Distribution Events
Thought Leadership and Software for Wholesale Change Agents
Distribution Industry News
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Making Money with Small Customers: Defeating the Profit Drag
Companies typically start with small customers, grow some of them into large customers, continue to add new small customers and learn a lot from serving all of them.
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The 6 Cs of Unifying Your Employees Under One Message
Some of the best distribution companies have unified the diverse voices that make up a business into one message, both internally and externally. I call this Many Voices, One Message. The idea is a staple of the B-to-C world.
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Why the Trend Is Your Friend
Data points in time indicate a real trend either up or down less than half of the time. By tracking trends, we can do a better job matching our expenses and cost-to-serve with the business, without fuss or emotions.
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The 3 Elements of Building a Profit-Driven Management Team
Ask the best private equity investors, or for that matter, any acquiring company such as chains, vertical convergers or platform investors – even independent distribution acquirers – and they will tell you that human capital – leadership and management – is a key factor to consider in any investment opportunity.
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Think of Your Company as a Portfolio
You are familiar with the portfolio concept if you own any kind of equity, bond, real estate or other investment fund. If you’re familiar with the major investment companies – such as Charles Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity, BlackRock – you are familiar with portfolio strategies.
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Additional Value Creation: The Real Bottom-Line Drivers in Distribution
Many independent distribution companies wonder why their gross margin, net profit and attendant multiples are inferior to their $2 billion-plus sales, national-market, publicly held competitors. These competitors may have many structural advantages:
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The Value of Thinking Like An Investor
In this article, I will discuss a useful approach, the Private Equity Investor Framework, which will help you think like an investor to improve and grow your business. You don’t have to be a trained financial professional to use and apply it.