| October 1, 2008 | News for the wholesale distribution industry |
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- Avnet announces employee cuts
Avnet Inc. has announced plans to reduce its North American work force by less than 1% due to a softening economy. With its organic growth having recently slowed, the company will make employee cuts across various departments as it strives to meet its operational targets. American City Business Journals/Phoenix
(9/26)
     
 | Lawson would like to know the challenges you face as a distribution company in knowing your customers better. Take our 10 minute survey and you could win an iPod touch! Adam Fein of Pembroke Consulting will study the results and from those findings he'll create a white paper addressing distributor's concerns and how technology can help overcome them. |
| Best Practices |  | |
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- Protect your brand by doing homework, gathering data
Simply being first to market with a design feature and registering a trademark are no guarantees that a brand is going to be protected against imitators. Companies need to gather data on brand recognition and make sure consumers are making a connection between its banner and the product's look and feel. Harvard Business Review
(10/2008)
- Objective point system can help in project manager evaluation
Project managers aren't necessarily always evaluated on logical factors such as their ability to get projects completed on time and on budget, but a point system based on such objective goals can help. Under one company's strategy, a project manager starts out with 100 points for completing a project and is subject to deductions for such things as going over budget or granted bonus points for getting a project in on time. CIO.com
(9/23)
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- Motivate sales team with fun, imagery
Motivating a sales team involves a strategy that can be compared to teaching kids to hit a homer by telling them to imagine the ball is a tomato and challenging them to crush it, sales expert Lee Salz says. The motivational program should be fun, involve visuals and encourage the team to perform at extraordinary levels. Manage Smarter
(9/26)
| Distribution Trends Blog | | |
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OUTLOOK 2009
Pembroke Consulting President and NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence Fellow Adam J. Fein, Ph.D. profiles OUTLOOK 2009: An Executive's Companion to Facing the Forces of Change, one of the newest reports available from the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence. "The OUTLOOK is a collection of independent articles written by a group of well-known industry experts," Fein says, adding that it analyzes "business and strategy trends, not economic trends or forecasts." Distribution Trends
(9/29)
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| Small Business Manager | | |
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- Bailout could provide credit for small businesses
While Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told Congress that the $700 billion bailout was needed for "the viability of businesses both small and large," banks will still prefer established businesses with good credit and collateral. The Federal Reserve says lending standards for small businesses have tightened during the past year, and evidence suggests that even healthy small businesses are being turned down or seeing loans called in. Recent surveys by the National Federation of Independent Business and Gallup had conflicting assessments on how difficult it has been for small businesses to get credit. BusinessWeek
(9/26)
| Executive Life | | |
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- U.K.'s Open AV intros Web-based home-automation ware
New home-automation software out of the U.K.'s Open AV can help homeowners save energy and money by allowing them to control lighting, heating and digital electronics through an online link, according to the company. The software allows users to control more than one household from the same remote point, and Open AV said it could save up to 50% on energy costs. Pocket-lint.co.uk
(9/24)
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| The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS)
Distributor salespeople need a shot in the arm! Dave Kahle is traveling to your area to provide one day, distributor-specific seminars. Get a shot of inspiration to help you excel in distributor sales at the Top Gun Survival School for Distributor Salespeople. To learn more, click here, or call 800-331-1287.
Whitepaper Reveals How Pricing Drives Profitable Growth
Visionary distributors and resellers recognize a focus on pricing drives renewed growth and competitive advantage not realized with cost-cutting and process efficiency initiatives. Download the Zilliant white paper Pricing in Distribution: Five Opportunities for Profitable Growth, and learn how your company can drive significant profit gains.
Interested in learning more about advertising in NAW SmartBrief? Contact Henry Murphey at (202) 737-5500 ext. 245 or hmurphey@smartbrief.com
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| NAW Insider | | |
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Register for NAW's Billion Dollar Company CEO Roundtable
NAW's Billion Dollar Company CEO Roundtable, Chicago, Oct. 14 to 15, joins CEOs from distribution companies with sales of $1 billion and above to network/benchmark. Topics are based on responses from the CEO community, addressing specific needs of the group, including Associate Engagement -- Customer Loyalty; Action Plan for Sustainability and Environmental Responsibility; and Financial Markets -- The Impact on Our Industry. Register now!
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The Hertz Green Collection: Reserve and conserve
Now you can reserve fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly cars that are both easy on the wallet and suitable for families and small groups traveling together. Reservable by specific make and model with an EPA highway fuel-efficiency rating of 28 miles or more per gallon. To enroll in the NAW/Hertz Business Account Program, visit NAW's Web site.
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Brand new: Make your operations lean in challenging times
Becoming lean in distribution is more important than ever in today's challenging economic market. Applying lean concepts makes sense because becoming lean means becoming a more effective distributor. And becoming lean will lead to higher profitability. Lean Operations in Wholesale Distribution focuses on the lucrative operations area and discusses steps distributors must take to design and manage a lean culture.
| Weekly Poll | | |
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Would your company consider direct-to-consumer sales?
After voting once, check out the real-time poll results on NAW's All Access page as often as you'd like.
 | Yes. There are good opportunities in the direct-to-consumer market. |
| Maybe, depending on the way the markets change. |
| We already have a retail component. |
| No. We do not plan to change our business model. |
| SmartQuote | | |
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 | Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
--Marie Curie,
Nobel Prize-winning physicist and chemist
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| | Recent NAW SmartBrief Issues:
- Monday, September 29, 2008
- Friday, September 26, 2008
- Thursday, September 25, 2008
- Wednesday, September 24, 2008
- Monday, September 22, 2008
| | | Lead Editor: Ashley McMaster
Contributing Editor: Nancy Melville | Robert Jones
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