
Distributors can create libraries of genuinely useful resources, which can allow prospects and customers to find what they need.
Recently, the Wall Street Journal ran a best practices article with lessons distributors can apply to their own services businesses: "Beyond Products: More manufacturers are branching out into the service business. Here's how to make the move successfully."
One of the key points made in the article: Many manufacturers who have moved into services have gone without a clear strategy. I'm sure some distributors will relate to the challenges outlined, including trying to sell services that were previously free (See Emerging Model: Fee-for-Service on how Cardinal Health and other drug distributors try ...
An article in BusinessWeek reminds everyone that markets are local - as most independent distributors know very well. It points out: "You'll know we're back to an ordinary, boring real estate market when buyers focus less on the intricacies of foreclosures, short sales and the like and go back to the things that used to matter most: What are the schools like? How quiet is the neighborhood? When am I going to have to replace that roof or cut down that diseased oak?" Demographics shifts, employment growth and so on drive local housing markets because after all, "there is no such place as National Median, U.S.A.," the article says.
In related housing news, ...
From around the Web today …
A commentary on the relationship between distributors and manufacturers by PVF industry veteran Robert Vick in The Wholesaler: It's an honest rundown of perceptions on both sides of the fence looking at things like the cost of manufacturers' going direct, the substitution of branded with non-branded product, wholesalers' knowledge of their costs, openness to technology, and so on. He says:
"Survival for both the manufacturers and wholesalers depends on the changes we are willing to make for each other before we can make the changes we need to have a better understanding of the role each of us play in the supply chain and which direction we must take to make ...
Western Tool Supply, Salem, OR, filed for Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection on June 9, 2009, in Oregon Bankruptcy Court, attributing the company's tight position to an "acute shortage of operating cash, together with long-term leases that no longer reflected a market rate in a rapidly-declining commercial real estate market."
According to a June 10 filing, submitted to the court by President Kevin Kiker, the distributor of tools, fasteners and related parts to contractor customers has seen sales drop "precipitously" in 2009. Gross sales in 2007 were $67.5 million, and in 2008 fell to $50.8 million. No figure was provided for year-to-date sales in 2009.
Kiker founded Western Tool in February 1982, operating out of his garage in Jefferson, OR, according to the filing. In June 1982, he moved ...
My bank was recently acquired, out of collapse, by one of the largest banks in the country. The transition from one to the other was going pretty smoothly, and I hadn't noticed any changes - for the most part - in how they did business with me. Until now.
I received a letter last week telling me that I had gone beyond the limited transactions" my account allowed online and via check (three!), and that I had been charged an over-activity fee for this transgression. I am getting married this month, so I have been writing more than the usual number of checks and conducting more than the usual number of online transactions. Still, this has never been an issue before. Clearly in the merger of the two banks, my free checking account had been downgraded, so to speak, to a category that had ...
I spoke with David DeLong, author of "Lost Knowledge: Confronting the Threat of an Aging Workforce," for the latest issue of MDM. He shared with me a case study about effective knowledge transfer from the older generation of workers to the younger.
DeLong features a host of case studies on his Web site, www.lostknowledge.com. In one, about manufacturer Boston Scientific, the company faced the retirement of highly skilled workers who were specialists in knitting, weaving and yarn texturizing work on intricate machines that knit or weave special yarn into tube-like grafts. (This plant specialized in manufacturing surgical grafts and fabrics used to treat vascular ...
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