Top 5 Strategic Planning Areas B2B Distributors Should Care About

https://youtu.be/u8KTB_xAK9w A lot of distributors are re-thinking their strategic plan from the ground-up. Watch James and J talk about the 5 things they should focus on for annual planning. Video Transcript: James Dorn: So J, we've been noticing an unprecedented level of distributors who are seeking to fully evaluate their strategy moving forward. I mean, I'm talking ground up. I've never seen this before. So as they go into their strategic planning process I thought we could share with them our five top tips on what they should focus on going [...]

Top 5 Strategic Planning Areas B2B Distributors Should Care About2023-01-31T15:52:20-06:00

Effective Inventory Management Requires Short and Long-Term Attack Plans

This article was originally published by Modern Distribution Management (MDM) and is used here with permission. For more than 50 years MDM has provided industry leading content for B2B Manufacturers and Distributors. We highly recommend becoming an MDM Premium subscriber. At the MDM Shift 2022 conference, I led a session that took a deep dive into supply chain and inventory availability issues and how that has upset many distributors and manufacturers’ inventory cycles. The combination of inflation, availability, labor shortages and a possible economic slowdown in 2023 are four macro forces that have not [...]

Effective Inventory Management Requires Short and Long-Term Attack Plans2022-10-19T16:38:15-05:00

Your Customers Have Already Reset Distribution’s Value in the Channel

This article was originally published by Modern Distribution Management (MDM) and is used here with permission. For more than 50 years MDM has provided industry leading content for B2B Manufacturers and Distributors. We highly recommend becoming an MDM Premium subscriber. Demonstrating unique value has never been more difficult for distributors and manufacturers. The channel is changing and in need of new infrastructure.    Recently, we had a manufacturing executive pose an interesting problem and question for our consideration. She talked about how it is so much more difficult to get meaningful time with end [...]

Your Customers Have Already Reset Distribution’s Value in the Channel2022-10-19T16:43:24-05:00

Taking Unfair Share in 2023 with improved Distributor-Manufacturer Analytic Partnerships

This article was originally published by Modern Distribution Management (MDM) and is used here with permission. For more than 50 years MDM has provided industry leading content for B2B Manufacturers and Distributors. We highly recommend becoming an MDM Premium subscriber. In my career as a distributor leader negotiating our annual agreements and getting ready for Annual Distributor-Manufacturer Planning meetings took a lot of effort. It was a season with feelings that often ranged from pure excitement to occasional dread. The planning season was dominated by an established process and company habit. Often the [...]

Taking Unfair Share in 2023 with improved Distributor-Manufacturer Analytic Partnerships2022-09-12T16:47:21-05:00

What Manufacturers Can Learn from Fastenal’s Go-To-Market Strategy

This article was reprinted with permission from Modern Distribution Management (MDM) from their MDM Premium Content. It is a great publication and we highly recommend becoming an MDM Premium subscriber, for over 50 years MDM has provided industry leading content for B2B Manufacturers and Distributors. Become an MDM Premium subscriber at https://www.mdm.com/subscribe_premium/ Fastenal’s 2022 first quarter financial report shows the evolving need for manufacturers to adjust their sales plans and tactics for distributors. About 10 years ago, the B2B distribution business was simple: The more calls your outside account managers could [...]

What Manufacturers Can Learn from Fastenal’s Go-To-Market Strategy2022-07-22T09:15:54-05:00