The MDM Podcast

Gartner’s Maria Boulden, Mike Marks of Indian River Consulting Group and Tom Gale tackle all things sales transformation: Massive shifts in customer buying behavior, digital-first go-to-market strategy, supplier partnerships and the new sales skills needed to compete, including situational awareness, data literacy and digital dexterity.

Fastenal CEO Dan Florness and MDM Editor Mike Hockett chat from the company’s recent Fastenal Expo about the company’s considerable digital growth and how it’s continued to find ways to become closer with its customers. We also touch on Fastenal’s manufacturing capabilities, how the company is addressing labor and lessons learned from the pandemic.

Sponsored by Epicor

Dirk Beveridge, founder of UnleashWD and executive producer of We Supply America, and Tom Gale talk about research into the changing nature of leadership post-Covid. We also touch on  Dirk’s mission of telling the stories of wholesale distribution teams across America – the spirit, the heart, the humanity of what has built the strongest and most resilient economy in the world.

Tom Fournier, president of Shade’s Mills Group, a sales strategy consultancy based in Cambridge, Ontario, shares insights from a career managing sales channels in Canada and the U.S. with an international jan-san products manufacturer. Topics discussed include unique sales coverage characteristics of Canadian markets, and recent shifts as the sector has commoditized and targeted by Amazon Business and other non-traditional competitors.

Chester Collier, Walter Senior Vice President, shares four decades of international sales management and business development experience across industrial distribution channels. Collier is deeply passionate about the value of distribution and leadership. We discuss the current state of channel dynamics and ways in which sales management has and has not changed in the face of rapid change the past few years.

IRCG’s Mike Marks talks with Tom Gale about core elements of sales transformation, distilling six years of research from distributors innovating their sales process to a more profitable model. We preview our virtual Sales Transformation Bootcamp series this spring and outline the three keys to successful sales transformation: Benchmark current state, rethink the process, execute the change.

Global Industrial is investing in key strategic initiatives, in sales, marketing, private brand, digital transformation and distribution, that they believe will drive sales, including its new NASCAR partnership. Litwin discusses 2021 financial performance, the critical importance of B2B e-commerce to Global’s strategy, and where the industry is headed in 2022.

We catch up with John Gunderson to learn what he’s hearing on how 2022 is shaping up and ways executive teams are managing inventory, pricing, margin expansion, digital and more. With a 20-year career in distribution sales and marketing, John has one of the most extensive networks across distribution verticals, including electrical, datacom, general-line MRO and construction supplies.

Tony Pericle started in distribution sales 204th out of 207 sales reps. Three years later he ranked in the top 25. After increasing sales, marketing and margin management leadership roles, he formed ProfitOptics in 2008 and has been passionate about how distributors can use analytics and technology to make better decisions. We discuss prescriptive analytics, AI, workflow automation, profit optimization and more.

Randy Breaux shares details on how the deal came together, synergies and future growth opportunity in this deeper dive into the $1.3-billion transformative acquisition combining the No. 1 and No. 3 power transmission/motion controls distributors in North America. The combination of the two companies is estimated to generate $7.8 billion in pro forma 2022 revenue.