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
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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
Pulse of Industrial Supply Survey early returns are eye opening
The impact of tariffs announcements is unsettling the market and the short term and long-term impact and prognostications are dominating the news cycle for the Industrial Channel. The tariff impact on sentiment is clearly having an effect on channel planning and programs. Our Industrial Supply Trends Q1 IST Pulse of Industrial Supply survey early returns are interesting and … [Read more...] about Pulse of Industrial Supply Survey early returns are eye opening
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
Opinion: Grainger Q4 and Year End Results…..Interesting
It's Q4 earning season, providing distributors (and manufacturers) with an opportunity to benchmark their performance, gain insights (or confirmation) on what they are seeing in the market and possibly learn a little from publicly held companies. Grainger just released their Q4 and Full year results for 2024 which is always interesting to dive deep into their … [Read more...] about Opinion: Grainger Q4 and Year End Results…..Interesting
