Distribution & Manufacturing Profitability Forum Announces Session Details

Industrial companies are at a crossroads. Global competition, domestic cost pressures, and the need to service customers faster and more effectively all serve as critical reasons manufacturers and distributors must innovate with profitability in mind — especially in an era where margins are tighter than ever.

Industrial Distribution to co-host event offering strategies for industrial businesses to improve their top and bottom line.

Industrial companies are at a crossroads. Global competition, domestic cost pressures, and the need to service customers faster and more effectively all serve as critical reasons manufacturers and distributors must innovate with profitability in mind — especially in an era where margins are tighter than ever.

The Distribution & Manufacturing Profitability Forum looks to highlight ways industrial companies can get ahead of the pack, and we’re excited to highlight an agenda that supports this.

Join us from June 9th through the 11th for the Forum, where we’ll feature expert speakers in the following distributor-focused sessions:

Pre Conference Workshop: How to Build an Online Marketing Machine (Bob DeStefano, Online Marketing Strategist)

In today’s economy, everybody is trying do more with less. When it comes to marketing your business, you need to make sure every dollar invested is producing significant bottom-line results. Bob DeStefano is an online marketing pioneer with over 18 years of experience helping companies profit through results-focused online marketing. As a consultant, speaker, and author, Bob has helped thousands of business leaders dramatically increase their leads and sales. Bob will share with attendees what his paying clients value the most — actionable online marketing strategies and tactics you can put to work immediately to produce measurable results.

Keynote: Managing MRO to the Bottom Line (Deb Oler, VP and General Manager of the Grainger Brand)

Deb will discuss the opportunities many U.S. businesses have to take cost out of operating their facilities and keeping people safe. She will share a variety of solutions and detail the impact these solutions have on a company’s bottom line. Topics covered include ecommerce solutions, inventory management options, and safety risks and opportunities.

Consolidation Realities: A Guide to the Minefields of Building Companies Through Acquisition (Bill Wade, Managing Partner, Wade & Partners)

Take a highly fragmented industry facing technological change, customer upheaval, or chronic financing difficulties. Add in a few well-heeled foreign firms or (worse) a couple of previously unknown competitors from “outside the business.” Since the industry leaders are probably family run businesses (second or third generation) with limited succession strategies, the next step to protect profit and continue growth is clear: Consolidate.

Does Your Organization Need a Sales Transformation? (Ken Carrol and Bob Schwab, Chally Group Worldwide)

The goal of sales talent management for any organization is to identify the right talent early, screen out the mismatches before they are hired, retain the high potential talent you want to keep, and identify and develop talent for future opportunities within the organization. An audit of a sales talent pool provides organizations with easily accessible decision-making tools that enable them to select, align, engage, develop, and retain the sales talent necessary to drive strategic objectives.

Field Synergy: Finding, Winning, & Keeping Customers (John Sheridan, Senior Account Rep, 3M Industrial Business)

This presentation will cover the process of finding, winning, and keeping customers in an open and energized partnership between manufacturers and distributors. Key tenets include the process to identify worthwhile prospects; ways to align the manufacturer and distributor in order to win the customer; and strategies for keeping the customer over the long term.

Best Practices for Online Selling: How to Leverage the Web to Grow Your Business (Dr. Curtis Alexander, Business Growth Strategist)

Stressed or confused about how to use the internet to grow your profits? This session covers practical strategies to leverage the web, including: how to compete against larger competitors, how to make your site more than just a static online sell sheet, how to increase traffic and conversion ratios, and how to strengthen your online brand.

The Best Ways to Implement New and Innovative Processes (Dirk Beveridge, President, 4th Generation Systems)

Industrial companies are faced with unprecedented macro and external forces. Before solutions can be found to survive and thrive in this new world, manufacturers and distributors must internalize the impact of these forces on their business and the ramifications to growth and profitability. Leadership can then leverage this view of the business to begin creating an environment that fosters differentiation and innovation. In this session we’ll explore in-depth the four ramifications every distributor and manufacturer must face in this new world, and the inherent inertia within your business that is acting as a gravitational pull towards the status-quo.

Distribution – The New Normal (Jack Keough, Contributing Editor, Industrial Distribution)

Industry veteran and Industrial Distribution contributing editor Jack Keough will present findings from his research on Google, Amazon, and other key e-tailers. His presentation will offer insight on the impact these companies are having right now, where they could be in the future, and how their approach is establishing new benchmarks for the entire distribution marketplace.

Check out www.DistributionManufacturingForum.com for details on the rest of the exciting educational sessions at this year’s Forum, as well as networking and exhibit features.

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