My objective is to develop an ongoing series of marketing articles consisting of two parts, the first focusing on questions I have been asked and the second on concerns I have. I have lots of both, so it is impossible […]
Van Meter, which acquired Werner Electric (MN), earlier in the year is moving quickly to assimilate the company and to operate as one company. There have been a number of management and marketing (and perhaps other departments) personnel changes at […]
Of course you are! Your salespeople are always talking to your customers, gaining their insights to help your business, and your customers volunteer information … even to the point of answering the questions your salespeople don’t know you want them […]
First let’s go to Wikipedia for a definition. A spiff is slang for an immediate bonus for a sale. Typically, spiffs are paid, either by a manufacturer or employer, directly to a salesperson for selling a specific product. Frequently they […]
The manufacturers do not have as much money as they used to! Really? So many responses to that statement come to my mind. Unfortunately, in today’s politically correct atmosphere I am not at liberty to use most of them, so […]
Do national or regional promotions offered by the manufacturer work and are they in the best interests of the distributor? That largely depends on what the distributor does with the opportunity. Most of us would call these “canned promotions”. Specifically […]
If the last year and COVID has done anything for our business acumen, it would be the importance of continued customer contact through any means possible including the benefit of a relatively new sales tool … virtual meetings (euphemistically most […]
Everyone likes to talk about their successes, and I am no exception. The road to success, however, inevitably has some speed bumps, or what sales and management may call “failures.” Let me tell you about two of mine, but how […]
Over a 35-year career marketing in the electrical industry I have ran more than a few promotions. And here’s the dirty little secret – not every promotion I ran was successful. I’ve managed everything from hat promotions to large trip […]
Ken Cain, recently retired Vice President of Marketing for Capital Electric Supply (a Sonepar company) for the past sixteen years and previously Vice President of Marketing for Rexel and Vice President of Marketing for Branch Electric before it was purchased […]
David Gordon
Channel Marketing Group
919-488-8635
