Understanding growth potential within a market requires marketplace insights that help identify the size of the market as well as specific product category potential. These data points help support strategy development, resource allocation and identify if there is enough growth […]
As NEMRA hired a new director of Digital Transformation, it led me to think of how digital is changing rep selling. Transformation can impact operations, but it also affects sales processes. Using my own experiences. and that of others I […]
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 […]
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 […]
This is a follow up on my last writing regarding manufacturer’s representatives and their functions. Based upon reader requests, I was asked for some compensation suggestions to motive reps. This is just one perspective from someone with agency experience. There […]
Grainger and Fastenal shared their Q1 earnings reports recently. Given that both focus on the MRO market and, from an industrial MRO viewpoint, are considered relatively comparable competitors, they can serve as a proxy for the MRO market, although electrical […]
The last week or so has been earnings week for many electrical companies where they shared their Q1 performance. As expected, all showed improvement versus last year (after all, the last two weeks were the beginning of the COVID shutdown). […]
Sometimes it takes time for there to be synergy between a rep and a manufacturer. And yes, we’re using a play on words as Synergy Electrical Sales announced that it has become the manufacturer representative for IDEAL Electrical in the […]
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 […]
Many talk about digitizing the channel and the emerging / present digitalization of the industry and then wonder why eCommerce as a percent of distributor sales is not higher. One major reason is for many distributors their key customer is […]
