UAB hosts ninth University of I.D.
By Industrial Distribution Staff -- Industrial Distribution, 5/1/1999
Birmingham, Ala.--The ninth session of the University of Industrial Distribution was held here March 21-25. The session was hosted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, with classes taking place at the University's continuing education center.With 230 students, attendance at the twice-a-year event was down from previous sessions. Last fall's session for instance, held at Indiana/Purdue University, attracted nearly 300 students.
Despite the lower numbers, UID planners deemed the meeting a success. Prof. Jay Smith, director of UAB's industrial distribution program, said he'd received positive input from students as well as instructors during and after the event. Smith helps design the UID curriculum.
The program kicked off on Sunday morning with a general session titled "The Industrial Distributor of the 21st Century," led by consultant John Monoky. Monoky discussed the threats, as well as the opportunities, distributors face in today's changing business climate. The opening session was the springboard for the rest of the week-long program, which featured 37 course offerings.
Courses were taught by industry consultants, executives and educators and covered a range of topics -- sales, customer service, technology, human resources, and integrated supply, to name a few. Most seminars were interactive, with instructors seeking input from attendees as a way to round out the learning experience. Mitchell Roye's two sessions on sales compensation were a prime example.
Roye, managing director of The Cambridge Group, began his seminar, "Increasing Sales and Profits through Distributor Compensation Solutions," by asking students what kinds of problems they were having with their companies' sales compensation plans. Common responses were that their companies had been using an outdated plan, that they had no formal plan at all, or that they wanted to learn more about team selling and how to compensate salespeople within that structure.
Some of Roye's key points were: that a company's business objectives are linked to its compensation plan; that as your business changes, so should your compensation plan; and that if you can't explain your compensation plan in 45 seconds or less, it is probably too complicated for your company. Roye presented several commonly used compensation plans and showed how they can be implemented in a distributorship.
Roye followed up on those points in his second session on team compensation, in which he described the basics of using teams in business. His goal was to show students how they can use teams to their best advantage and how to compensate members of a sales team. Key sessions on customer service were led by Chuck Holmes of Corporate Strategies in Atlanta and Don Rice, former director of Texas A&M's industrial distribution program. Peter Land, a noted human resources consultant based in Montgomery, Ala., led two packed sessions on leadership and delegation. Likewise, there was considerable interest in a session led by Doug Ruggles of Martin Supply Co., based in Sheffield, Ala. Ruggles focused on Martin Plant Services, the integrated supply wing of Martin Supply Co., and detailed what multi-integrators like MPS look for in second- and third-tier suppliers.
The University of Industrial Distribution is sponsored by 21 industry trade associations and is held twice a year -- in the spring and fall. Students come from distribution and manufacturing companies from across the country and around the world. To participate, the student's company must be a member of one of the sponsoring trade associations. In addition, students can choose a two-day or five-day program track and tailor courses according to individual interests. The next program is slated for Oct. 24-27 at Indiana/Purdue University in Indianapolis.
There are no other articles related to this article.Talkback
Related Content
Related Content
Sponsored Links
View All Blogs
