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Please join us for our live program this Friday, Mar. 27, 2-4 pm Eastern, where our guests will share their experiences and impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on customers, suppliers, operations and team. Your co-hosts will be Tom Gale and John Gunderson of MDM, and Mike Marks of Indian River Consulting Group.
In this second of our three-part conversation on innovation in distribution, J Schneider of strategy and consulting firm Dorn joins host Tom Gale to discuss what innovation looks like in 2020 for distributors and manufacturers. In this episode, we look at the ways smaller distributors often have an advantage to identify opportunities for innovation, the need to be selective in building manufacturer-distributor partnerships around a shared vision for innovation, and how to build a culture of innovation.
Managing your customers through this COVID-19 crisis to maximize their long-term loyalty and profitability includes several steps, such as incorporating your emerging channel strategies, aligning sales compensation with your priorities, developing product substitution groups and preventing over-ordering.
Much is being written about how to manage the supply chain threat of COVID-19. The problem is that virtually all of it focuses on disruption threats to inbound supply chains from suppliers. The equally important, longer-lasting challenge is managing your customers through the crisis period to maximize their long-term loyalty and profitability.
The worldwide disruption caused by COVID-19 means distributors need to consider both short- and long-term action plans for your inventory and customer pricing programs. MDMs John Gunderson shares actions that are critical to helping your company anticipate customer needs.
A potential customer who is already signed on with another distributor doesnt need your business but you can increase the chances that theyll want it. It starts with showing interest, says Channel Marketing Groups David Gordon.
A major part of the equation that has built so many incredible ongoing success stories in distribution face-to-face communication and interaction has virtually overnight been removed from the table indefinitely. But the real strength has always been in the depth and quality of our personal relationships, writes MDMs Tom Gale. That won't change.
Insecurities about data quality, adequate budget, existing success and company bandwidth are common roadblocks to implementing a robust analytics program for distributors. ActVantages Senthil Gunasekaran analyzes the mindset behind these potential obstacles and what can happen when distributors work to move past them.
