9/28/2010
NEWS BRIEFS
Geist at NFDA: The #1 Business Issue Today
The #1 issue in business today is execution, keynoter Sam Geist told the National Fastener Distributors Association autumn meeting.
“Overpromising and underdelivering will come back to haunt you,” Geist warned.
In a program titled, “Execute … or be Executed,” business consultant Geist offered the example of a dog food company, which provided free doggie bags at a park. But the supply was never consistently replenished. “Great idea, poorly executed,” Geist ruled.
“There is a disconnect between knowing and doing. I’ll give you a dime for an idea, a dollar to execute the idea.”
Geist advised distributors to “customize to a market of one” to best serve customers. “Can you replace customers time?” Geist asked.
“Price is price,” Geist declared. “Value is the total experience.”
“How do we save our customers time?”
Geist advised distributors to be problem solvers for customers. “Stop selling, start helping.”
He also advised make sure employees understand the importance of executing.
“Every company’s brand is nothing more than the sum total of its actions its people take,” Geist said.
Distribution Channels
Distribution channels are changing, Geist finds. He cited the example of Benjamin Moore paints, which has long stayed with a distributor system rather than market through Home Depot or Lowes. Now Benjamin Moore has begun bypassing its traditional distribution channel with online ordering.
Geist termed it “value chain deconstruction.”
Another chain was IBM, which was once 70% manufacturing and is now 80% software.
“We get blinded by success and our own brochures,” Geist warned.
He noted film sales were once the “gravy train,” for Kodak. But Kodak looked ahead and invented the digital camera.
The lesson is for distributors to look at changing their product lines. “What do you need to let go of?” ©2010 GlobalFastenerNews.com
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