Over the past year, we’ve conducted a number of national and regional contractor surveys where we asked them “Why do you buy from the distributors you purchase from?”Selections included: Relationship with people Overall service Product Availability Price Location Company I […]
Congratulations to U.S. Army Brigadier General Robert Gaylord, the new president of IDEA. An interesting choice… retired military In reviewing his background, one would presume that he is a leader, a good listener and a good communicator having been heavily […]
Many have heard that Cerro recently changed its sales approach. The company exercised its 30 day right to cancel its rep agreements and is adding a number of people (rumor is five) to handle distributor accounts directly. According to a […]
Reading the November 26 issue of Time magazine yesterday was very coincidental. During a day when one is with family and presumably thankful and happy, the cover story article described the “average American.” Additionally, they devised a “happiness” index for […]
As promised, some feedback from the last day at the NAED Eastern, and observations about the conference. The final day consisted of the one-on-one meetings and the mad dash to the airport for many. Luckily customs was easy (no line!! […]
Busy couple of days here at the NAED Eastern, with more meetings today, but we wanted to share some thoughts and observations Attendance appears to be about 600 with 74 distributor companies registered The economic mood appears to be a […]
The greening of America is gaining lots of visibility. Over the past few months a number of corporations have pledged to reduce their carbon footprint, NBC spent significant money last week with original programming to gain awareness, and Monday’s Wall […]
2008 is setting up to be an interesting year. With what appears to be a slow growth economy, increasing fuel costs, challenges in finding qualified labor, continued manufacturer and distributor consolidation, green/energy efficiency opportunities and more, it appears to be […]
In mid-September we wrote about the possibility of contract manufacturers eventually reaching out and creating their own brands / going direct (read the post). Two announcements this week displayed their intent. HTC, a manufacturer of cell phones and other electronics […]
Much has been said about the need to accelerate the benefits of the IDW. One of the areas most needed is participation by small to medium sized manufacturers. Without them it is difficult for distributors to further drive costs out […]
