Earlier this month NAED held its marketing conference, AdVenture, in Nashville. According to reports, there were 100-110 attendees representing 20-25 manufacturers and 30-35 distributors. The TED Best of the Best awards were also presented, which presumably helps attendance. One of […]
WESCO, Rexel and AD recently shared their Q2 performance and, while they all reported growth, the market appears uneven with Rexel reporting strong performance in the US and WESCO and AD sharing low single digit growth. WESCO and AD highlight […]
The rep alignment dilemma … whom to align with to generate sales? End-users? National chains? Independent supportive distributors? Any distributor who will support the manufacturer? The manufacturer? But, the bottom line becomes, what will generate sales to meet manufacturer expectations? […]
ABB’ globally, seems to be “plodding” along. In this article analyzing the company from an investment viewpoint, the analyst compares ABB’s quarterly report versus some competitors and, for the most part, competitors prevail. He does say that ABB has the […]
Do you have the potential to be a Mid-Atlantic Regional Sales Manager for one of the fastest growing companies in the industry? If so, come work for Topaz. Topaz, a leading manufacturer and distributor of lighting and electrical products is […]
Grainger frequently is a good bellwether for the industrial market given their MRO focus on Fortune 500 industrial accounts. Grainger’s performance highlights that the industrial MRO rate of growth decelerated significantly. Q2 Report From their quarterly report and slide presentation: […]
Competing on price is a “no no” for many distributors. Few want to say “the reason why people buy from me is price.” But, do all of your customers want to buy from you for your service, people or your […]
Home Depot’s retiring CFO’s interview last night with Jim Cramer on CNBC shared a glimpse of why electrical distributors who serve small to mid-sized residential and commercial distributors should be concerned. And it’s all about pricing. The home improvement (perhaps […]
ABB recently launched a new initiative, eFinder, that enables visitors to its website to purchase material online. But they are not disintermediating the channel. Instead they are providing distributors with the opportunity to generate incremental business online. And at the […]
Rarely are the terms “manufacturer rep” and “marketing” referenced together. In reality, their is a synergy between the two. They both relate to communicating and demand creation. Historically manufacturer rep agencies have consisted of salespeople calling on distributors, “buyers” (contractors […]
