News, articles and analysis on sales and marketing trends in industrial distribution. Special coverage includes: compensation trends among distributor
salespeople, value-added selling, as well as inside/outside sales, customer service and marketing issues among distributors of MRO and OEM supplies.
Top-read sales stories of 2007 12/19/2007 6:29:00 AM
As 2007 comes to a close, here's a look at the top 10 best-read sales articles we published this year. See if you can find your favorites or discover some you may have missed. More
Selling in a down economy 05/01/2008
Doing business in tough times requires a tough attitude. Half the battle is in your head and the other half is on the streets. Customers will object to price—that's what they do. First, they test your price; next, they test your resolve. Being prepared to sell in tough times is the mental game of success.
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5 Critical Skills for Sales Success By Jeff Thull - 04/15/2008
Preparation, collaboration and the right mindset are three of the five key ingredients to sales success, says author and sales consultant Jeff Thull.
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Know your customer base By Tom Reilly - 03/01/2008
Price shoppers come in all shapes and sizes and represent less than 20 percent of the market. My company's research indicates it is about one-in-six. Understanding the type of price shopper you're selling to will help you maintain your sanity and your margins. Bargain Hunters They buy because it's cheap.
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A debate on whether to give salespeople pricing authority By Brad Perriello, Associate Editor - 03/01/2008
In October 2007, INDUSTRIAL DISTRIBUTION's TechTalk column, by Anthony Pericle, touched on a controversial topic among sales managers: Whether to give salespeople the authority to set pricing. Pericle, founder and principal of the margin improvement consulting firm Advanous, wrote that companies can use their sales data to take control of “pricing chaos,” or multiple price points fo...
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A passion for distribution is infectious Jack Keough, Editor/Associate Publisher - 12/01/2007
Many years ago, I spent a day with an outside salesperson named Bill. I've written about Bill before because I learned more about sales—and people—by watching him in action than I could have possibly learned from a book or in a classroom. He had been selling industrial products for more than 50 years and showed no signs of slowing down.
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The life of Reilly Tom Reilly, author, sales trainer and consultant March 20, 2008 Raising prices in tough times
I wonder how many companies need to raise prices now because their costs have increas... More
The life of Reilly Tom Reilly, author, sales trainer and consultant January 28, 2008 Market-share mania
Does your company suffer from market-share mania? This is an excessive preoccupation ... More
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