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 […]
IDEA’s recent 2025 eBiz conference held earlier this month in Nashville brought together almost 160 people representing 20 distributor, 20 manufacturers, service companies, and IDEA’s staff. The conference expanded its contextual reach from talking data into the burgeoning topic of […]
Moments after my last article was published on “throwing strikes in strategy,” I was discussing marketing plans with a distributor to comply with information we had received on their customer’s expectations, and where they might improve. We discussed various issues […]
Covid did a job on the lighting industry, and we’re still suffering the effects. Aside from the WFH movement that was generated by it and significantly impacted commercial construction, it led to a change in sales and marketing. With so […]
Okay, I know the word “hate” may be a little strong, but perhaps “get frustrated” would be appropriate when the term “HR” comes to mind? And this frequently occurs with whomever HR reports to (Finance, COO, CEO, etc.), department managers […]
If you are a lighting manufacturer, you know DLC (DesignLights Consortium). If you are a distributor, especially in a state with high energy costs and “rich” utility rebate programs, you know DLC. You know that, for a product to be […]
It’s been said that “lighting agents are different.” While they may have desired to be different, there business challenges are the same as everyone else’s. Over the weekend I was finishing the 2025 Rep of the Future Report for NEMRA, […]
Mary Derrick (Schneider Electric), Danna Stone (Graybar), Brian DiBella (Legrand), Larry Stern (Standard Electric Supply), Tessa Myers (Rockwell), George Vorwick (United Electric Supply), Martina Schubert (Van Meter) … are all key business people in the industry. We’ll respected by senior […]
Earlier this week Gene shared thoughts on rep warehouses and how they can be used by a rep as part of their sales strategy. Yesterday I spoke with one who commented that two of his manufacturers are interested in inventorying […]
During recent conversations with some reps, the topic of rep warehouses came up. Some markets support rep warehouses; others seemingly despise them. Some reps have embraced for many reasons, some think it is a foreign concept whereas others say, “how […]
