Author: Brent Johnstone, Analytics and Technology Expert Focused on Wholesale Distribution
Data-Driven Selling: 3 Common Mistakes (and How to Stay on Track)
Data-driven selling can be incredibly powerful for distributors. The right insights and information, packaged the right way, provided at the right time, and launched with proper training can be a game-changer when it comes to driving profitable sales growth. This approach: Aligns the entire company around key performance metrics. Reduces perpetual firefighting and leads to [...]
Assess, Compete, Transform: The Peak Performance Cycle – Driving Performance with Analytics #13
Understandably, distributors find themselves fighting fires with distribution in such a state of flux and transformation, post-COVID. However, as easy as it is to blame the current environment, the reality of firefighting in distribution is commonplace. Most distributors suffer from breakdowns in what we call the “peak performance cycle” for any high-functioning distributor: Assess, Compete, [...]
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Portfolio Management: Distributors’ Advantage Over Amazon – Driving Performance with Analytics #10
Amazon continues to be a disruptive threat to distributors with its massive footprint and unparalleled efficiency. As I watch the industry respond and attempt to adapt to Amazon’s inroads, it reminds me of what I saw while working on Wall Street into the early 2000s. At that time, discount brokers began to use their scale [...]
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5 Benefits that Prove Customer Stratification Is More than a Sales Tool – Driving Performance with Analytics #8
In our playbook for distributors to SURGE ahead using customer stratification, we outlined ways distributors could segment customers to boost profitability — particularly to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe it is a foundational analytics practice for any distributor. And its applications in the pursuit of profitable growth are almost endless. Customer [...]
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A Mid-Crisis Assessment to Prepare for the New Normal – Driving Performance with Analytics #5
During and after extreme disruption, such as that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the thought of doing a performance assessment can be overwhelming. However, taking a microscope to performance in a time of crisis can tell us more about our core underlying capabilities than in a time of stability. Disruptions magnify strengths and weaknesses. Challenges [...]
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