MDM Shift Archives

SHIFT Insights: Align Comp with Strategy, Not Just Sales

Cohort - Sales, Featured Blog, Featured Premium, Sales Compensation / Mike Hockett

Many distributors struggle with incentive structures that inadvertently erode margins, misalign sales priorities or fail to reward long-term customer value. Here, we distill key takeaways from a 2025 SHIFT session that delivered guidance for distributors for refining their sales compensation models to drive both revenue growth and profitability.

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MDM Podcast: Be the Steve Irwin of Distribution and Rethink Team Dynamics

Leave a Comment / Cohort - Human Resources, Featured Blog, Human Resources in Wholesale Distribution, Leadership, Perspective / Vesna Brajkovic

Contrary to popular belief, culture isn’t a soft skill. It’s a competitive advantage, says executive leadership consultant Darcy Blessing-Williams, who is set to speak at MDM’s SHIFT conference in May. She joins the podcast to discuss a zookeeper framework geared for understanding and fostering team behavior.

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MDM Podcast: Imperatives Amid Evolving Go-to-Market Strategies

Leave a Comment / Featured Blog, MDM Blog, Perspective, Sales & Marketing / Mike Hockett

Ahead of speaking at MDM’s May SHIFT conference, Redwood Advisors’ John Nantz stops by for a conversation with Tom Gale about significant industry changes driven by market forces, technology advancements and changing customer expectations. Nantz outlines five key imperatives that high-performing distributors are using to stay competitive and differentiate themselves.

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SHIFT Speaker Spotlight: Allie Copeland

Leave a Comment / Featured Blog, MDM Blog / MDM Staff

ADI Global Chief Transformation Officer Allie Copeland will share actionable insights on leveraging digital transformation to drive growth at our May SHIFT conference. Learn more about Copeland and why her session is vital.

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MDM Podcast: An AI Research Primer Ahead of SHIFT

Leave a Comment / AI, Featured Main, Perspective, Research & Analytics, Technology / Mike Hockett

Kevin Reid-Morris has led much of MDM’s AI research over the past few years, and he’s set to share the results of a major two-year project at our May SHIFT conference. He and Tom Gale discuss the transformative impact of AI in distribution and that project which identified over 50 practical AI use cases.

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SHIFT 2025 Conference: A Crucial Convergence for Distributors

Leave a Comment / Featured Blog, MDM Blog / Tom Gale

With two months until MDM’s marquee event, Tom Gale details the purpose behind SHIFT and and its value points that cover precisely why you should attend.

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MDM’s 2025 First Half Industry Events Preview

Leave a Comment / Association/Buying Group News, Featured Blog, MDM Blog / Mike Hockett

See the slate of industry events during the first half of 2025 that are on MDM’s radar.

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How Stellar Industrial Supply Crafts Competitive Advantage

Featured Main, Featured Premium, Strategy, Tech & Operations / Mike Hockett

From a fireside session at MDM’s 2024 SHIFT Conference, we glean insights from Stellar Industrial Supply CEO John Wiborg about the distributor’s constant drive toward win-win solutions for customers and suppliers.

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MDM Podcast: Unpacking SHIFT 2024

Leave a Comment / Data & Analytics, Featured Blog, Leadership, Operations, Perspective, Sales & Marketing, Sales GPS, Strategy / Mike Hockett

With our marquee thought leadership event fresh in mind, MDM Editors Mike Hockett and Vesna Brajkovic debrief what stood out to them from the event and take a look forward to SHIFT 2025 next May.

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Key Takeaways from SHIFT 2024

Leave a Comment / Featured Blog, MDM Blog, Perspective / Tom Gale

MDM’s marquee in-person event showcased change management case studies and insights for driving distribution forward. Here’s a quick debrief.

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MDM Podcast: Everything to Know about SHIFT 2024

Leave a Comment / Featured Blog, MDM Blog, Perspective / Mike Hockett

MDM Editors Mike Hockett and Vesna Brajkovic analyze the immense value this year’s SHIFT conference provides; their biggest takeaways from the 2023 version; our 2024 agenda highlights; and why you should be there.

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MDM Podcast: The 5 Fatal Flaws of Sales Transformation

Leave a Comment / Featured Main, Sales & Marketing / Mike Hockett

Tom Gale and Mike Marks discuss the biggest challenges distributors face as they transition from a traditional outside-generalist sales process to a more adaptive, digital-forward go-to-market model.

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MDM Podcast: Finding Focused Direction for Your Sales Team

Leave a Comment / Featured Blog / Mike Hockett

With many distributors recently restructuring their sales teams, James Dorn and John Gunderson discuss how to optimize and align them toward high-level revenue performance.

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Give Your CIO a Break: Think Beyond Digital Transformation

Leave a Comment / Featured Blog, Leadership / Tom Gale

As they adjust to evolving customer demands, many companies are putting too much pressure (and hope) on the shoulders of their CIO and distribution technologists of all stripes to “make it so.”

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Shift No. 1: The AI Effect on Distribution Business Model Innovation

Leave a Comment / AI, Featured Blog, MDM Blog / Tom Gale

Significant trends are emerging across distribution channels as we close in on the halfway mark of 2024. Here’s the first in a series of snapshots on how MDM’s research and programming is tracking ways leaders are shifting their focus on transformation and innovation efforts.

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4 Elements of a Distributor’s Culture that Foster Growth

Cohort - Human Resources, Featured Blog, Featured Premium, Human Resources in Wholesale Distribution, MDM Blog / Vesna Brajkovic

Three executives share how they implement elements of a ‘good company culture’ in order to grow their business, attract new employees and keep existing employees invested.

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Volition Raises $11M to Scale Industrial Parts Marketplace

Leave a Comment / Operations, Tech & Operations, Technology / Mark Powell

The four-year-old company says the latest seed round will be used to grow an already massive and detailed industrial offering.

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Premium Monthly: SHIFT Conference Caps Busy September for Distributors

Featured Premium, MDM Blog / Mike Hockett

Distribution leaders, consultants and service providers convened Sept. 25-27 in Colorado to learn and share change management best practices during MDM’s SHIFT Conference.

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