Page 189 – Electrical Trends

Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / Productivity / Renewables / Technology

Solar, LEDs, Diversification, Inventory Management and More

David Gordon Posted On May 13, 2010

A little bit of a reading roundup before this weekend’s NAED Leadership Summit. Recently there has been array of news from 3M, GE, Home Depot, Rexel, Square D, Datalliance, CED and Hilti to get us going (or at least cause some […]

Industry Consolidation / Industry News / Productivity

A Sign of the Times?

David Gordon Posted On May 10, 2010

Given the dramatic decline in industry revenues over the past 18 months, many have wondered when consolidation will occur and are surprised that they haven’t seen more than a few. We agree, and from talking with a number of potential […]

Profitability

Banks actually helping their Business Customers?

David Gordon Posted On May 3, 2010

Or is good old fashion common sense come back in fashion? It seems as if some regional banks have discovered that they have money lying around not earning money. After all, their product is money. Several weeks ago I began […]

Growth Strategies / Industry News / Research Reports

Q1 is In … How are You Doing?

David Gordon Posted On April 27, 2010

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been talking with a number of manufacturers and distributors and have started to notice some Q1 trends … Aside from many distributors losing 3-7 days due to weather, which impacted business Industrially-oriented distributors […]

Advocacy / Associations

How Should Manufacturers Evaluate Associations?

David Gordon Posted On April 21, 2010

At the same association meeting I’m currently at the association held a manufacturer only session (as well as a distributor only one) to solicit meeting format feedback as well as association feedback, essentially asking manufacturers, “what are you looking for […]

Growth Strategies / People in the News / Sales Channel

How Do You Recruit Salespeople?

David Gordon Posted On April 21, 2010

Am attending a distributor meeting and an attendee asked a speaker “where do you find sales staff other than through networking?” (yes, some people are looking to grow their business.)The question came from a lighting / electrical distributor. The follow-up […]

Contractors / Growth Strategies / Marketing

Help Your Customers Grow

David Gordon Posted On April 15, 2010

Mike Holt is considered one of the preeminent electrical contractor experts and is noted for his training endeavors and is recognized as “the” NEC Code expert. Mike knows contractor needs, and during a recent conversation with Stan Rydzynski, the issue of […]

Growth Strategies / Marketing / Productivity

Addressing Customer Service … Having the Right Inventory

David Gordon Posted On April 15, 2010

Last week I visited an electrical distributor client to discuss customer service. Given the economic environment that has gripped the industry over the past 18 months, no one is surprised to hear that some companies have experienced customer service issues […]

Channel Strategies / Customer Segments / Renewables

The Problem with Solar

David Gordon Posted On April 15, 2010

As one distributor put it….”the price continues to go down and technology continues to evolve. Should I stock PV panels? No way! And the flip side is that there are sometimes a 2 to 3 week lead time. The Chinese […]

eBusiness / Pricing / Productivity / Profitability

What do you think? Stay in or get out?

David Gordon Posted On April 7, 2010

If you are a distributor, and the business has been struggling, you might be thinking: Why should I hunker down and try to ride this economic downturn only to have to start all over trying to rebuild my wealth? I’ve […]