A colleague of mine at another Reed Business Information publication recently visited an electronics component manufacturer in the Southwest. During the visit, the marketing director for this company mentioned that she had no use for distributors.

"Distributors add nothing to the sale of a product," she said. "Most of them are nothing but order takers and really haven't kept up with the times."

She then added that most distributors weren't creative in marketing their products.

Those comments were very similar to ones that I heard from manufacturers more than 20 years ago, when I first joined this industry. Have things not changed that much?

In a recent editorial study, a reader told us that, "In 30 years in this business, I have never seen relations deteriorate to the level at which they are today. Good business has nurtured arrogance among some manufacturers never seen before."

Manufacturers, regardless of the product line, have told us that distributors aren't really adding value to their products. They've said that distributors have poor marketing skills, and that their product expertise has dropped considerably.

The truth is that manufacturers have always sold direct. They always will, when necessary. It's up to distributors to prove and document the services they provide, so they can get a bigger share of the pie.

Take construction distributors, for example. We've written about many distributors who are making money by increasing the repair side of their business. A distributor we know who was worried about a big box merchant moving down the street, for example, is now doing all authorized repairs for the big box on certain product lines. He says business is good, and he also loans out tools—for a price.

Other construction distributors have renovated their showrooms, provided more impulse buying items for their customers, set up mobile vans to offer tool repairs at construction sites, and expanded into the rental side of the business.

You can't make money competing against the big boxes solely on price. But you can make money by providing services attached to those tools and products.

Competing today isn't easy. Providing value for the customer is one of the keys to success.

jkeough@reedbusiness.com