We wrote the books on distributor best practices. Then we spent 15 years proving them.
Every ACTvantage book is based on original research conducted with real wholesale distribution firms — not adapted from other industries. Co-published through the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), these seven titles have become standard reading for distribution executives across North America. They are also the knowledge base that powers Fusion AI and the foundation of every workshop we teach.
The books are where we started — not where we stopped.
The research behind these books captured what great distributors do. But 750+ client engagements, hundreds of workshop sessions, and 15+ years of hands-on implementation revealed something no book can fully contain: the gap between knowing a best practice and closing the last mile to make it work in your business. That accumulated knowledge — continuously refined through real implementations — is what lives inside Fusion AI and every workshop we deliver today.
Unlock the Power of Inventory Analytics
A systematic, easy-to-implement model for managing inventory profitability — covering item stratification, fill rates, GMROI, dead stock, and working capital alignment. Designed to be deployed company-wide by purchasing managers, not just analysts.
Customer Stratification: Best Practices for Boosting Profitability
A pioneering study on how to segment distributor customers by true profitability. Covers buying power, cost-to-serve, customer loyalty, and how to align sales resources and service levels to maximize wallet share growth.
Pricing Optimization (Optimizing Profitability)
A proven framework to stop margin erosion through smarter pricing strategy. Covers the six faces of the pricing cube, value-based pricing, item-level profitability, and pricing risk mitigation — using data the sales team already has.
Sales and Marketing Optimization: Developing Competitive Value Propositions in Distribution
An actionable sales and marketing framework built for distributors — covering market segmentation, business development, sales force stratification, and building value propositions that align with what core customers actually need.
Driving Profitable Growth: A Distributor’s Playbook
A cross-functional growth playbook connecting customer stratification, inventory management, and pricing into a single integrated strategy. Covers revenue growth, gross margin improvement, and working capital optimization — calibrated to the distributor business model.
Supplier Performance & Channel Alignment
First-of-its-kind consortium research across 15 distributors and 5 manufacturers from multiple lines of trade. Builds a collaborative framework for supplier stratification, channel alignment, and distributor-manufacturer relationship management that reduces COGS and protects margins.