Speaking
One of our main goals at The Distribution Team is to provide education through speaking to groups of distribution professionals. Over the past several years, we have spoken to hundreds of different wholesale distribution associations, marketing groups and private organizations.
I don’t like to hear cut-and-dried sermons. When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees!
The fact that we were distribution business practitioners before becoming educators allows us to quickly connect with an audience. Our stories build credibility with the professionals in the room. We share about real challenges and how we overcame them.
SPEAKING PROGRAMS
Not only do we fit the needs of your schedule, we fit the needs of your budget. You will find us to be a great value for the price. While other speakers in the industry are raising their rates, we have kept ours affordable.
Ideal Time Slot: 60-75 minutes
Who do you think spends the most money in your company? Every time one of your buyers generates a purchase order, they are essentially cutting a company check. The idea is to get the best return on that investment of company money. This session is designed to help buyers learn how to analyze the performance of inventory so that they can make more prudent investments in the future. Looking at the Gross Margin Return on Inventory Investment provides a better understanding as to the success of our sales and purchasing efforts. Comparing gross margin analysis by supplier line gives us a good idea where we make and lose our net profit. Further exploration of the Turn and Earn ratio provides a basis for future purchasing dollars invested, giving us a more targeted net profit approach. The goal of the session is not only to buy smarter, but get a better return on the dollars we've already spent.Learning Objectives:
- Change the focus of the buying team.
- Learn how to measure return on investment.
- Learn how to discover and improve low performance lines.
- Use return on investment as a tool in vendor negotiations.
Ideal Time Slot: 60-75 minutes
Are all customers created equal? Isn’t that what we teach our customer service people? If we asked our people to list the top 10 customers, how would they rank them? If we asked them to list the top 10 most profitable customers, would we receive the same list? In many organizations, the people that work with us and for us equate our largest customers with our most profitable. During this session, participants will learn how to rank their customers based on contribution to net profit. By understanding which customers contribute to our overall profitability, we can allocate our value added resources to those folks who help us grow. Conversely, we can begin to reduce services to those customers who make us jump through hoops, drive down prices and continually pay slow. Distributors have a finite amount of money to invest in service. Let’s make sure that we are investing in the right customers.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to calculate the net profit of a customer
- Determine areas that detract from net profit
- Communicate findings in a confidential manner
- Learn which customers to sell deeper into
Ideal Time Slot: 60-75 minutes
Everyone is looking for ways to shore up their cash flow. While some may turn toward reducing headcount, others will look for reductions in inventory. Why not? Inventory is typically the largest asset in a wholesale distribution company. While prudent inventory reductions are always beneficial, we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We must recognize that we are sales organizations first and foremost. If we slash our inventory levels, for short term financial gain, we will jeopardize our ability to serve our customers. Unfortunately, their memories last longer than economic swings. In this presentation, participants will learn how to reduce inventory without alienating their loyal customer base. Distributors will learn how to analyze customer needs and make adjustments to their inventory investment. Even in tough economic conditions, we can provide superior customer service through prudent inventory management decisions.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how to calculate pure inventory turns
- Measure customer service levels
- Improve turns without damaging customer service
- Use distribution software package to stay on track
Ideal Time Slot: 60-75 minutes
As we walk around conventions and industry gatherings, we hear all sorts of commentary on top line revenues. Big sales and big numbers rule the cocktail hour, but where does the rubber really meet the road? We pay our bills and line our pockets with profit, not sales. If you are person responsible for setting pricing direction, this event is for you. In this session, we will talk about driving a culture of profit in your organization. It starts with educating the team about how money works and continues with proven margin enhancement strategies. From raising prices to reducing expenses, this session will give you the tools you need to unlock significant improvements in gross margin and ultimately net profit. Now let’s go hunt some cash.
Learning objectives:
- Teach employees how to become cash hunters
- Reduce expense without jeopardizing customer service
- Use data to discover gross margin opportunities
- Expand penetration in high net profit accounts
Ideal Time Slot: 180-210 minutes
This half day course is all about building a profitable operation. Managers of these locations need to understand how to lead their team down the path of profitability. It starts with getting everyone on the same page so that the location can provide a superior customer service experience. At the same time, the manager needs to be accountable to the asset have responsibility over. This is the balancing act of every effective manager. In this session, we will cover the basics of coaching, managing, and driving your way to profitable location growth.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn how operating expenses effect net profit
- Understand how communication conveys expectations
- Use of effective time management techniques
- Learn how to segment customers based on profitability
Ideal Time Slot: 60-75 minutes
Ask yourself this questions: If you went on vacation for 5 weeks, would you come back to a smooth operation or would the company have fallen into utter chaos? This is a tough realization for several owners of small organizations. When the owner is the only person capable of making a decision, growth potential is severely limited. As some owners have found out the hard way, selling an owner-centric business is far more difficult than they imagined. If the owner controls all the customer, supplier and operational relationships, what is the buyer buying? Not much. This session is about learning to step back and building a management team capable of handling the daily operation of the organization. Isn't it about time you worked on the business, rather than in the business?
Learning Objectives:
- Learning how to create decision makers
- Letting go of tasks
- Learning to communicate more effectively
- Learning how to create the questions, not the answers
