Today warehouse management faces more challenges than ever before: 

• Labor costs are skyrocketing amid a shortage of qualified and motivated workers 
• Customers demand immediate fulfillment and shipment of orders 
• Supply chain issues result in unpredictable delivery of replenishment shipments 

It is important to develop comprehensive a plan that will lead to success in this challenging environment.  Join us for this informative and comprehensive webinar Jan. 31, 9 PT / 12 ET where Jon Schreibfeder and Matt Schreibfeder will discuss how to develop a plan to achieve the goal of effective management. 

This webinar will cover: 

• Developing effective policies and procedures 
• Training and motivating warehouse employees 
• Utilizing technology to improve productivity including 
• RFID scanning 
• Drones 
• Automated picking and put away  
• Guided vehicles 
• Carrousels 
• Voice picking systems 
• Efficient space planning 
• Warehouse Management Software 
• Labor Management Software 

Join us to dive deep into distributors’ most pressing warehouse challenges and to learn how to create a roadmap for future long-term success. 

Have distributors continued to adopt ecommerce at a rapid pace? How are they integrating digital channels into their go-to-market approach? 

Find out when you join us Jan. 18, at 9 PT/12 ET for the results of our exclusive 11th annual State of eCommerce in Distribution research, a leading benchmark in the industry for adoption and drivers of ecommerce. 

You’ll learn: 

• The proportion of sales from digital channels across multiple distribution verticals 
• Evolving expectations from distribution customers 
• What distributors need to meet customer demands 
• How distributors are getting, managing and maintaining product data 
• Technology best practices: ERP, CMS, PIM, CRM, etc. to meet those needs
• How digital capabilities are supporting performance of other channels 

In the third and final program in our series on the State of CRM in Distribution, Mike Marks, Founding Partner of Indian River Consulting Group, will host a panel of distribution leaders to discuss their experiences with CRM, including what’s worked best – and, of course, lessons learned.

They’ll also share what they wish they had known at the beginning of their CRM adoption cycle.

If you’re looking to adopt a new CRM solution – or make the most of your existing one – who better to learn from than your peers?

Expect fun dialogue, straight talk, and a great give and take.

Bring your questions for Mike and the panel.

Distribution Strategy Group is excited to bring you this panel on ecommerce technology on Wednesday, December 7 at 9 PT/12 ET.

As ecommerce continues to be a substantial part of companies’ business strategies, we will talk with top ecommerce executives in the industry. They’ll share how they are using ecommerce. We’ll also discuss what manufacturers are looking for in their distributors when it comes to ecommerce, challenges distributors face and how they have solved them, and how they’re measuring ROI.

Panelists include:

• Steven Javor Global E-commerce Director of Schneider Electrics Energy Management Division
• Justus Eggers, Vice President and General Manager of the Americas, at Hoffman Group
• Coburn Flannery, Director of E-Business. 

Plan to attend the wholesale distribution industry’s first, invite-only, matchmaking event for distribution executives to meet tech founders from B2B’s most exciting innovators. This program is ideal for CEOs and leaders intimately involved in digital transformation and innovation. Learn more and register here: Innovators Summit | National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (naw.org)

In this webinar, Mike Marks, Founding Partner of Indian River Consulting Group, will rely on his experience working with dozens of leading distributors to talk about how to successfully implement CRM and how this will evolve in the future. He’ll use examples and define best practices to help you understand how CRM can benefit you today and what you must do to ensure you continue to gain benefits from this technology going forward.  

The proper use of data can create a powerful coaching tool for sales managers. The real power of a deployed CRM is the creation of a light touch but formal performance improvement loop. The idea is that a plan for the month is developed and at the end of the month both activities and results are examined to identify performance improvement actions for the subsequent month. In many cases, the sales managers need to develop some process-driven coaching skills. AI tools are also creating significant leverage for today’s sales manager. The long-term sales performance impact of a CRM improves on the same principle of compound interest. 

Distributors need to develop strategies for broadening the assortments they offer customers beyond what they stock. The old days of a website = one company’s inventory are fading.  

But the choices aren’t as simple as whether to sell on existing marketplaces or build your own. There are options in between – including drop-shipping from your suppliers to creating partnerships with distributors selling adjacent products and more.  

In this webinar, Ian Heller will set out a model for thinking about marketplace strategies in ways you’ve probably never considered. He’ll describe a variety of options you should consider to expand your offering so you aren’t stuck in the past as websites that sell just one company’s goods fall out of favor.  

Join us for a free webinar on Oct. 19, at 9 PT/12 ET to hear how distributors can compete in a landscape where marketplaces are quickly taking share.  

Distribution is the most purely competitive sector of the American economy. That reality makes it challenging to permanently and significantly increase profitability. The competitive nature of distribution also means that the difference between winning and losing is very small. 

Despite the challenges, distributors can embrace approaches that drive higher profits in a way that competition cannot easily match. Join us Oct. 5 at 9 PT/12 ET when Al Bates will share the small changes that can be made in two key areas of the business to exponentially increase profit. 

Mike Marks of Indian River Consulting Group has partnered with Distribution Strategy Group to survey distribution decision-makers to understand their experiences with CRM – good and bad. We asked them questions about how they choose, integrate, drive adoption of and use CRM systems.

Join us for this free webinar, where Mike will share results and define the real-world state of play today in how CRM tools work. The session will provide a framework around the five core processes in any CRM that will provide participants with the insight to select, deploy and recognize the implementation pitfalls that can trap a distributor into pilot purgatory.

The guiding principle driving the framework is that CRMs exist to provide data to the sales representative so they can make better decisions on where to spend their time and what to do.  In a fully deployed CRM, 80% of the information should come TO the sales rep and only 20% comes FROM the sales rep.

Use the framework to assess your own adoption position and identify the key actions to move ahead.