing, and availability, manually.  NO longer do you need to send continuous emails trying to keep your partners abreast of status, stage, or potential of an Opportunity.  NO longer will there be discrepancies during QBR reviews.

Through this collaborative initiative a protocol was created that allows all companies to synchronize their CRM information about sales opportunities, products, pricing, notes, attachments, and everything in and between any company.  Updates, renewals, SPAs, Design Registrations, complete and automated lifecycle management of opportunities from creation to close and from Distributor to Rep to Manufacturer.

Resulting from the idea’s originator, Alan Ahern of Crowley Associates, an electronics manufacturer rep out of Amherst NH, the collaborative initiative called mETaL was born.

mETaL stands for Map, Extract, Transform and Load and is the protocol, sponsored by NEMRA (and ECIA), that enables all companies to use the service and synchronize CRM data.

mETaL is a sync engine that lives in the cloud, much like ChatGPT but automates the B2B transference of data between companies anywhere in the world.  This eliminates the current process of entering the data multiple times into different CRMs that Product Line and/or Account Managers perform today for their Reps, Manufacturers and Distributors. Companies such as Ashby, Crowley, Ewing Foley, Panduit, C&K, Kruvand, and Luscombe can’t be wrong and are saving time and money syncing opportunities rather than manually entering.

Want more info, Check out the mETaL initiative at Automated Data Exchange Initiative (memberclicks.net). The ECIA initiative is further along but you can check out these marketing tools.

• 2021 Webinar
• Product Demo Video
• White Paper:
• Other News Articles:

• • ECIA Announces Outcome of Automated Data Exchange Initiative | Electronic Design
  • ECIA  Announces Outcome of Automated Data Exchange Initiative – EPS News

To get more information about this initiative please contact me at (603) 608-5205 or via email.”

Community Building Take Aways

Manufacturers can benefit insight into their sales pipeline, especially for significant opportunities. Manufacturer representatives can benefit through enhanced information. In other words, two-way communication can benefit both. While many have heard the challenges of CRM, and many salespeople don’t like that information is desired, the reality is that a quality CRM system, populated with good data can assist both parties. Manufacturer management gains insights (without, hopefully, micro-managing) and reps receive valued support (assuming the manufacturer provides appropriate sales enablement tools). Improving the information sharing process could benefit both parties if “systems could talk”.

Some thoughts:

• While it would be nice to say “here’s an industry solution”, the reality is that industry solutions start a step at the time, especially when it comes to technology. Each IT department needs to vet the solution for itself. If it evolves, it will evolve based upon manufacturers validating and deploying and then reps telling other manufacturers about a “solution”.
• Reps, repeatedly, have bemoaned having to go to multiple manufacturer sites (portals) to populate CRM systems to appease manufacturers … and many have told me about leaving fields blank, entering the minimum amount of information, and/or how populating the systems can be a “time eater”.
• While some say that “data is the new oil”, the key is to reduce the “sand” (challenges) of getting the data into the system and transmitting the data so that it can be converted into information to help drive sales / service customers.

Could mETaL be a / your solution? Honestly, I have no idea. Conceptually it sounds good, however, techies need to talk to techies. But it’s worth exploring and a conversation if gathering and sharing information is part of your agency support plan.