September 24, 2010 - Modern Distribution Management

September 24, 2010

The Social Media Challenge: ROI

In a recent MDM survey, just half of respondents said they were using LinkedIn. Even fewer used online tools such as Twitter and Facebook. This article will examine why B2B companies have resisted using social media to further business goals and presents expert analysis and examples on how distributors can benefit from these tools. The author also analyzes results from a recent survey on how MDM readers use social media.

Even as business-to-consumer companies are finding ways to capitalize upon the growing social media trend, many business-to-business companies are struggling with how they can use social media sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

In a recent MDM survey, about 42 percent of respondents – distributors and manufacturers – said their companies were not using social media. The reasons ranged …

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Grainger’s Product & Service Plans

At the Morgan Keegan Industrial/Transportation Conference last week, Chicago-based distributor Grainger outlined its plans to continue building on both its product portfolio and its service offerings.

Product Expansion
Grainger U.S. President Michael Pulick says the company is aiming for up to 500,000 products in its portfolio. That would be up from 85,000 in 2005.

In recent years, the distributor has added products in plumbing, fleet maintenance and metalworking, among others. It has also added to current categories with products that boast different features or functions.

Grainger also plans to continue growing its private label offering, Pulick says. Right now,…

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5 Lessons for Better Change Management

This is an exclusive summary of Part 3 of the MDM Webcast series, Build an Effective Sales Organization for the Recovery, available on DVD. In this session, Mike Marks and Steve Deist of Indian River Consulting Group spoke on Tools for Effective Sales Management. This article looks at the foundation for implementing changes to the sales process.

Distributors can take different approaches to implementing change to its sales organizations. But most successful change shares five characteristics, says Steve Deist of Indian River Consulting Group.

"These are lessons we've learned though actual implementations over 10-plus years," he says.

Lessons
1. Align with …

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