Sales Channel Archives

Is Joint Business Planning a Dying Art or a Growth Differentiator?

David Gordon Posted On June 3, 2016

An issue we’re starting to hear more and more about is Joint Business Planning (JBP). We started hearing rumblings just before the NAED National from some larger distributors and manufacturers that the planning process was taking too long (not getting […]

eBusiness / eMarketing / More Insights / Sales Channel / Technology

Welcome to Unilog

David Gordon Posted On April 7, 2016

We’d like to take a few moments to welcome our newest advertiser, Unilog. Unilog, as many distributors know, is an ecommerce anda data content management serving distributors and manufacturers in many industries. The company has an affinity for the electrical […]

Distributors / Growth Strategies / Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / More Insights / Research Reports / Sales Channel / Supplier / Products

Is lighting a service, a product, a concept or illumination?

David Gordon Posted On March 23, 2016

Over the past couple of months we’ve touched on the changes that the lighting industry is undergoing. While much of it relates to LEDs, the “lamp” business, lighting controls and connectivity, we also mentioned how lighting can become a data […]

Associations / Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Logistics / Manufacturers / More Insights / Productivity / Profitability / Reps / Research Reports / Sales Channel

POS / POT Standards Endorsed by 17 Manufacturers

David Gordon Posted On March 15, 2016

Equitable compensation is a topic that is near and dear to every manufacturer, distributor, manufacturer rep and salesperson. After all, why “sell” a product if you are not compensated for it? This is one of the key issues facing electrical […]

Channel Strategies / Customer Segments / Distributors / Industrial Market / Industry News / Manufacturers / More Insights / Sales Channel

Houston Wire & Cable Earnings

David Gordon Posted On March 13, 2016

Last week Houston Wire & Cable held it’s Q4 / 2015 annual earnings call. As many in the industry know, Houston Wire and Cable, while categorized as a manufacturer, is, in reality, more of a master distributor given that they […]

Branding / Channel Strategies / Customer Segments / Growth Strategies / Industrial Market / Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / Marketing / More Insights / Sales Channel / Technology

Lighting Opportunities, Round-Up and Relevancy

David Gordon Posted On March 6, 2016

The lighting market continues to represent some of the greatest opportunities for distributors. At the recent NAED South-Central, every lighting manufacturer reported minimum 2015 sales increases of 20%. Goals for 2016 are the same, if not higher. The market is […]

Associations / Industry News / Marketing Groups / More Insights / Productivity / Reps / Sales Channel

NEMRA Delivers … 1900+ Attendees

David Gordon Posted On February 18, 2016

A couple of weeks ago I attended the NEMRA meeting as Channel Marketing Group has been working with NEMRA on its POS / POT initiative (point of sale / point of transfer). I was there to launch a draft of […]

Distributors / Growth Strategies / Marketing / More Insights / Pricing / Productivity / Profitability / Sales Channel / Supplier / Products / Technology / Training

Moneyball for Growth

David Gordon Posted On February 16, 2016

If you are stymied with geographical growth and think that many of your customers are not buying all they can from you, the odds are stacked in your favor that they aren’t. Why? Because you don’t know. Unless you have […]

Channel Strategies / Distributors / Growth Strategies / Lighting / Lighting2 / More Insights / Profitability / Sales Channel / Supplier / Products / Technology

Selling Lighting or Selling Data?

David Gordon Posted On February 16, 2016

Recently we touched on how the emergence of connected lighting is opening new opportunities for manufacturers and could for distributors. The reason for “could” is that the opportunity potentially can be much more than selling fixtures. It could explode into […]

Growth Strategies / More Insights / Reps / Sales Channel / Training

B All You Can B For Sales Effectiveness

David Gordon Posted On February 11, 2016

Earlier this week I was speaking with distributor and we were discussing sales effectiveness. Throughout his career he has been in sales roles, inclusive of sales management. One of the areas we discussed is the attributes of successful salespeople. He told […]