The role and responsibilities of the Inside Sales team are evolving and changing faster than any role in the Industrial Channel. The distributor inside sales team usually has the most direct contact and interaction with industrial end customers. Our friend Frank Hurtte | LinkedIn from River Heights Consulting is one of the leading Industrial and Electrical Channel voices on … [Read more...] about Building on the skills of your Inside Sales Staff
Insights
ISA25 Recap – Headwinds, Tailwinds, and Uncertainty
ISA 25 last week (March 31- April 2nd) in Nashville brought together close to 700 Industrial Channel Leaders to the annual meeting to meet in person. I really enjoy this ISA industry event as it brings together Manufacturers, Distributors and Manufacturer Representative Firms at one meeting together. For other key B2B channels like electrical, HVACR, Automation, Power … [Read more...] about ISA25 Recap – Headwinds, Tailwinds, and Uncertainty
What were the hot topics at ISA25 this year?
ISA 25 is wrapping up today and the packed agenda over the three days was wrapped up by great presentations by NAW's Brian Wild and ITR economics. As expected, the hot topic was TARIFFFFS... and the impacts of current, potential, and future tariffs. It was great have National Association of Wholesaler leader Brian Wild -Chief Government Officer (2) Brian Wild | LinkedIn take a … [Read more...] about What were the hot topics at ISA25 this year?
Part 2 – Fastenal Investor Day Insights – Opinion
Fastenal Investor Day Slide - March 13, 2025 It is unusual for a large B2B publicly traded distributor to share details at the level Fastenal did on their Customer Segmentation metrics recently. In this analysis of Fastenal's Investor Day presentation, I wanted to focus on the customer segmentation part of the presentation and on the very large end of the distribution … [Read more...] about Part 2 – Fastenal Investor Day Insights – Opinion
What Do Industrial Manufacturers, Distributors and IMRs Want to Know from Their End Users?
As we close in on ISA25 next week, we wanted to share with you some preliminary findings from the recent survey that ISA completed with manufacturers, distributors, and independent manufacturer representatives (IMRs). Brendan Breen from ISA shared some detail on the survey results and a preview of what to expect at ISA25 March 31- April 2nd in Nashville. By Brendan Breen The … [Read more...] about What Do Industrial Manufacturers, Distributors and IMRs Want to Know from Their End Users?
IST Update – Impact of Tariffs on Ship and Debit (SPA) Programs
When tariffs were announced in February, we cautioned that the best strategy for distributors was to focus on their processes so that they could facilitate passing through the price increases. Part of our guidance was to automate implementation of price increases, review T&Cs for quotes, contracts, and SPAs, and to communicate. In fact, back in December we shared with a … [Read more...] about IST Update – Impact of Tariffs on Ship and Debit (SPA) Programs
Industrial Supply Trends Economic Snapshot – Q1 2025
This is the inaugural article for a series in ISA focusing on the top industries and products for industrial supply distributors from Kevin Coleman our collegue at Channel Marketing Group. Kevin has 30 years experience leading Market Intelligence teams for leading manufacturers such as Avaya, Philips Lighting, and Signify. Kevin will each quarter, profile a different … [Read more...] about Industrial Supply Trends Economic Snapshot – Q1 2025
What AI topics are highlighted at ISA25?
The current economic and industry-specific forecast for the Industrial Channel do not show double digit growth. Historically when the market is slower growth the focus on how to grow with end customers shifts to gaining more share and automating tasks that your team does manually. In looking at ISA25 this year one session really jumped out to me that is all about helping … [Read more...] about What AI topics are highlighted at ISA25?
Copper, Steel, China and More About Tariffs
This month has been an interesting one as a content provider for the Industrial Channel and keeping up with the Tariff news has been a daily occurrence. We published a column in our sister ElectricalTrends.com publication this week that we wanted to share with our Industrial Supply Trends Readers. There are some tariffs we know (China, imported steel and aluminum) and then … [Read more...] about Copper, Steel, China and More About Tariffs
Fastenal Investor Day Insights – Opinion
Fastenal Investor Day Slide - March 13, 2025 One of the biggest stories I have been writing about this past year has been on Business transformation, and on the very large end of the distribution demographic landscape, perhaps no company exemplifies long-term, wholesale change than Fastenal. Yesterday on March 13th Fastenal held a close to 6-hour Investor Day presentation … [Read more...] about Fastenal Investor Day Insights – Opinion
