Like many companies, we have a continuous improvement program. Unfortunately, we were making improvements that didn't really matter to our distributors, so they weren't adding value. Even though 85 percent of our sales goes through distribution, we don't get a lot of feedback from distributors.

Too often, the way we discovered we had a problem was when a distributor stopped calling. When we followed up, we'd hear that they'd switched to a competitor because they were so dissatisfied. That's the worst: losing a distributor and not even knowing you'd lost one or why.

Last year, we instituted a regular feedback program. Each quarter we pick 100 quotes, 100 orders and 100 shipments at random and divide them among 10 managers, including myself. We call the person who actually placed the order or requested the quote — often an inside sales rep, a CSR or an outside sales rep, sometimes a branch manager — and ask, "How did it go and how can we do it better next time?"

For a quote, we might ask about response time, ease of using our system, and knowledge of our people; for shipments, whether they got what they ordered, and was it on time and packaged well. Then, our sales and marketing department develops a summary that we use to figure out where improvement is needed and where it will really add value.

Distributors are excited about providing input; they are pleased you called and that you're concerned. Occasionally, I've made someone nervous, since it's not too often they get a call from the president of a supplier. But our distributors tell us that they are really excited that we're asking, that we care, and — equally important — that we're actually acting on what they have to say.

We discovered that our distributors expected to get quotes quicker — a lot quicker — than we were able to provide them. Because more than 80 percent of our product is custom engineered, taking the customer's specs, turning them into a design and then developing a quote can be a time-consuming process.

Based on distributor feedback, we've implemented some changes that have allowed us to reduce our turnaround time on quotes by 75 percent — from a couple of days (or longer) to a few hours. Getting the quote to the distributor faster helps us get the order. The distributor — who previously may have taken the blame for our service deficiencies — now looks more reliable in his customers' eyes.

You really have to ask and listen and act on what's important to the distributor — not on what you perceive is important — and be ready to solve problems where you need to. Working with our distributors to identify what really matters to our end customers has allowed us to take cost out of the channel and add value.