George Santayana, the Spanish philosopher said, “if we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it!” Our economy is certainly changing quickly, as is our industry Many of us tried fighting the DIY market when they began selling […]
Over the past months I have spoken to many dozens of distributors, manufacturers, contractors, and independent manufacturer representatives from various areas of our country getting their views on the changing dynamics of our industry. The results have been relatively consistent […]
Webster’s dictionary defines the word VIRTUAL as being “such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted; indirect.” How has this word now become a strategy employed by many since COVID to take the place of personal contact? […]
Terry Burkholder, an icon and leader in our industry, passed away Sunday night at 89 years of age. Much will be said about his industry experiences from being Executive Vice President for Tristate Electric to joining and helping to make […]
For those of you who remember good music, you may recall Pete Seeger’s classic “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”. Now that you have the melody in your head (and if you don’t, click on this link to hear it […]
Leading manufacturers seek to bring new products to market on a regular basis as a means of driving sales. Further, these new products are based upon changes to the NEC (National Electrical Code), safety, productivity, new installation methodologies, or new […]
While interviewing a larger manufacturer for a different article, the regional manager stated in frustration that in his company’s executive meetings, there was no one in sales that was invited to participate, rather the meetings were now populated by IT […]
NAED meetings, NEMRA planning, AD and IMARK meetings are coming and now being scheduled. It means it’s time for the 2024 planning process between manufacturers and their representatives to begin! But before the meetings and joint planning, manufacturers develop their […]
I read a statement that in the history of the United States, there have been 4 events that have most significantly changed the life of our inhabitants: The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Vietnam War and COVID. Please consider […]
The feedback on my last article regarding why manufacturers seem to be converting their sales force more to include representatives, and what they were looking for in choosing a representative received significant enough feedback to suggest an article discussing the […]
