Monthly Archives: November 2016

45. Judo Selling for Fading Sales Growth in Distribution

The giants of the industry are announcing sales figures ranging from flat to down, to fading sales growth in distribution. Further, if any of the economic bubble(s) around the world pop, then sales and profits will be pressured even more. It seems like a good time to innovate.  But, how?

Earn a Larger and More Profitable Share of Your Biggest Accounts

You already know that your customers’ most urgent need is to stop profit erosion. Their reflexive solution is to shop for lower prices, which of course leaves you on the losing end. However, successful businesses are taking some lessons from judo and learning how to harness this customer desire to create a win-win for fading sales growth in distribution.

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44. Make Your Own Luck with Big Profit Swing Customers in Distribution

Do you know who your year-over-year big profit swing accounts are? Here are some steps you can take to find your big profit swing customers in distribution. You may be shocked, but make small bets on them in 2017, and you might just get lucky.

  1. Create a cost-to-serve model to compute customer net-profitability
  2. Have two full years of history
  3. For each account, subtract the profits (or losses) from two years ago from this past year
  4. Rank all customers in distribution by the profit difference from highest positive gain to biggest negative loss (see the easy, how-to answer at the end!)

Typical Case Revelations

A $50MM distributor just closed its fiscal 2016 year with sales up 6% and profits 10% over 2015. Profit margin improved from 3.5% to 3.8%. They beat local and channel/industry growth rates by a few points.

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43. Do You Have YOUR Theo Epstein for the Battle of Analytics?

Who Is Theo Epstein and Why Should You Care?

Hired in 2011 as the general manager (GM) of the Chicago Cubs, Theo Epstein rebuilt the team, bringing them from the cellar to the top of the game with their 2016 World Series win, and broke the 108-year-old curse of the Cubs. Before his Cubs turnaround, Theo did much the same for the Red Sox, helping them win the World Series in 2004 and 2007, breaking their 86-year old Curse of the Bambino. How did he do it? It’s well-known that Theo Epstein invented new analytical tools, metrics, insights, and tactics to create unheard of turnarounds in both teams.
Continue reading 43. Do You Have YOUR Theo Epstein for the Battle of Analytics?