Over the past couple of weeks Eaton has made a couple of moves that should be of interest to electrical distributors. One was M&A oriented, the other was a marketing strategy to support one of their customers / channels. Both […]
As many know, lighting represents 25-30% of a distributor’s sales. Lighting is typically defined as lamps, ballast, and fixtures (and some people add in lighting controls). It is an important part of a distributor’s business albeit lighting projects are frequently low […]
The art of reaching new customers is a challenge for many distributors. Frequently I hear we know everyone in the market we’re doing business with everyone we want to we know who pays their bills they are not our type […]
When you see this ad, what do you think? Grainger and GE Lighting ran this ad in the March issue of Purchasing. Some things to ponder … What are you doing to reach your end-customer (the one who writes the check […]
In talking to distributors and manufacturers, business in the electrical industry remains tough with many “cautiously optimistic”. Challenges range from uncertainty created by the media continual harping on negativity (BP spill, North Korea, euro problems, Israel and the Gaza strip […]
Does the downturn leave you thinking you have to scale the Alps for a come back? Maybe and then maybe not! Change is in the air both at inventory levels and the way product is being sold. This is about […]
With commercial construction in the doldrums, distributors seeking revenue, and profit, opportunities are looking to diversify their business and asking the question “What percentage of my overall market do I have?” and then asking “What segments could I effectively, affordably […]
A little bit of a reading roundup before this weekend’s NAED Leadership Summit. Recently there has been array of news from 3M, GE, Home Depot, Rexel, Square D, Datalliance, CED and Hilti to get us going (or at least cause some […]
Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been talking with a number of manufacturers and distributors and have started to notice some Q1 trends … Aside from many distributors losing 3-7 days due to weather, which impacted business Industrially-oriented distributors […]
Am attending a distributor meeting and an attendee asked a speaker “where do you find sales staff other than through networking?” (yes, some people are looking to grow their business.)The question came from a lighting / electrical distributor. The follow-up […]
