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One of the core themes from the 2023 NAW Executive Summit was that businesses must shift focus from top line revenue and market share growth to creating strategies for promoting growth with profit. The post-COVID economy taught businesses a harsh lesson – without sufficient liquidity, companies cannot navigate and adapt to market disruption. As a result, businesses […]

Key Themes from the NAW 2023 Executive Summit At the recent NAW Executive Summit, one overarching message was clear: the next frontier of the wholesale distribution industry will require pioneering business leaders to navigate a still uncertain future with a steady hand and a willingness to adapt. For three days, attendees mingled, networked, and collaborated […]

Guest post written by John and Susan Mansfield. In less than 9 months from when it was first made generally available in July 2015, Microsoft’s Power BI’s subscriber base leaped to over 5 million subscribers from 200,000 companies in 200 countries, and this phenomenal adoption rate by companies worldwide has continued ever since. It is […]

Make a Difference… In almost every career, your success can be tied directly to how well you know the tools of your trade.  For a wood worker, it’s table saws and jigs; for software developers it’s languages, directives, libraries, and technologies.  People who know their tools create success in business.  Those who lack detailed knowledge […]

Here’s what we learned recently with a client. The client was on a version-locked ERP, and we were excited to be given the opportunity to help them move to a new business management system.  That was about 9 months ago, and now they are live on their new system! Despite having many discovery meetings during our sales […]

There are many aspects of Industry 4.0 that may lead some to the opinion that the role and contribution of ERP will progressively diminish over time as the means to apply Industry 4.0 concepts continue to become more readily available to the marketplace. ERP’s stranglehold as the central repository of data will be broken as […]

How Companies Can Capitalize in a Challenging Economy. SPEED* is a methodology defined by the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW).  Leveraging the insights gained from a Customer Stratification analysis, SPEED can help your wholesale/distribution business grow sales more profitably and sustainably in 2013, as follows: Start by modeling what your Core customers tend to buy from you. Then, […]

Best Practices for Boosting Sales Margins. A survey by Earnest & Associates (E&A) has affirmed the critical need for distributors to spend less time with their poor, profit-draining customers – a key to boosting sales margins. Over one hundred decision makers at small to medium sized businesses (SMBs) in the wholesale/distribution trade participated in the […]

A survey by Earnest & Associates (E&A) has affirmed that price haggling remains a problem in the wholesale/distribution industry. Over one hundred decision makers at small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the wholesale/distribution trade participated in the survey. 61% of respondents agreed with the statement, ‘Too many customers haggle with us over price’. In fact, […]

The best business leaders are decisive. These are people who are not content with business as usual. When opportunities arise to improve their company’s competitive positions, leaders choose action. It’s well-known that the bookselling, video rental and tourism industries have learned hard lessons about carrying on with business-as-usual. The rapid rise of eCommerce, social media […]