Category Archives: Index

71. Newspapers and Channel Reps: Are They Still Vital?

Distribution Strategy, Index, WayPoint Analytics

On July 10, 2017, the News Media Alliance, a trade lobby group representing 2,000 news organizations, called on congress to pass an antitrust exemption.  Essentially, this exemption would to try to fix prices with Facebook and Google for online advertising dollars and for access fees to the digital content of newspapers.

The political reason presented is that good journalism is vital to a healthy democracy. The economic reasons stem from the fact that newspapers continue to downsize from their previous monopoly status. In the past, distribution of physical newspapers along with classified ads, consumer goods advertising, and employment ads was geographically confined. One newspaper could dominate with careful management of readers, printing, delivery, and advertising reach. Continue reading 71. Newspapers and Channel Reps: Are They Still Vital? →

70. Who’s Nibbling Your Cheese?

AmazonBusiness, Distribution Strategy, Index, WayPoint Analytics

Spencer Johnson, who wrote many motivational business tales, including Who Moved My Cheese?, recently passed. Published in 1998, the book sold 25 million copies. The short fable starred two mice named Sniff and Scurry and two small, challenged humans named Hem and Haw. All four lived in a maze feeding upon a depleting pile of cheese that one night got moved. How does Cheese relate to distribution?

The mice teach the humans to have courage, to take risks and explore, looking for new opportunities, instead of dying in place. The book became a bestseller because of its inspirational message to pursue necessary changes.

But, inspiration alone doesn’t effect change. Who Moved My Cheese? doesn’t offer a full change management recipe. For a fable with the full recipe, read John Kotter’s Our Iceberg is Melting (2006). In this tale, some clever penguins teach the reader Kotter’s eight-step process.  Continue reading 70. Who’s Nibbling Your Cheese? →

69. The Many Faces of Amazon

AmazonBusiness, Distribution Strategy, Index, WayPoint Analytics

Amazon (AMZ) is continually pushing the boundaries of innovation in distribution. Following their ever-evolving methods for consuming channel volume is a full-time job. Depending on your perspective, AMZ has become your friend, your foe, maybe even your partner. However, one thing is for sure across the board: Amazon should be your role model for innovation in distribution.

My presentation at the Advanced Profit Innovation Conferences coming up this fall take a deep dive and explain why I say this. Here are the dates:

The live discussion will take a look at AMZ’s latest moves in the marketplace. I will attempt to answer and analyze what I think are the most important questions so we can all learn from the master. Continue reading 69. The Many Faces of Amazon →

68. Customer Profitability Analytics (CPA) for Reinvention and Amazon-Proofing

AmazonBusiness, Distribution Strategy, Index, WayPoint Analytics

On June 29th, I did a one-hour webinar for the Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA.org) on Customer Profitability Analytics (CPA) for Reinvention and Amazon-Proofing. We had 118 folks from 60 different companies sign up, and 85 from 40 companies attend. 60% were HIDA members, and 40% were distributor friends from other channels. And, most of these HIDA guests have been pursuing the webinar’s title themes and likely skewed the three survey-question results below.

We did survey questions upfront to reveal a bi-modal audience regarding: CPA; Rep compensation; and open-book management (with potential gainsharing) for all. The chasmic results were:

  • 47% were getting traction with CPA; 31% had never even experimented with CPA
  • 31% incented reps on customer net-profitability; 39% paid on gross margin dollars
  • 63% practiced Open Book with all employees; 35% were quite closed

Continue reading 68. Customer Profitability Analytics (CPA) for Reinvention and Amazon-Proofing →

67. Distributors, Retune Your Brand and Find Your Partners

Concierge Customer Service, Distribution Industry Sales, Index

Your brand statement encompasses your company’s beliefs about your competitive edge. It’s your company mantra. Many distributors proclaim something like, “Our good people deliver good service”. But, most companies don’t have measurable, customer-centric service excellence that could help them earn a dominant share of accounts, have the firmest prices, or become first-choice for supply chain partnerships. Why not retune your brand?

What’s your path to powering your brand with service excellence? So, if you have a big warehouse in a warehouse district and an outside sales force, your future has been here in other channels for some time.

Your Future in a New Service Promise

A promise should be an IF, THEN statement. Most of all, IF your customer buys all they can from you, THEN you will: Continue reading 67. Distributors, Retune Your Brand and Find Your Partners →

66. It Might Be Time Distributors Consider Partnering with Amazon

AmazonBusiness, Distribution Strategy, Index

Is it time Distributors consider partnering with Amazon? A Platform Business Model is a web service that facilitates exchanges between a self-sustaining mass of users (e.g., Facebook) or buyers and sellers (e.g., Uber). Platform winners typically become monopolies with increasing value and cost economies of scale. Don’t underestimate the power of Partnering with Amazon and their five, and soon to be six plus, compounding platforms in distribution.

Prime

The first challenge is how to get the most, and the best, customers and sellers to your marketplace platform. With Prime, Amazon bootstrapped itself to a critical mass of loyal, repeat, big spending customers that other potential co-sellers want to reach. Prime membership started in 2005 and has snowballed to its present 60 million+ members in North America (85 million+ worldwide). Continue reading 66. It Might Be Time Distributors Consider Partnering with Amazon →