The biggest challenge for many companies is quality personnel…how to recruit them, train them and retain them. Talent is a company’s greatest asset. As the effort expended in HR grows, combined with continued regulatory and administrative issues, HR departments will […]
With an eye towards a slow growth economy, recently we launched a three part series in Electrical Wholesaling entitled “Back to Basics”. The premise is that in a slow growth economy it is important to “tighten” the back of the […]
Over the past year, we’ve conducted a number of national and regional contractor surveys where we asked them “Why do you buy from the distributors you purchase from?”Selections included: Relationship with people Overall service Product Availability Price Location Company I […]
Congratulations to U.S. Army Brigadier General Robert Gaylord, the new president of IDEA. An interesting choice… retired military In reviewing his background, one would presume that he is a leader, a good listener and a good communicator having been heavily […]
Many have heard that Cerro recently changed its sales approach. The company exercised its 30 day right to cancel its rep agreements and is adding a number of people (rumor is five) to handle distributor accounts directly. According to a […]
Historically many manufacturers, after reviewing their current year performance, will send out 2008 price increase notices in November/December, and then send their sales people out to “cut” year end “deals” with the intent to “help” the distributor meet their purchase […]
With DSO’s increasing for many distributors and the need to maintain, and improve profitability becoming more important in a slowing market, distributors are examining their invoicing processes to identify opportunities to reduce their DSO’s, improve cash flow and offer a […]
The E-Biz Forum started yesterday with a packed crowd. Due to last minute registrations, attendance is over 200 people … more than IDEA expected.Yesterday’s sessions were well attended, and informative: Adam Fein launched the conference with an overview of the […]
With the economy tightening, contractor DSO’s increasing, and margins continuing to be squeezed, the need to streamline processes and turn each department into a profit center (or less of a profit drain) becomes more critical. When this can be combined […]
Received a couple of interesting emails/press releases over the weekend, on the same topic, but with different messages. Both announced that Mike Rioux, president of IDEA, was leaving the company to “pursue other career opportunities”. The IDEA issued press release […]
David Gordon
Channel Marketing Group
919-488-8635
