At the Industrial Supply Association’s annual convention this year, I spoke about the transition distributors must make to digital. This goes beyond just selling products...
I’ve worked with dozens and dozens of distributors and manufacturers over the past couple of decades, and in that time, I’ve heard more times than I can count that the field...
I moderated a panel discussion on the future of the independent distributor in the electrical channel at this week’s National Association of Electrical Distributors National...
Have you heard the story about how to catch a monkey? Tie a jar with a mango inside to a tree. When the monkey tries to get the mango, his hand gets caught. Don’t be the...
At IRCG’s recent executive workshop, Sales GPS, we spoke with wholesale distribution executives about the need to rethink their distribution sales models to adapt to new...
Only 1 in 5 e-commerce executives across industries rate their organizations as having a “world-class” data-driven culture, according to Clearhead’s 2016 Digital...
Sales roles today are becoming less transactional as more customers move ordering activity online. In a recent survey we conducted with MDM, distributors have predicted that as...
A lot of distributors are worried about Amazon’s growing influence in B2B markets. Despite Amazon’s replacement of AmazonSupply with the somewhat less-threatening Amazon...
Written by Mike Marks on Thursday, 23 February 2017.
To give you a taste of of our upcoming Sales GPS event, we’ve put together a new whitepaper: The Sales Rep of the Future, now available for free download.
Written by Mike Marks on Thursday, 16 February 2017.
On a daily basis, you can get news on mergers and acquisitions and the quarterly reports of publicly traded companies. And it seems like every week a new report comes out...
Is your field sales team filled with market-makers or market-servers? Most distributors would answer that question with “market-makers.” But they would be wrong.
Written by Mike Marks on Tuesday, 13 December 2016.
The field sales function has been largely self-directed, with salespeople typically making their own decisions about how and where they go to market. Distributors must shift to...
Written by Mike Marks on Thursday, 01 December 2016.
Historically, the distribution sales process has been largely artisan – with field salespeople making their own decisions about how they go to market with little oversight...
Join IRCG, Modern Distribution Management and your peers at Sales GPS on March 1-2 in Austin, TX, to reimagine the distribution sales model, and get the tools you need to...
The University of Innovative Distribution (UID) has opened registration for its March 2017 program. IRCG's Mike Marks is a permanent faculty member at UID, and will be...