The MDM Podcast

Over the last few years, Milwaukee-based HVACR distributor Gustave A. Larson Co. has implemented an agile management operating system, revised its sales model and refocusing service offerings. From the May 22, 2020 MDM LIVE episode, hear CEO Andrew Larson talk about how these work-in-progress transformation efforts have positioned the 430-employee company to weather the immediate impacts of the pandemic, and to accelerate growth going forward.  

Hosts: MDM’s Tom Gale & Mike Marks, Indian River Consulting Group 

In this special one-hour edition of MDM LIVE (May 29, 2020), hear the latest intel on how distributors are shifting from face-to-face to low-touch sales engagement – remote selling, resetting roles for outside/inside/customer service teams, building a more digitally-enabled sales force, sales comp challenges, analytics and more. 

Hosts: MDM’s Tom Gale & Mike Marks, Indian River Consulting Group 

Products, features and benefits. How are we doing (or not doing) on monthly goals set up with Supplier A or Supplier B? These are the day-to-day conversations that, while particularly urgent in the current uncharted pandemic-infested waters, can get in the way of deeper strategic conversations about how to create more value for customers. In this third podcast of our three-part series on innovation, Dorn Group’s J Schneider maps how to rethink your business model to build a more customer-centric and innovative organization.

In this second of our three-part conversation on innovation in distribution, J Schneider of strategy and consulting firm Dorn discusses what innovation looks like in 2020 for distributors and manufacturers. In this episode, we look at the ways smaller distributors often have an advantage to identify opportunities for innovation, the need to be selective in building manufacturer-distributor partnerships around a shared vision for innovation, and how to build a culture of innovation.

Host: Tom Gale

While this privately-held industrial supplier with more than 300 employees may not be a Harvard Business School case study in management structure, the three-brother leadership team has managed to buck the odds of many third-generation businesses by nurturing an entrepreneurial culture in an 85-year-old company. Listen to Doug Ruggles share what’s worked to drive growth with a customer-centric solutions approach.

Host: Tom Gale

In the first of a three-part series, J Schneider, Vice President of Strategy for Dorn, a strategy and consulting firm located just outside Chicago, discusses how distributors and manufacturers can develop new innovations. In addition to outlining varieties of product, service and delivery innovations, he talks about how to drive growth by building a culture of innovation defined by customer needs.

Host: Tom Gale

Matt McCorkle, Manager of U.S. Branch Operations, Kaeser Compressors, discusses how he used a combination of conventional and micro- sales training methods to build a culture of prospecting and grow new accounts for Kaeser’s 100-person distribution sales force in the U.S. We also hear from Steve Meyer, president and CEO of Rapid Learning Institute, a provider of sales and leadership micro training, on how micro-training is different.

Host: MDM CEO Tom Gale

Justin King of B2X Partners talks about how change management is one of the biggest challenges of any digital transformation project and the critical need to build digital experiences that are customer-first oriented. He also addresses how to leverage the knowledge and expertise in an organization to create better online experiences that drive revenue.

Mark Dancer of the Network for Channel Innovation talks with Tom Gale about the challenges distributors are addressing as they undertake digital transformation programs. As author of the upcoming edition of the Facing the Forces of Change report series published by the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, Mark has been in research mode for more than a year and shares some of that insight in this edition.

Four years after transitioning its sales and digital models, Lawson Products President and CEO Michael DeCata gives MDM's Tom Gale a progress report on the company's service-intensive approach and talks about its SAP implementation, salesforce transformation and its unique go-to-market model.