This week, I was on calls with various Industrial Channel and Industrial Supply Association (ISA) leaders discussing the upcoming ISA Fall Summit in Memphis, TN, in early November. We were discussing the tracks, the speakers and presenters, and the takeaways for participants.
In looking at the speakers and presenters, I was struck by the fact that 20 of the speakers across the three tracks are from the Industrial channel. These 20 speakers are all currently working in the channel every day as Manufacturers, Distributors, or Manufacturer Reps.
From 3M to Navasota Industrial Supply, you have the who’s who of Industrial Channel leaders speaking and presenting – MSC Industrial, Snap-On, Stanley Black and Decker, Vallen, CRC, US Tool Group, Surpless, Dunn & Co., Grainger, and more…..it is a very long list. The Fall Summit has put together a great mix of large and small companies to learn from, with three educational tracks.
These conversations got me thinking about what an Association brings to the table for the channel today, and in the future. Mahesh Yegnaswami (long-time 3M leader) was kind enough to share his thoughts on why he valued ISA.
“I value ISA as I find them to be the only unbiased entity with ‘limited’ vested interests to bring together manufacturers, distributors, and IMRs in this large industrial, safety and MRO space, to share knowledge and collectively take the industry forward.”
Mahesh used the word “No” vested interests, and I altered that with apologies to Mahesh to “limited” as I think ISA does a wonderful job of balancing that as an association. Brendan Breen and the ISA team, do need sponsors and support from Industrial channel partners. Without that support, it would be difficult for ISA to have two great annual events, and the ability to build all their educational programs. I believe that ISA does a great job balancing providing the access the sponsors pay for, without losing sight of what their mission is.
Which is as Mahesh shared which is about bringing “manufacturers, distributors, and IMRs in this large industrial, safety and MRO space, to share knowledge and collectively take the industry forward.”
ISA in their promotional work, shared their approach of no sales pitches, no vendor slides, no self-promotion. That is what makes the ISA Fall Summit a success and sets it apart from many other Industry events.
The Fall Summit is about meeting and learning from other Industrial Channel leaders and then taking that back home to your channel business to use for 2026 planning. That process of taking a piece of something you saw in one session from 3M or Vallen, and then Navasota Industrial and Surpless, Dunn and Co. in another, can help set you up great budgeting and strategy alignment sessions for 2026.
Each and every Industrial Channel business has its own market niche, share position, culture, and approach. What your go-to-market plan is in Omaha, I can assure you will likely be different than say – Chicago. The markets, customer mix, relationships, lines, and much more are what make distribution both fun and challenging.
In my opinion, a peanut butter approach or trying to take 100% of what someone else does successfully, and applying that to your channel business usually does not work out. It might look good in a Harvard Business Review article, but every distributor I have worked for and with is different. You are selling millions of potential SKU’s, to so many different customers that the mathematical probability of your business being the precisely same as another Industrial Channel business is well….zero.
Because your channel business is unique, you are usually more successful taking bits and pieces of what others are doing, and working the best ideas that fit you into your business. What is exciting about ISA is one place you can get those bits and pieces, best practices, and what works for other channel business to consider for 2026. There are so many ways to win in the channel, and I think the best place to find some special sauce to consider adding is at industry events like this.
I hope to see you there and learn more about your channel business and story. As a bonus, it’s college football season, the meeting is in Memphis in the south and the conversations on business, with some sports mixed in for us football fanatics will make it fun.
As always, we appreciate your support and comments. Please feel free to reach out to me at any time with any questions.
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