Growth Strategies

Heritage Enters Acquisition Market for Automation Firms

David Gordon Posted On December 19, 2025

The distributor acquisition market has been slow this year. Coming into this year, since 2021, the start of COVID, there had been about 130 distributors acquired, or a little more than 30 per year. This year … a few in […]

eBusiness / eCommerce / Growth Strategies / Technology

Converting POs to eCommerce, and a Christmas Offer

David Gordon Posted On December 5, 2025

Earlier this year we conducted contractor research and asked about their eCommerce experience and utilization. The results mimicked what we do in our consumer lives – more usage. In the contractor world they are doing more information searching than ever […]

Featured / Growth Strategies / Industrial Market / Reps

Reps Can Drive Industrial Demand, Influence Product & Distributor Selection

Gene Biben Posted On December 4, 2025

Electrical Manufacturer Rep on the Industrial Plant Floor

Years ago, I was on a Manufacturer Rep Advisory Board when the President of this conglomerate proudly boasted that their products could now be as much as 11% of a distributor’s total purchases. and even greater, at selected industrial facilities […]

Customer Segments / Growth Strategies / Industry Outlook / Marketing / Research Reports

2026 Housing Outlook & Electrical Opportunities

David Gordon Posted On November 21, 2025

While the electrical market is the poster-child for the phrase “every market is a local market”, it helps to have a macro frame of reference to guide you in what to look for. In the housing industry, there are two […]

Associations / Growth Strategies / Industry Outlook / Research Reports

Distributors! Take Advantage of the Electrification Opportunity!

David Gordon Posted On November 16, 2025

Electrification - An Electrical Channel Opportunity

Can you go through a day without hearing the word “datacenter” or “new industrial opportunity / facility?” And then, shortly thereafter you hear about future power needs. A few years ago, we heard how EV’s were going to drive electrification […]

Customer Segments / Growth Strategies / Research Reports

Data Centers Lead the Way

David Gordon Posted On November 10, 2025

Data centers are perceived as a “huge” market opportunity by almost every manufacturer. Many distributors believe that they should be able to win some business there. Reps are expected to win business there. And yes, there are lots of data […]

Distributors / Growth Strategies / More Insights / Productivity / Sales Channel / Technology

Branch Level Tactics for Taking Share in ’26

David Gordon Posted On October 22, 2025

A Tool for Taking Share in ‘26 - Prokeep - ElectricalTrends

As we look forward to 2026 the crystal ball right now is showing slow growth aside from those who will benefit from data centers and possibly the industrial market if they are receiving a new factory or expansion. Those in […]

Growth Strategies / Industry Outlook / Lighting / Research Reports

2025 Q3 Pulse of the Lighting Market … Steady

David Gordon Posted On September 29, 2025

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve solicited the industry input into the pulse of the lighting industry in Q3. We had heard, nationally, and on average, that business was challenging, and, for the most part, that’s what the results […]

Growth Strategies / More Insights / Productivity / Technology

Engineering better Sales with the Moneyball of business

David Gordon Posted On August 18, 2025

While quarterly earnings for many companies are showing a strong Q2, if you are not servicing a data center, business is more challenging. This means that winning requires taking share. And to take share you need to outperform your competition. […]

Growth Strategies / Lighting / Reps / Sales Channel / Supplier / Products

Lutron Changes NY to ELA + Synergy

David Gordon Posted On August 15, 2025

In a note to customers in the New York area this week, Lutron confirmed summertime rumors that it made a change in representation. A letter from Brendan Van Campen and Chris Brown stated: “Lutron is pleased to announce that effective […]