April 27, 2009 - Modern Distribution Management

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April 27, 2009

Survey: Slight Uptick in Optimism Among Industrial Manufacturers

Leave a Comment / Economic Trends, Research & Analytics, Free, Top Distributor Sectors, News, Subscriber Only /

The first quarter edition of the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Manufacturing Barometer reported a slight uptick in economic optimism among U.S.-based industrial manufacturers with 16% of executives polled expressing optimism about the U.S. economy over the next 12 months, up 11 points from the previous quarter. More than half the respondents (55%) remain pessimistic about the U.S. economy, which is an improvement from the 70% who were pessimistic last quarter.
 
Anxieties over international prospects remain high amidst the global recession, as 98% of manufacturers marketing abroad agree that the global economy declined in Q1. International sales turned increasingly negative in the first quarter, with more than half (60%) of respondents reporting decreased international sales from ...

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Analyze Customer Needs and the Resources You Need to Meet Them

Leave a Comment / Sales & Marketing, Free, Subscriber Only /

Mike Emerson and Mike Marks of Indian River Consulting Group recently presented "Sales Force Compensation: Best Practices in Tough Times" in a free MDM Webcast sponsored by Sage. Emerson wrote a followup article for MDM, Align Selling Resources to the Market. In the article, published in the April 25, 2009, issue of MDM (found here), he encourages distributors to take a closer look at their customer base to determine what type of sales resource is appropriate for each customer based on that customer's needs.

For example, customers that require assistance when selected products need active involvement, while those that use internal capabilities to select products need passive involvement on the part of the distributor. ...

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New Orders for Durable Goods Down 0.8% in March

Leave a Comment / Economic Trends, Research & Analytics, Free, News, Subscriber Only /

New orders for manufactured durable goods in March decreased $1.3 billion or 0.8 percent to $161.2 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced in its advance report. This was the seventh decrease in the last eight months and followed a 2.1 percent February increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.6 percent. Excluding defense, new orders also decreased 0.6 percent.
 
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in March, down eight consecutive months, decreased $3.0 billion or 1.7 percent to $175.0 billion. This followed a 0.8 percent February decrease.
 
Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in March, down six consecutive months, decreased $11.2 billion or 1.4 percent to $760.3 billion. This followed a 1.6 percent February decrease. ...

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