There are two ways to make money. Either you sell more material / services for a profit or you need to reduce your loss (operating costs) in your warehouse (support services). The only ways to make your warehouse a profit […]
On Monday we shared manufacturer Q2 performance and rest of year outlook from Littelfuse, Encore Wire, Schneider Electric and Pentair. Today we’re going to review the quarterly reports from GE, Eaton, Emerson, ABB and Hubbell (with the focus solely on […]
Over the past couple of weeks a number of manufacturers and some distributors have shared second quarter performance updates. We’ve taken a look at many and will share pertinent, US-related information. First we’ll do distributors as AD, Graybar, Rexel, WESCO […]
Distributors have been seeking opportunities to generate, or increase, their service revenue. While traditionally a complementary service for industrially-oriented distributors, construction-oriented distributors are also seeing opportunities. Some distributors have defined revenue goals, others look at this opportunistically (or give the […]
The essence of “channel marketing” infers that members within a channel (manufacturer, rep and distributor) are working together to market products, services and applications to generate demand from customers. The term doesn’t infer whom funds the initiative but frequently there […]
In talking with senior management and HR managers of distributors, a continual challenge is personnel. While frequently these discussions relate to qualified (industry or skilled) personnel for sales, branch management and/or specialists, a frequent comment is the “churn” that they […]
General Motors (GM) historically has been known as a “staid” company and the prototypical “old boys” company. And its had its share of “challenges” ranging from uninspiring design to consumers feeling there was “built in obsolescence”; from being extremely difficult […]
Graybar becomes first major distributor to endorse the NEMRA POS / POT Minimum Reporting Standards and explicitly express report for rep initiative. Last year NEMRA and its NMG (NEMRA Manufacturer Group) took a leadership role in promoting POS / POT […]
Vendor Managed Inventory, VMI, a service of Datalliance, is touted by many as a tool to improve their inventory management, improve purchasing productivity, ensure quick access to new products and as a vehicle to improve the profitability of specific lines. […]
Last month Dick Friedman shared some ideas on how to ensure sales operations and customer satisfaction. Distributors know that operations is the key to profitability. This can relate to managing what sales is allowed to order to ensure they don’t inadvertently […]
