I am e-mailing you in response to an article in your February 2001 issue titled, "21st Century Sellers" by Bridget McCrea.

In that article, I refer to the last paragraph where Mr. Skinner comments on "schmoozing with the customer." While I agree with Mr. Skinner that it is very important for sales reps to add value to the customer's business via their knowledge and application expertise, on the other hand, I think that your young sales rep readers should also understand that sometimes mixing in a little "schmoozing with the customer" is what helps keep balance in a seller/buyer relationship.

We need to keep in mind [that], with all of this technology, we are still dealing with people. And people buy from people they like. After all, with every purchase, sooner or later there are challenges that come up. The better your personal/business relationship, the more the customer will feel obligated to pick up the phone and tell you they have a problem ... My advice to salespeople everywhere: establish that rapport by not only being an expert in your field and bringing the customer great ideas, but also [by being] their friend in a business setting.

Sincerely,

Stuart Nutting

Würth Adams Nut & Bolt Co.

I am writing with reference to Mr. Ehrnschwender's comments in Richard Trombly's [March 2001] article entitled "Value your Web Site." In it, Mr. Ehrnschwender stated that certain Web sites failed to gain traction with customers due to the offering of limited, marketing-focused technology. Sites that will prevail, he said, will be those that respect the needs and specifications unique to industrial distribution customers.

It is [10] months since my co-founders and I shut down Eventory, an Internet company dedicated to e-commerce enabling industrial suppliers. Our system offered customer-specific pricing, credit authorizations, more than 100,000 catalogued SKUs ... and plug-ins to the most popular inventory systems in the industry. The reason that Eventory and most of its competitors failed is a simple one: industrial supplies customers are not demanding e-commerce, so distributors are not paying to have the capability. Example: in December 1999, Ford mandated all its industrial suppliers have e-commerce capabilities. Eventory ... [was] flooded with product demonstrations from Ford's industrial distributors. By May 2000, the same distributors had not yet installed e-commerce because Ford had abandoned its mandate.

While I respect the opinions of Mr. Ehrnschwender, I have to point out that most of the Internet companies servicing this industry were correctly respecting the needs of industrial distributors and customers. E-commerce is not thriving today in this industry because the industrial supplies market is not ready for it. In a few years, several new "Eventorys" will emerge and, hopefully, the market will be ready so that distributors and customers can benefit and truly win in the New Economy.

Most sincerely,

Barbara Gordon Cohen

Co-founder Eventory, Inc.