SHIFT 2023 Playbook

As distribution leaders constantly seek educational resources on business transformation, technology optimization and talent management, MDM’s SHIFT conference has answered the call. The annual executive summit invites distributor decision-makers to attend and absorb three days of thought leadership across numerous topics that our audience has indicated are top-of-mind for those driving the industry forward.

Here, we’ve compressed four of the sessions from our 2023 SHIFT event into an MDM Playbook, extracting key takeaways from the content they offered. They include transformation case studies on industrial supplies outperformers Motion and Global Industrial Company; insights from Gartner on using technology as a burden-lifter on sales staff; and lessons from a panel discussion about workplace culture components that foster an environment where talent want to work and stay.

Read on to view those pieces from our marquee in-person event, and mark your calendars for MDM’s 2024 SHIFT conference, to be held Sept. 11-13 in downtown Denver.

Download the playbook now.

Data-Driven Decisions: Opportunities and Challenges in the Data Revolution

Distributors of all sizes and in all verticals are ambitiously investing in data capabilities over the next three years, and for good reason: the distributor data divide is big and growing.

Our latest research, Data-driven decisions: opportunities and challenges in the data revolution, reveals the striking finding that the most data-savvy distributors are twice as likely to report using advanced data techniques in every single part of their business and twice as likely to report moving faster than average to continue growing their data capabilities.

As a result, distributors who have been slow to adopt data capabilities are moving quickly to catch up. Of the distributors who identify as low-maturity today report realistic, 70% revealed that they have realistic plans to achieve high-maturity within the next three years.

Download the report today to read more about these and other findings from the research, a multi-month effort that engaged over 200 senior distribution executives.

Download the research report now.

Sponsored by: Epicor

Elevate Your Sales Game: The Ultimate CRM Playbook for Distributors

Customer expectations are evolving, buying behavior is shifting, and competition has become more intense.

Leading distributors see these challenges as opportunities and double down on the strategies that take them to the next level.

Read on for seven winning strategies to increase revenue, crush the competition, improve profitability, and set your sales team up for attainable, long-term success.

In this playbook, you’ll discover how to:

Unify offline and online sales to seize every opportunity
Develop higher-converting marketing campaigns with personalization
Improve sales efficiency and performance with automation
Train your team to take a more consultative approach to selling
Maximize profits with your pricing strategy
Identify the best opportunities for growth and expansion

Download the playbook now.

Sponsored by: White Cup

Distributor Ecommerce Lessons: Barriers & Best Practices

The road to true, transaction-enabled e-commerce is fraught with obstacles, with many “right paths” to success. But there are proven best practices. Read the results of MDM’s latest survey on e-commerce implementation and learn how to quickly build a strong e-commerce platform with integrated inventory management capability.

Sponsored by: BigCommerce

Annual 2018 Distribution M&A Roundup

In like a lion, out like a lamb – 2018 started with a few landscape-shifting deals in the industrial and building materials sectors. The competitive landscape continued a healthy pace in second quarter with major deals by Sunsource and MSC, plus competing bids to buy Essendant. The Staples-Essendant saga finally settled in October and M&A extended into marketing groups as IDC-USA merged with the marketing group Affiliated Distributors. Download a free copy to read about other M&A deals of 2018.

How Distributors Can Close the Gap with Amazon Business

Amazon Business has not only changed the rules for customer expectations on price and purchasing options, they’ve rewritten the book on how distributors of all sizes, across all product sectors, compete in the future. Distributors need to map out a plan to invest in the technology and the strategic capabilities that will help them engage and retain customers, even as Amazon Business grows at exponential rates globally and other digital disruptors and traditional competitors quickly advance their value propositions.

Sponsored by: PROS and Oracle NetSuite

Is Your ERP Ready for Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer science fiction – it’s the here and now. And it’s transforming how business leaders look at enterprise resource planning (ERP) functionality, driven by digital disruptors that are leveraging AI across several dimensions to innovate on behalf of customers. But what is it? And how exactly can it help a business grow? This white paper outlines how artificial intelligence will increasingly support and enhance core ERP capabilities for distributors.

Sponsored by: Epicor

The Future of AI in Distribution

This report defines artificial intelligence and machine learning and how leading companies are using them so that executives understand both the promises of AI and the threat posed by competitors who use it well. In this analysis, we will cover a wide range of technology topics, and we will start by defining and explaining some terms that may be new to you.

Sponsored by: PROS

2018 Market Leaders Profiles Full Report

This free PDF includes lists of top distributors in 14 sectors, including:

Company profiles
4-year revenue trend data
14 sector snapshots

Sponsored by: Epicor

2018 Top Distributors List

This free PDF includes lists of top distribution companies across 14 sectors.

The lists are ranked in order of 2017 revenue size alone; no other factors were used to compile these lists.

Sponsored by: Epicor

Your Amazon Business Playbook: A Strategic Evaluation for Distributors

This report, focusing on distribution’s omnichannel future, follows Amazon’s rise as it rapidly built the competencies needed to master B2B distribution the way it mastered the online bookstore. We examine the threats that Amazon poses, the rise of Amazon Business – formerly AmazonSupply – and why it presents a clear threat to today’s distributor.

Sponsored by: Oracle NetSuite

The Field Sales Rep of the Future

This free report highlights five practices firms are using to transition their field sales rep roles from being self-directed generalists to management-directed specialists.

Top 5 Mistakes Distributors Make with Vending

Learn how to avoid these common pitfalls distributors make with vending.

2018 Distribution Industry Outlook Highlights

Each year MDM provides an outlook of the state of the distribution industry based on reader surveys and data collected in partnership with Baird.

This PDF includes an overview of current economic conditions, expectations for 2018 and the top three trends to pay attention to in the year ahead.

2017 Top Distributors List

This free PDF includes lists of top distribution companies across 14 sectors.

The lists are ranked in order of 2016 revenue size alone; no other factors were used to compile these lists.

Investment Banking Directory

Work with a banking partner that knows your business. Get detailed information on investment banks with expertise in the wholesale distribution industry.