by Art Waskey | Mar 13, 2025 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
Things are changing fast. Virtual online channels are raising the bar for efficiency in distribution. Customer expectations are becoming more demanding, requiring fast fulfillment, real-time inventory visibility, and highly personalized service. Legacy distributor systems cannot meet these demands. If the independent distributor is not collecting real-time data with up-to-date technology, the gap between his business and alternative channels may soon become insurmountable.
Three tools
Here are three tools that can help you meet customer expectations in 2025
1. State of the art ERP
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the foundation upon which you build your digital business. ERP software streamlines and automates functions such as finance, human resources, manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement. This tool is designed to help you keep up with growing customer demand for fast, reliable service. It is important to note that the number of features these systems offer is growing at a fast clip. Stay current!
2. Real time price
In the past, business economics taught us the best way to improve profit was to grow your sales. Technology, however, has opened up other avenues to improve your margins. With today’s software you can increase profits with real-time pricing. You can ensure opportunistic buying decisions, systematically raise prices, control sales force pricing, and capitalize on supplier price increases. Moreover, the challenge in 2025 is to provide tailored, competitive pricing with better profit margins while keeping customer loyalty.
3. Predictive forecasting analytics
Today’s AI forecasting software is capable of mining data through predictive modeling and machine learning. AI can analyze historical facts to make predictions about future events. Using various tools and techniques, business predictive forecasting models are available for sales, cost, and profits. Generative AI predictive business software such as Microsoft Copilot, IBM Project Ripasso, and Oracle Analytics, are just a few of the products available for distributors.
Meet Expectations
In conclusion, don’t let the gap between you and your online channel competitors widen. Use the latest ERP and AI solutions to meet customer expectations in 2025.
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by Art Waskey | Feb 25, 2025 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
Business expansion should always be a topic for discussion. Branching out can be an excellent way to grow, but it represents a significant investment and requires careful thought and analysis. If you are considering branching out, here are four key factors to consider.
Considerations
- An ideal location – I’ve seen cases where a distributor’s decision to expand to a new geographic location was based on the availability of prime property. While a desirable site is important, this is not your only geographic consideration. Look for sites that attract customers with easy access and sufficient parking. Also, a site that accommodates foot traffic can make a big difference. In addition, your market analysis should include an evaluation of customers currently coming to one of your existing stores that may be better served from the potential location.
- Investigate local regulations – There’s a lot of paperwork associated with a new branch. Don’t forget to do your due-diligence to secure permits, licenses, and registrations from local authorities. Investigate area zoning laws and building codes. I have had clients who did not engage with local authorities early in the branch expansion process. They were frustrated by substantial construction-start setbacks while they waited for permitting and approvals.
- Employment growth – Do you have employees that are ready and looking for the next opportunity? Before opening another location, think about your current team and how they fit into your business expansion strategy. Is your core support talent (administration, operations, and finance) encouraging you to expand?
Some of my clients have opened a new location because a competitor had several qualified but disgruntled key employees ready to jump ship. Are you getting job applications that are attracting you to open at a new location?
- Financial opportunity – Do you have the revenue, profits, cash flow, and financing to support your business expansion strategy? Also, a business that isn’t consistently growing will potentially fail. Are you deploying your profit-producing assets by making acquisitions or adding more facilities? Your financial capacity should drive your investments and be a key part of your long-term growth plan.
Ready to grow
Adding new branch locations is a continuous consideration for a successful business. It requires disciplined planning and timing for maximum growth. Lastly, if you have the right location, staffing levels, and revenue to support a new branch, you are ready to grow.
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by Art Waskey | Feb 19, 2025 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
Central to any good business plan is the possibility of expanding. I am working with a distributor who asked me to advise him on adding a new branch store. When I was part of a distributorship’s executive team we often met to discuss adding more locations. We found that careful research was critical when considering expanding.
Distinctive challenges
Each business presents its own distinctive challenges when looking to expand. Here are some important factors to consider before opening a new branch.
- New market potential – A new location often is proposed by an existing customer, or a new potential client. They indicate a willingness to do business if you have a store nearby. For example, a company running a large long-term construction site or a new manufacturer may be interested in your goods and services if they are readily available. In many cases, distributor vendors and other local businesses will request and encourage penetration into the new market as well. Consider these collaborators when doing your market research for the potential site. A new branch is a large investment. It is advisable to hire a consulting company that does data development for your industry to define all potential customers in the new area.
- Identify competition – Strong distributors do regular strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis of their competitors. Does a weakness in product availability, service levels, and/or other customer marketing analysis indicate a significant opportunity for your business? An important part of a business expansion strategy is identifying your competition in a new target market. Continuously monitor your competitors’ activities and adapt your marketing strategies in ways that will differentiate you in this new market.
- Expanding your best business practices – I have clients who have invested in the digitalization of their business with progressive ERP, eCommerce, product identification, sophisticated websites, and other software advancements. Since these practices are transferable, they can be employed in new locations. The distributorship I worked for realized its information technology development was considerably better than our competition’s. Our digital efficiency with best business practices allowed us to expand our locations and market reach successfully.
Considerations
Growing your business is important to success. Adding a new branch location is an effective way to do that. When considering a new branch location, research its market potential and competition. Use your digital tools to make your expansion as efficient as possible.
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by Art Waskey | Feb 11, 2025 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
Ease, Efficiency, and AI
It’s hard to underestimate the power of AI. It is adding another layer of sophistication to the digitally transformed world. By enabling businesses to analyze data quickly, AI allows companies to offer their products and services more easily and efficiently.
Improving the bottom line
Here are four ways AI can help you improve your bottom line.
- Accelerating Continuous Improvement (CI) – Generative AI enables companies to accelerate their CI planning. It is an agent for constantly improving specific repetitive tasks. AI can also, analyze performance metrics, identify areas of improvement, and make necessary adjustments to enhance business operations.
- Revolutionizing Sales – The digital transformation has revolutionized the sales process. A salesperson can now present to multiple decision-makers. In preparation for those calls, Generative AI can provide insight into customer needs and each participant’s interests. For instance, this informed machine learning process changes the salespersons’ posture toward customer needs from reactive to proactive. Ensure your sales team is adept at using AI’s powerful sales tools.
- Creating strategic business plans – AI Smart Analytics uses Application Performance Management (APM) software. Also, it can create a single integrated digital thread across a company’s whole asset life cycle. This enables your entire executive team — from CEO to finance, operations, sales, and marketing managers — to have insight and input into your strategic business planning.
- Maximizing profits – The adoption of AI is accelerating rapidly. You must understand how the application of these tools impacts your bottom line. Moreover, a data-driven approach to sales and operations allows distributors to analyze their asset development for a maximum return on investment.
Ease and efficiency
The overarching goal of a successful distribution business is to provide products and services with ease and efficiency. Lastly, becoming more productive with AI tools allows you to grow and prosper. As the cost of entry to these tools continues to decline, the opportunities for improving your return on the investment are enormous. My advice — digitize as fast as you can.
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by Art Waskey | Jan 29, 2025 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
The word is out – or I should say, its initials are — AI. AI is dominating discussions in distribution, from webcasts to conferences. It’s reshaping your industry—time to embrace it and stay ahead. Digitize as fast as you can.
The benefits of AI
Here are some of the important ways AI can sharpen distributor operations.
- Improving order entry — Progressive distributors, suppliers, and customers are already using functional ERP, eCommerce, and product content software solutions. A distributor’s current goal for customer-digitalized order entry should be at least 30% of sales. Moreover, that means about a third of your customers are placing orders without direct human interaction with your staff. Data collected via digitalized order entry enables AI applications to analyze customer order frequency, cross- and up-sell, and apply effective pricing trends.
- Streamlining order processing – With AI order processing can be completed using text, emails, faxes, PDFs, or even verbal commands. One software developer sells a system that uses OpenAI ChatGPT, Microsoft CoPilot, or Google Gemini to assist a salesperson using a cell phone. Also, it allows a seller to take a customer request, prepare a quote, and even place the order. Additionally, innovative digital developers will come to your company and train your sales, operations, and supply chain employees on their products. Many can have new software operational in a matter of days.
- Training new employees – As experienced employees retire, companies lose their wisdom and knowledge base. AI can provide deep learning by analyzing the skill set of experienced employees and then creating training materials from that analysis for new hires. Chatbots and virtual assistants can provide on-the-job training for each new work challenge encountered.
Digitize now—AI is revolutionizing sales and operational processes. Lastly, it is making it easier to target sales to customer needs. Don’t miss this train. Hop on board and digitize now.
by Art Waskey | Jan 22, 2025 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
The challenge
Life offers us ideas and opportunities in random ways which makes the ability to follow our passions challenging. Acting on them, however, is key to success and happiness. Here is the tale of three brothers who all set out in one direction, but followed their passions and ended up in new and rewarding locations.
The farmer
My youngest brother chose to follow his two older brothers and earn a degree in engineering. He enjoyed a successful career in that field but along the way he discovered other passions. While in his mid-forties, his company transferred him to Virginia where he found he could afford to buy acreage east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There he built a large country house and started raising livestock, chickens, ducks, and other feedstock. Now in his early 70s, he and his wife, a retiring schoolteacher, have a successful farmstead. He even operates his own small slaughterhouse. Today, my brother and his wife feel they are finally focusing on their true passion — growing their farmstead business and teaching agricultural skills to others.
The communicator
I am the middle brother, and I followed my older brother into engineering. Early in my career, I discovered my talents went beyond math and engineering and centered on communicating. I was a natural salesman. I frequently attended programs where others were speaking. Interestingly, I often felt I should be the one speaking. In my 40s, I acted on that instinct, joined Toastmasters International, and earned a Distinguished Toastmaster Certification. In my 60s I earned a Master of Ministry degree in Evangelical Christianity. Today, I am a writer, public speaker, consultant, and pastor. When you act on your passions they bring you peace, enjoyment, and success.
The foodie
My older brother, the one who led us into engineering, enjoyed a lucrative career in that field. In his 50s, however, he gave it up to pursue his passion. He purchased a delicatessen and became an accomplished chef.
Act on your passions Life is short but the journey is long. Pay attention to what brings you joy along the way. Set achievement goals and act on your passions to find true success.
by Art Waskey | Jan 14, 2025 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
When you can follow your passions, success is never far behind. Yet acting on your passions is often a bit of a balancing act as life offers us ideas and opportunities in random ways.
Five considerations
Here are five things to consider when acting on your passions.
- Observe what stimulates you – As part of my job, I frequently attended programs where others spoke. Interestingly, I often experienced an anxious rush at these events and felt I should be the one speaking. Eventually, I acted on that instinct. I joined Toastmasters International and earned a Distinguished Toastmasters Certification. Pay attention to what stimulates you.
- Seek feedback and insight from others – Acting on your passions often generates compliments from associates and friends. Pay attention to what others appreciate about you and build on it.
- Consider where you spend your time – When you are not at work, pay attention to the activities that pique your interest. Consider what stimulates you when you are away from your 9 to 5 career.
- Take risks – I am working with a young client who is successful in sales but found greater satisfaction when he was working in a hands-on position. He thought his career progression into sales would bring him greater fulfillment. It did not. Today he is exploring another position in the company where he can use his natural skill set in technical support.
- Set goals and strive for them – As I progressed through a 50-plus-year career in sales management, I learned to recognize different outlets that were attractive to me. Acting on each of these required setting achievement goals. In addition to my Toastmasters certification, I also earned a Master of Ministry degree in Evangelical Christianity. Today, I am a writer, public speaker, consultant, and pastor. When you act on your passions they bring you peace, enjoyment, and success.
Act on your passions
Life is short and time is valuable. Now is always the right time to think about what brings you joy. Set goals, act on your passions, and find success.
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by Art Waskey | Dec 9, 2024 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
Personalization
Personalization is important to successful sales and customer service. Today, technology is rapidly transforming how personalization can enhance and cultivate customer relationships.
Altering how we deliver service.
Medicine is a case in point. The last time I needed urgent care was 8 years ago when I slid on ice while shoveling snow. I called my doctor’s office, spoke to the receptionist, and got an appointment right away with a doctor. An X-ray revealed no broken bones, just a sprain. Then, I was sent home with a prescription to heal.
Recently, I discovered that accessing healthcare now involves significantly more technology. When I called my doctor’s office to schedule an urgent care appointment, they told me to log into my medical portal and describe my symptoms. That same day, I received an appointment with a Physician Assistant (PA). Utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI), she diagnosed my issue as bronchitis. My experience illustrates the numerous ways in which technology is actively transforming healthcare delivery.
The move toward more technology
This move toward more technology in all business sectors was confirmed in an article I recently read entitled, “The AI Search Revolution: Perplexity AI vs Google Gemini vs ChatGPT”, It explained: “AI search is evolving rapidly with Google, ChatGPT and Perplexity leading the way, offering more personalized and human-like interactions. Moreover, Google actively incorporates shopping ads into its AI Overviews, while Perplexity plans to sponsor related questions. Marketers advise their brands’ to increase social and digital activity to leverage AI’s content density preference.”
Understanding the value drivers
In today’s sales landscape, building meaningful customer relationships starts with understanding what truly drives value for decision-makers. Sales reps must speak their customers’ language to identify and align with those priorities effectively. Just as digital tools have transformed industries like healthcare, they are also reshaping how salespeople approach value selling. These tools provide deeper insights into customer needs and preferences, enabling reps to view value from the customer’s perspective.
Enterprise Selling, in particular, leverages technology to enhance this understanding. Also, by providing data-driven insights, these tools help salespeople sharpen both their tactical and collaborative negotiation skills, ultimately driving higher profits and greater productivity. Nevertheless, as technology continues to advance, the key to successful selling will lie in combining these digital insights with genuine, customer-focused strategies.
Use technology to personalize
In conclusion, does your organization use technology to personalize your customer relationships? Specific skills are needed to stay competitive in today’s omnichannel approach to sales, marketing, and client support. Your customers are looking for a seamless and unified brand experience. Lastly, be sure your employees know how to use technology to personalize and build successful customer relationships.
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by Art Waskey | Nov 13, 2024 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
Reducing dead inventory is essential for distribution companies to stay competitive. As a senior executive, I once faced a period when our obsolete stock hit 5% of annual sales. To tackle this, I initiated weekly meetings with outside sales reps to review slow-moving items. Moreover, our solution at the time—around 10 years ago—was simple but effective: we loaded overstock onto salespeople’s trucks and encouraged them to offer discounts. The results were impressive. Sales reps were motivated by incentives and bragging rights, and our motto became, “Don’t come back until the truck is empty.” Today, however, technology has changed the game.
Modern Inventory Management Tools
Today’s digital ecosystem links customers, distributors, and manufacturers, offering advanced systems that automatically adjust stock levels based on real-time demand. With the help of AI-powered tools, companies can analyze data, optimize inventory, and achieve efficiencies like never before. Here are some essential tools for effective inventory management:
- Predictive Forecasting: Advanced ERP, eCommerce, and CRM systems now offer predictive forecasting that minimizes excess inventory. This technology optimizes stock levels and improves customer service by ensuring quicker response times.
- Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI): VMI systems, placed directly at the end-user’s facility, allow distributors and manufacturers to maintain optimal stock levels while lowering distribution costs and increasing order size.
- Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS): AS/RS optimizes inventory control within distribution centers, managing storage, preparation, and dispatch. By reducing order errors, AS/RS can greatly improve customer satisfaction and retention.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is transforming all of these systems, increasing margins and reducing labor costs through automation along the supply chain.
Take Action Now
Now is the perfect time to start adopting inventory management tools if you haven’t already. Competitors are already utilizing these methods, and implementation has become affordable, even for smaller businesses. Additionally, make dead inventory a thing of the past by investing in modern inventory management today.
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by Art Waskey | Nov 1, 2024 | Art of Sales Weekly, Featured
Look to your managers
Managers are the link to employee retention. The management consulting firm Gallup specializes in the science of employee engagement. Also, their surveys have found that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers.
If you have a turnover problem, look first to your managers. In their book “First, Break All the Rules,” authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman pose questions that help managers understand what their reports consider when evaluating how long they will stay working for their current employer.
Timing is important
I am currently working with a manager who is struggling to get a promotion for one of his sales reps. The rep has repeatedly asked for the opportunity to advance. Moreover, we looked at his record and determined he had the talent and skills required for a higher position. This analysis made his eligibility apparent, but we wanted to make sure the time was right to give him the opportunity.
Ask the right questions
I asked the manager to put himself in the rep’s position. Did he know what was expected of him and did he have the tools to accomplish what was asked of him? Was the rep’s work recognized and praised? Did he feel cared for by the team and what incentives did he have to stay? After reviewing his answers, the manager realized that if he wanted to ensure the rep stayed, it was time to offer him an advanced position.
Be ready to make changes
Lastly, make sure your company’s managers are in tune with their charges. They need to ask the right questions and be ready to make the changes necessary to retain employees.
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