Author

David Gordon

Gordon is president of Channel Marketing Group. Channel Marketing Group works with manufacturers, distributors, manufacturer reps and technology companies in the electrical industry to help companies accelerate their performance through strategy development, marketing creativity and market research. CMG generates ideas that generate results.


Branding  / Customer Segments  / Distributors  / Growth Strategies  / Industry Consolidation  / Lighting  / Lighting2  / Marketing
What Would You Do With $500,000,000
David Gordon Posted On October 12, 2011


If you were Graybar? Yes, it’s a lot of money and many people are wondering, perhaps speculating, on what Graybar will do with a half a billion dollar unsecured loan. This gives them $300 million more than they had before.  […]


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Technology
Technology @ a Crossroads? Motherships and etc.
David Gordon Posted On September 26, 2011


Back in July, we seemed to have hit a nerve with some distributors and manufacturers about some former Mothership ERP’s that are now drifting out of orbit. As we read emails and listened to phone calls, it became apparent that […]


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Distributors  / Growth Strategies  / Industry Consolidation  / Lighting  / Lighting2
Recent Acquisition Thoughts
David Gordon Posted On August 30, 2011


The last couple of weeks we’ve seen a couple of transactions that could be interesting: First is yesterday’s announcement that Hajoca, the sister company of CED, acquired HD Supply’s plumbing and HVAC group.  It wasn’t much of a surprise that […]


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Growth Strategies  / Industry Consolidation  / Profitability
Free Agency and Electrical Distributors
David Gordon Posted On August 8, 2011


The recent signing of the NFL collective bargaining agreement signaled the start of the football season.  And pre-season has been a frenzy with a record number of available free agents, a few signing for megabucks, most simply looking for a […]


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Growth Strategies  / Productivity  / Profitability
Does a PAR Win?
David Gordon Posted On July 22, 2011


Last month NAED released the results of the most recent PAR report, which highlights distributor performance for 2010.  For many this becomes the “Bible” of distributor benchmarking and profitability.  It is also frequently cited to manufacturers as the reason why […]


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Contractors  / Customer Segments  / Growth Strategies  / Industrial Market  / Industry News  / Marketing  / Sales Channel
Changes Coming in Servicing the Industrial Market … New Report
David Gordon Posted On July 17, 2011


The industrial market continues to power growth for many distributors.  Recently we spoke with a number of manufacturers and distributors to get the current pulse of the industry.  The result … industrial continues to grow fueled by the OEM market, […]


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Research Reports
Industrial End-User / Contractor Insight Report – Spring 2011
David Gordon Posted On July 17, 2011


The industrial market is driving electrical industry growth and helping many distributors succeed in today’s challenging marketplace. The challenge for these distributors is that their marketplace is changing, requiring them to change to meet tomorrow’s needs. Channel Marketing Group recently […]


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Productivity  / Technology
Is Your ERP system a Mother-ship or a Satellite?
David Gordon Posted On July 10, 2011


Most distributors of any size invested in a distribution-specific ERP system that handles the specific nuances of the wholesale distribution business, save a few goliaths. The goliaths invested in SAP or an Oracle based system. But there are not that […]


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Industry Consolidation  / Productivity  / Profitability  / Reps
Who Should Be Carrying Product … Reps or Distributors?
David Gordon Posted On July 8, 2011


Over the past few months we’ve been talking with a number of reps throughout the country as we work with an electrical manufacturer to review their reps and, in some instances, recruit new reps.  Because of their product type we’ve inquired […]


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Growth Strategies
How Well Does the Channel Communicate?
David Gordon Posted On June 29, 2011


Communication is critical to developing strong relationships. Be it at the local level, to salespeople, from manufacturer “corporate” to distributor “corporate” and more, sharing direction, information, expectations and performance is important to achieving success.  In fact, this is why most […]


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