Channel Strategies Archives

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Accelerating Demand, Generating New Opportunities

David Gordon Posted On May 8, 2025

Need for Demand Generation - Customer Mix

The chart says it all. 80% of the customers who transact with you throughout the year are unassigned accounts. In a market where demand is softening from your core customers, could there be opportunities with others … and “others” also […]

Branding / Channel Strategies / Featured / Growth Strategies / Marketing

Contractor Loyalty Research Reveals Growth Strategy

David Gordon Posted On May 5, 2025

While personal relationships are a differentiator for electrical distributors with most customers have a defined list of distributors they buy from, another tool that some distributors use to capture their “unfair share” of a customer’s wallet, are loyalty and incentive […]

Channel Strategies / Industry News / Manufacturers / More Insights / Pricing / Profitability

Copper, China and More About Tariffs

David Gordon Posted On March 16, 2025

There are some tariffs we know (China, imported steel and aluminum) and then those (at least at the time of this writing) that are proposed (Canada / Mexico) and then others that are “floated” for consideration, or at least media […]

Channel Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Industry News / Lighting / Marketing Groups / More Insights

Parting Ways After 40+ Years – AD and Genlyte Solutions

David Gordon Posted On March 4, 2025

After a forty-plus year relationship, AD and Genlyte Solutions Group, a Signify company announced that they are ending their relationship and parting ways. Genlyte, which emanates from Philips Lighting, Advance Transformer, and Genlyte Group, which was founded in 1984, was […]

Channel Strategies / More Insights / Reps / Sales Channel

“Understanding” is Key to the Future for Manufacturers & Reps

Gene Biben Posted On January 2, 2025

Understanding Manufacturer - Rep Relationships

Last September NEMRA released its “Manufacturer of the Future Report” as a follow-up to its 2020 report on “The Rep of the Future.” As always, they are extremely well done and include a significant amount of time interviewing many key […]

Channel Strategies / Growth Strategies / Profitability / Research Reports

Improve Profitability Through Rebates on December 19

David Gordon Posted On December 10, 2024

Rebates are often seen as just another operational necessity, a transactional tool to grease the wheels of generating sales (for manufacturer, sometimes distributors) and improving distributor profitability. For some distributors they are a gatekeeper tool (some distributors manage well over […]

Channel Strategies / Growth Strategies / More Insights / Technology

Venture Capital Allows Companies to Be Curious

David Gordon Posted On October 17, 2024

Recently I was talking with a client about strategic planning as they are beginning their journey to define their path forward to 2030. They’ve set a goal, identified values, have a vision of their purpose, and currently have a strong […]

Associations / Channel Strategies / Distributors / Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Industry News / Industry Outlook / Manufacturers / More Insights / Purchasing / Reps / Sales Channel

The Second Derivative of Acquisitions / Mergers

David Gordon Posted On July 9, 2024

The second half of the year has started and the first week brought acquisitions / mergers and news that will, and could, influence many other factors. In most industry acquisitions, the acquisition of one company by another typically has most […]

Channel Strategies / Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Manufacturers / More Insights / Reps / Sales Channel

A Changing Rep Landscape

David Gordon Posted On February 9, 2024

What’s going on in the agent / rep world? As many know, the electrical distribution has gone through much consolidation in the past three years with almost 100 distributors being sold. It seems that independent manufacturer representatives and lighting agents […]

Channel Strategies / Distributors / Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Industry Outlook / More Insights / Sales Channel

Localizing Distribution Field Management Creates Competitive Advantages

David Gordon Posted On January 10, 2024

While the electrical industry undergoes the metamorphosis of its ownership structure with independents aging out and selling to larger companies (last year there were almost 30 deals, making for almost 90 in the past three years), the electrical distribution business […]