Summary

Focus on Advancing Your Company and Your Career

Our slow-growth economy continues to mean changes for how wholesaler-distributors conduct business. Distribution firms are still adapting their business operations to the fragile environment. In these challenging times, distributors can’t afford to take any part of their business for granted. The time is right to assess all areas of your operations and to think innovatively about where to grow your business.

We invite you to take advantage of a great opportunity to focus on your business and on your own professional development by joining dozens of other wholesaler-distributors — business people just like you — at the NAW 2013 Wholesale Distribution Manager’s Course (WDMC) June 17–21, 2013. 

Get away from the office to the beautiful campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, and spend one week with laser focus on your business and learn specific ways to improve your company’s profitability and your own personal performance, too!

Investing in this in-depth training will confer competitive advantage for your firm in your market. This valuable training and on-campus education experience that only the WDMC provides will help you sharpen your professional skills so you can maintain your edge in the complex wholesale distribution industry. Equipped with new knowledge and skills, you’ll return to your company ready to impact the future of your business this year and for years to come.

With their deep experience and knowledge in the wholesale distribution industry, the WDMC faculty will adjust their teaching to the current economic conditions and they will challenge you. You’ll also discuss with other distributors from various lines of trade and learn how they are handling the same issues you are handling and how they are approaching new marketplace realities.

Check out the WDMC Agenda. Please note that instructors and times are subject to change.

What You’ll Learn

During classroom study, you and the other course attendees will take a comprehensive look across the entire distribution business and cover all major functional areas, including:

• Sales Management and Value-Added Services
• Improving Productivity and Teamwork
• Financial Control
• Market-Focused Strategic Planning
• Human Resources Management
• Supply Chain Management.

You’ll learn how to

• utilize a technique for matching products and services to market segments
• estimate the “value” of value-added services and use this in your pricing strategy
• calculate return-on-assets and measure both customer and product line profitability
• use a computer model to evaluate profitability
• appraise your human resources strategy
• manage your supply chain inventory and service levels
• assess your financial profitability compared to your peers
• evaluate your customers’ willingness to pay for products and services
• employ a framework for evaluating environmental impacts on your business.

Who Should Attend

The WDMC is ideal for distributor personnel who are currently responsible for — or who aspire to be responsible for — a branch, region, area, division, territory, or functional area of the business. Companies of all sizes are represented at this comprehensive course. Personnel from companies under $5 million in sales to more than $1 billion attended last year. You'll benefit greatly by participating in this course if your job level and job function are listed below.

Job Levels:

• Manager
• General Manager
• Branch Manager
• Director
• Supervisor
• Vice President
• Regional Vice President
• President *

* Presidents of wholesale distribution companies with sales up to $250 million are encouraged to attend the WDMC. Presidents and Chief Executive Officers of larger distribution companies are encouraged to enroll personnel with the job levels named above.

Job Functions:

• Sales
• Marketing
• Operations
• Finance (Chief Financial Officer/Controller)
• Purchasing
• Logistics
• Warehouse/Inventory
• Human Resources/Training

Customer Markets

Distributors selling to any of these customer markets will benefit from attending the WDMC:

• OEM and MRO Industrial
• Commercial Institutions and Facilities
• Contractor
• Retail
• Capital Equipment.

How You’ll Spend the Week

Each day our experienced instructors will lead classroom discussion. You and the course attendees will be assigned to teams. On two evenings, the teams will gather for brainstorming sessions to work on a case study. The emphasis of the teamwork is on original and creative idea generation, and the ultimate goal will be on real-world problem solving. The course concludes with each team presenting to the other participants and faculty its remedies for the troubled distribution company featured in the case study.

Great Camaraderie 

Networking throughout the week with your wholesale distribution peers from different product lines of trade is one of the greatest benefits you'll receive from the WDMC. Come and find out what others are doing to succeed in today’s competitive and challenging distribution marketplace. You’ll enjoy and learn a lot from the camaraderie at the WDMC.

Team Training Means You Get More for Less

Each year attendees at the WDMC tell us about the synergy generated among co-workers who attend together from a company. Co-workers become teammates and they return to work not only with the same playbook, but also with a shared enthusiasm to implement the business strategies they have learned together. This is a key ingredient for creating a winning company.

Send several of your managers to the WDMC and improve team performance with these group discounts:

• 2-3 registrants - 5% off
• 4-6 registrants - 10% off
• 7+ registrants - 15% off

Register Now!

Cancellation

If you cancel on or before May 17, 2013, we will refund the full amount of your registration fee to you. From May 18 through June 12, 2013, 50% will be refunded to you. After June 12, 2013, no refunds will be issued.

We accept substitutions at any time prior to the beginning of the first session; a $100 transfer fee will apply.