With MDM’s SHIFT Conference coming up on May 13-15 in Denver, we’re rolling out a series of podcasts that feature speakers who will be at the event. 

These shorter episodes help familiarize our audience with those speakers, preview what they plan to share at SHIFT and why it’s important, and provide some meaningful nuance into their areas of expertise.

You can find all the SHIFT details — including the agenda, registration and hotel info — at MDM.com/SHIFT. 

Successful technology adoption is less about chasing the latest trends and more about strategic, purposeful implementation. Without it, the enterprise technology graveyard grows.

In a MDM podcast episode, Ben Albu, a seasoned distribution technology expert who spent 20 years at electrical distributor Wesco before founding Rockyrill Ventures — shared that the largest section of that graveyard is dedicated to sales tools and CRM applications.

“I’ve yet to meet a distribution professional who’s been around a while who can’t tell war stories of at least one, two, sometimes three, four, five, six failed CRM deployments or failed sales tool deployments, whether they’re built in-house or bought on the open market or integrated or consulting firm helped develop them. We all have examples of where these have failed,” Albu told MDM’s Senior Editor Vesna Brajkovic.

The reason? We fail to accommodate the independent nature of the sales profession.

“People that become sales professionals gravitate to that role because it has a high degree of autonomy,” Albu said. “There’s a singular objective typically, which is to sell product and sell it efficiently at a fair price with an as optimized margin as possible. But how you go about doing that as a sales person in many cases is largely up to you.”

It’s the only role at a distributor set up that way, yet when distributors deploy technology in the sales role, they treat it like it’s any other function inside of the company, he explained.

“We set up processes, we set up dashboards, we set up things that they have to check the box on. And most importantly … we fail to treat the salesperson like they’re the customer,” he adds.

To make their job easier and more profitable, distributors need to find technology and tools that can unlock value and benefit the salesperson.

“Once you’ve identified that [value], build everything else around it,” he said. “Build the enterprise capability suite around it.”

In the episode, Albu shares more about how to select a sales tool, the red flags of the process and how tech can be used to enhance collaboration between inside and outside salespeople.

Don’t miss Ben Albu’s session at MDM’s SHIFT Conference, to be held May 13-15 in Denver. “Hybrid Sales: Leveraging Technology for Sales Success” will dive deeper into treating the salesperson as your “customer,” as well as share real-world examples of how to build a suite of enterprise capabilities around your unique needs.

Listen to the full episode via the audio player above, and find our entire episode library at mdm.com/podcasts.

Most Recent MDM Podcast Episodes

• Imperatives Amid Evolving Go-to-Market Strategies – March 25
• The Expectations and Priorities of Today’s Young Talent – March 19
• An AI Research Primer Ahead of SHIFT – March 12
• How an Industrial Distributor Grows From its Roots – Feb. 26