Have you evaluated and optimized your demand planning strategy to navigate the current economic uncertainty? It might seem like an impossible feat with significant issues in the supply chain, economy, and global politics. Read More
Pricing in distribution is as critical and consequential as it is complex. It’s been a constant challenge for decades, and few have found the ideal strategy to make it simpler and more effective. Read More
After one of the most entertaining NFL seasons (and playoffs) in recent memory, I thought it would be fun to examine several practices that distributors can take away from top-flight NFL programs. After all, distributors compete for market share in... Read More
You may provide your sales team with growth playbooks – but are those playbooks informed and driven by customer data? If not, you’re one of many distributors with high potential to do more and see greater results with customer data. When you let... Read More
Data-driven sellingis essential for distributors. When executed well, it aligns teams, enhances decision-making, and drives sales growth. However, many distributor sales teams struggle to integrate data analytics effectively, leading to... Read More
According to Lean principles, customer-value-add (CVA) activities should receive greater attention than business-value-add (BVA) and non-value-add (NVA) activities. That’s if your company is truly aiming to apply Lean strategies to reduce waste and... Read More
At ACTvantage, we had the opportunity to work with distributors through the past year and a half to improve processes and achieve sustainable growth. In a recent article for Industrial Distribution, we took a moment to share a handful of success... Read More
In your pursuit of growth as a distributor, you may believe you have everything in order to be successful: the right analytics, the right approach, etc. However, even the most successful distributors struggle with common blind spots and oversights... Read More
Data analytics is essential to profitable growth for distributors as the industry becomes more digitally focused. Yet, with so much data to work with, it’s difficult to know where your efforts with analytics will be most effective and impactful.... Read More
Distributors pull in a vast amount of data from all areas of their operations. One area where that data can be most valuable is sales. Here, data can be used to add a more scientific angle to decision-making that’s traditionally driven by emotions,... Read More
Calculating and understanding cost-to-serve (CTS) is key for distributors to make strategic pricing decisions that will lead to profit and growth. This is especially true today, as a cost-plus margin strategy doesn’t hold up in the current... Read More
For any growth planning to be successful, distributors need to plan for sustained growth. However, many spend most of their time generating growth and not enough on managing and maintaining it. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has made quick wins... Read More
In planning for growth, distributors need a clear idea of their capabilities in all relevant areas of their business. These areas break out into seven critical groups: Source, Stock, Store, Sell, Ship, Supply chain planning and Support services.... Read More
To get the most out of their sales training programs, distributors need to move away from a blanket approach toward a customized, individualized method that accounts for varying levels of experience and skill. Doing so may sound complex, but the... Read More
Many of the methods distributors used to generate growth before the pandemic are less applicable today. Remote selling has meant less on-site interaction with customers, resulting in fewer raw insights into those customers’ operations and needs. Read More
At ACTvantage, we developed a Growth Cube Framework to help distributors plan for robust and sustained growth. We created this framework by analyzing the financial statements of hundreds of independent distributors and over 40 public distributors,... Read More
