Trade Shows Deliver New Customer Relationships to High-Tech Distributors
By: Winn Hardin
At one of the earliest trade shows on record, Thomas Edison showcased 25 phonographs in a 7,226-square-foot interactive booth. Attendees used proto-earbuds to listen to music and voices speaking in 50 different languages. The modern approach to trade shows isn’t all that different from Edison’s innovative display at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. These days, vendor booths creatively demonstrate high-tech products, offer sessions that delve deep into technology, and promote contests and other interactive activities to keep attendees engaged. But for all the flash that a modern trade show brings, there’s only one metric that matters: lead generation. AHTD members share their best practices for capturing leads at trade shows and converting them into sales—and, ultimately, long-term customers.
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4th Quarter Profit Improvement Report from Profit Planning Group
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Why Not Give Customers What They Want?
An increasingly competitive environment has caused distributors to rethink their service profile with the idea of providing exactly what customers want. Overwhelmingly, this leads to the conclusion that customers want lower prices. That conclusion may or may not be correct. In fact, there is a large body of evidence that suggests customers want something much more important than better pricing. The key is to identify exactly what that is and how to provide it in an affordable way.
This report will examine the nature of customer needs and the economics of meeting them.
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4th Quarter Economic Report from ITR Economics
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US Industrial Production is cruising, with the last 12 months through August reaching the highest level on record. Production is growing at an accelerating pace, up 3.4% compared to the previous year. The three main components are rising, with mining (up 11.0% year over year, the fastest pace on record), electric and gas utilities (up 3.8%), and manufacturing (up 2.3%) all accelerating in their rates of growth.
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Centro, Inc. Appointed as Aventics Distributor
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Memphis, TN (November 1, 2018):
Centro has been appointed by Aventics as a distributor for the entire Centro trading area including: Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, the Panhandle of Florida, Mississippi, Northern Louisiana and Arkansas.
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Encoder Products Company: EtherCAT
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EtherCAT-ready, the Model A58HE (hollow bore) and Model A58SE (shaft) encoders are designed for harsh factory and plant environments. Easily designed into a wide variety of applications, these encoders plug directly into a network with minimal
prerequisites, and work in various topologies, including bus, ring, and star configurations that can continue communication in the event of a line break.
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New GCL Robotic Cycloidal Gearboxes Available
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Mount Prospect, IL (November 14, 2018):
GAM announces the release of the new GCL cycloidal gearboxes. The new
gearboxes provide high precision and rigidity for horizontal and vertical robotic and motion control applications.
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Heitek Automation Now Distributing Festo Products
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Power/mation Now Distributing Festo Products in the Upper Midwest
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Islandia, KY (November 6, 2018):
Festo
announced that
Power/mation
, St. Paul, Minnesota, has become its newest distribution partner. Power/mation, a value-added solutions provider with deep roots in the power transmission industry, has warehouses and sales offices in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
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Lenze 2020+ Growth Strategy Appears to be Taking Off
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Hamelin, Germany (November 9, 2018): In a generally positive market environment, the Lenze Group has successfully continued its strategic course of growth in the financial year 2017/2018 and again exceeded its key financial targets. Group revenue increased in the reporting year by 9.2% to a new record of EUR 741.0 million, far surpassing original expectations.
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Parker Hannifin Transforms the T-slot Aluminum Framing Business with Free Interactive Design Tool
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Milford, OH (November 8, 2018):
Revolutionary software from Parker gives professionals and DIY users the power to design and create products on-the-fly. Parker just transformed the t-slot aluminum framing business in a big way. Last month, the company released their Parker T-Slot Aluminum Design Architect.
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Free Sales Close Rate Analysis Report
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Take 15 minutes to learn how to optimize your distributor sales channel. Let us help you identify areas in your sales process that can be optimized to recover more than 20% revenue. Request your free Close Rate Analysis today.
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Boomerang Boomers! A New Angle on a Familiar Resource
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According to the Pew Research Center, baby boomers are currently retiring at a rate of about 10,000 per day nationally, raising concerns of even greater labor shortages. Some companies are utilizing retirees to fill this gap. Baby boomers have long been considered to be a generation that is motivated, has a great work ethic—sometimes bordering on being workaholics—and displays a higher degree of loyalty to employers.
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What Are You Working For?
By Troy Harrison
It’s a common maxim that, in business and in sales, we get what we ask for. That’s not true, at least normally. The truth is that we get what we
work
for. I’m not talking about working HARD – we all do that. Nor am I talking about working SMART, because that’s a term that can be interpreted in many different ways. I’m talking about working INTENTIONALLY, and with the end in mind. That’s what successful business owners and managers do.
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Wednesday, April 10 -
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort, Amelia Island, FL
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Wednesday, October 9 -
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Marriott Orlando World Center, Orlando, FL
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Promotions
Please share your company milestones, news, and events with us by emailing
promotions@ahtd.org to be in an upcoming newsletter. We'll publish one article per member company each month. Don't fret if you don't see your article right away. We publish articles in the order received.
Questions?
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