ASA Quarterly Review Q3 2022

ASA REVIEW Do you pay your team members competitive wages and benefits?

State of the mechanical and industrial PVF industry How intentional working helps achieve career goals Building a roadmap for distributor digital transformation

Q3 22

From the CEO

ASA’s value continues to grow during traumatic times There has never been a more important time to have a strong and growing national trade association to rally around than today.

Proudly Serving America’s Finest Associations!

As members continue to face uncertainty from supply chain disruption, escalating inflation, rising energy and transportation costs, as well as significant labor shortages, ASA has stepped forward to provide programs and critical information that assist members as they navigate these turbulent times.

ASA Review, our quarterly publication, has been a growing vehicle by which the association delivers information from thought-leaders on topics of vital interest that can help our members understand better what’s happening. I hope that you have found value in the roughly 30 articles that we have delivered over the four issues since we launched the publication last year. Most importantly, we hope that you will find value in the seven articles in this packed Q3 issue.

federatedinsurance.com Commercial Insurance Property & Casualty Life & Disability Income | Workers Compensation Business Succession and Estate Planning | Bonding Federated Mutual Insurance Company and its subsidiaries*

In this issue, our Mike Miazga talks about the 2022 Cross-Industry Compensation and Benefits Report published by the Association Education Alliance of which ASA is a major sponsor. The Cross-Industry Compensation and Benefits Report is one of the most comprehensive wage surveys today (supported by nearly 1,000 firms from 22 distribution verticals) attempting to provide some clarity on an ever-changing compensation landscape.

*Not licensed in all states.

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Also in this packed issue, Senthil Gunasekaran writes about how distributors are using analytics to calm supply chain chaos, plus you will find articles on how to build a road map for distributor digital transformation and driving business agility.

With many national legislative and regulatory issues such as lead in plumbing, decarbonization and product labeling gaining a foothold at the state level before being thrust upon the national scene, ASA has deepened our advocacy role by engaging a leading state lobby firm in California to expand ASA’s advocacy on critical issues before they take hold nationally (check out Page 9 for all the details).

Lastly, I am particularly excited about the publishing of the new ASA Education Foundation “Advise” book. One of our long-standing goals is to support our members that want to start a training program, but have had a hard time getting going. “Advise” is a how-to training book, with each chapter authored by one of our engaged members, walking other members through how to start and run an effective employee training program. We deeply thank those members who helped to make this critical book a reality.

We appreciate your reading ASA Review. If there are articles that you would like to see in an upcoming issue, please let me know at madelizzi@asa.net.

Thank you for being a member of ASA. Michael Adelizzi, CEO

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EDUCATION

Member-developed manual

helps ASA University achieve goal of employing the best-trained labor force

By Taylor Kenney, Vice President of Education, tkenney@asa.net ASA members are busy people; busy running operations, busy making sure product is shipped and received on time, busy working with their customers, and ultimately, busy improving their bottom line.

With all that goes on day-to-day, developing a training program can be a daunting prospect. Especially for businesses that don’t have a formalized training department or resources, this task can seem monumental in scope.

Many times, our members are wearing many hats, accomplishing many tasks in different areas of the business each day. Building a training program is no small task — but ASA University is here to help.

ASA University’s newest resource, How to Develop an Effective Training Program Handbook, is an invaluable resource that enables members of all sizes to engage with building their own high-fidelity, impactful training programs.

We understand the challenges our members face in devoting time and resources to build their own approach to training, and this essential handbook will provide the blueprint for success for our members — big or small.

One of the driving forces behind successful execution of day-to-day business starts with the training and development of the employees who engage with your customers and business each day.

How to Develop an Effective Training Program Handbook is an in-depth, industry-developed guide that walks you through the entire process of creating an impactful training program. Authored by experts in training and development, each chapter focuses on a specific part of the training process and includes best practices, storytelling and resultsbased solutions to help you address your training needs.

This comprehensive handbook will give you the edge you need to make your training goals a reality as you learn from peers’ successes (and failures!).

challenges, overcame hurdles and celebrated success in their own training initiatives. Learn how to motivate employee engagement and retention with training, how to develop and map job descriptions for skilled workers or how to set benchmarking indicators for your training program and employees. Read about challenges your industry peers have faced and how they overcame these challenges as they built their training programs from the ground up.

This FREE resource for our members puts you in the driver’s seat, and provides a roadmap that can be scaled up or down to implement training at your business, no matter the resources at your disposal.

And don’t forget, ASA’s diverse team of training experts is always here to assist you in meeting your goals. Whether you need help with specific components of your training plan, leveling up your current training plan or need help knowing where to jump in first, let ASA University be your pocket consultant when it comes to training and development.

Live training workshop

And that’s not all. Using this excellent resource as a springboard, ASA University plans to connect our members and put this essential training knowledge into practice with a twoday, in-person Trainer’s Summit, to be held in Chicago this fall.

To further the collaboration on training best practices and to continue high-fidelity conversations among our members, ASA will bring together training experts face-to-face and provide space for trainers of all stripes to talk through challenges, compare notes, and network with their peers.

Using ASA University’s How to Develop an Effective Training Program Handbook as a platform to start the discussion, this two-day workshop will be free to ASA members and will focus on the incredible power of collaboration with roundtable discussions, panel Q&A with peers who’ve seen and done it all, as well as educational discussions meant to elevate your ability to implement training at your business.

By harnessing the stories, experiences, lessons learned and tips for improvement in an in-person gathering, ASA University will help boost the reach, impact and success of training programs for all members.

ASA University is proud to serve as the industry standard for training and development, and we look forward to helping you succeed in your own initiatives.

Looking for additional copies of this essential handbook or need help getting a training program up and running? Reach out at education@asa.net today.

Through storytelling and connecting real-life experiences to best practices, read how your industry peers addressed

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BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Recently released biannual Cross-Industry Compensation and Benefits Report provides vital benchmarking tool for PHCP-PVF distributors

By Mike Miazga, Vice President Sales-Operations, mmiazga@asa.net How highly regarded is the biannual Cross-Industry Compensation and Benefits Report among ASA distributor members looking to stay on top of the ever-challenging labor market?

president and managing principal of operations at Wheat Ridge, Colorado-based George T. Sanders Co. “We regularly check the industry benchmarks in the report to make sure we are compensating our employees well.”

“The biannual compensation report is the ‘Bible of the plumbing and PVF world,’” said Jack Bell, president and CEO of Louisville, Kentucky-based Masters’ Supply. “We utilize the compensation report for all positions in our company from a driver and warehouse employee to the president and CEO position. We compare our company in the different silos, including all firms, ASA members, private firms, sales in our range, our region and our territory. This allows us to create a good compensation package for current and new employees. I would recommend any ASA member to use the data from this report.”

The 63-page report is produced for ASA and the other distribution-related associations that took part in the massive study by Industry Insights, ASA’s long-time business intelligence partner.

“We have spent a lot of time analyzing the report to understand how we compare in all categories,” said John Howe, CEO of Birmingham, Alabama-based American Pipe & Supply. “While we compare favorably in most areas, we will be tweaking a few of our offerings to improve our competitiveness. It is a very useful report.”

The just-released 2022 report, sponsored by the Association Education Alliance, features data from 959 distribution companies representing more than 10,000 locations. ASA is one of 22 distribution-related associations that took part in the survey.

Key statistical findings

The report provides a detailed analysis of key compensation and benefits-related statistics for the distribution industry, including compensation benchmarks for more than 45 positions/job functions.

From 2002-2008, Industry Insights noted the labor force participation rate was around 66%. From 2014-2019, those numbers dipped to between 62-63%, the lowest since the 1970s. In the peak of the pandemic, those numbers dropped below 61%. April 2022 showed a rebound to 62.2%, which was still below the pre-pandemic level of 63.4% in February 2020.

“The cross industry compensation report provides us with all the information we need to stay competitive in the industry when hiring and promoting employees,” said Reed White, 4

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The 2022 installment has some interesting findings as it relates to labor force participation rate, which tracks the percentage of the population that is either employed or actively seeking employment.

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“Post-pandemic, the demand for labor has far outpaced labor supply, which has created an environment of increased wage pressures,” Industry Insights wrote in the report’s Executive Summary.

In 2021, quit rates ballooned to 32.7% nationally in what many termed the “Great Resignation.” For this 2022 survey, the average reported turnover was at 20.6% and the quit rate was 14.8% for non-management employees. For nonmanagement positions, half the respondents reported an average time to fill of 24 to 60 days, Industry Insights noted.

“As the recovery has accelerated faster than most had thought it would, strong demand continues to put an enormous strain on the supply chain and labor markets,” Industry Insights wrote.

That’s one of many key statistical nuggets contained in the report, which is free to ASA member distributor companies that contributed data, and can be purchased by both ASA members and non-members that did not participate in the survey.

“The ASA biannual cross industry compensation and benefits report is a reliable and comprehensive compensation tool that gives us a wealth of information for our company to analyze,” said Matt Laiolo, president of Oakland, California-based Rubenstein Supply. “We can review and evaluate our compensation levels and compare them to other companies in our industry. It forces us to look internally and evaluate ourselves.”

Industry Insights noted staffing pressures and inflation have been two of the most pressing issues facing most industries over the last 12-18 months. This was echoed by survey respondents. The top three concerns/issues reported were finding qualified employees (73%), retaining employees (48%) and increased operating costs (36%). As the size of company increased, retaining employees increased in its importance to survey respondents. This was reinforced by

the fact larger firms reported much higher turnover and quit rates than the smaller companies, Industry Insights reported.

Other key items contained in the report include: the top five major concerns/issues related to the labor market; top methods used to successfully fill open positions; percentage of insurance premiums paid by the company for full-time employees; types of retirement plans offered; top 10 other benefits provided to employees; capping mechanisms used to limit incentive pay for salespeople; when commissions are typically paid; the most common method used to provide salespeople with automobiles; and the five most common compensation methods for outside salespeople.

Referrals were reported as one of the top methods used to successfully fill open positions. Of the respondents utilizing referrals, 70% compensate the referring employee — on average between $500 and $1,000.

The biannual compensation report is the ‘Bible of the plumbing and PVF world.’ -Jack Bell, Masters’ Supply Industry Insights added that in an effort to keep up with inflationary pressures and to attract and retain employees, most respondents reported strong base salary adjustments (4%+) and are planning for additional increases for 2022 of 4% or more.

“Participating in the compensation surveys allows us to receive reliable benchmark information for comparing salaries and benefits in our industry based on company size, geographic location and comparison to our competitors,” said Mike Abeling, chairman of Fontana, California-based Consumers Pipe & Supply.

Rick Schweinberg, chief financial officer at Addison, Illinoisbased Porter Pipe & Supply, added: “The compensation report assists us in benchmarking our pay structures throughout the organization vs. what is being paid in our marketplace. It is also used in hiring new employees and what type of pay range we need to be in to attract top talent.

Great job by ASA.” As Masters’ Supply’s Bell noted the report also gives detailed average compensation and benefits levels for positions such as president/CEO, COO, CMO, HR, IT, purchasing, director of sales, counter, warehouse, drivers, branch managers, outside sales, inside sales, showroom and more.

COMPENSATION STUDY BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE To purchase the compensation and benefits report, contact Mike Miazga at mmiazga@asa.net.

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“At PHW, it is important for us to know that our compensation levels are competitive both regionally and nationally,” said Mike Plasier, CEO of Sioux Center, Iowa-based Plumbing & Heating Wholesale. “The ASA compensation report is one of the tools we leverage to gauge our place in the market.

The report also provides some good insight into trends that are developing for attracting new employees and employee retention tools. We are thankful that ASA provides this service and will plan to continue to participate.”

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SUPPLY CHAIN

It’s reasonable to frame current conditions across the world as a VUCA state: characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Shutterstock Photo

How analytics helps distributors calm supply chain chaos

By Senthil Gunasekaran Unprecedented.

These days, it’s in nearly every headline that addresses the supply chain. It was even Dictionary.com’s People’s Choice 2020 Word of the Year.

If much of what we’re experiencing is unprecedented, it gives the impression we have no history to learn from; no lessons to glean from our predecessors, their decisions and their actions (or inaction).

While it is true precedent is hard to find, it’s also reasonable to frame current conditions across the world as a VUCA state: a state characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.

Saying we’re in a VUCA state does more than define our times. It defines our challenges so that we can face them directly with the most appropriate strategies and tools.

Remedies to VUCA challenges

One framework developed by Bob Johansen of the Institute for the Future addresses VUCA head-on. The framework is called VUCA Prime, and it’s rooted in Johansen’s research of key traits leaders need to manage such a state. For this framework, he poses four traits that help leaders combat and overcome volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity.

They are: V ision

Understanding

C larity

A gility

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Distributors and supply chain managers can use these traits to make their supply chain operations more resilient. This approach puts you in a more active, offensive role. It involves suiting yourself up to exist and thrive in a VUCA state instead of reacting impulsively and hoping for a stable outcome.

Before you proceed, level-set your expectations

A “normal” supply chain is far off. Some had pegged the supply chain to normalize by mid-2022; others say late 2023. Waiting for it to normalize isn’t the best approach. After all, even if we emerge from a VUCA state, the industry will have evolved to new standards for supply chain technology and capabilities. If you haven’t evolved in kind, your operations may not perform as needed in a changed industry.

Your strategy should not hinge on returning to pre-pandemic conditions. Instead, it should hinge on improving supply chain resilience such that no matter how the conditions shake out, you have a clear view of and confident handle on your operations.

What can VUCA Prime look like in distribution? We’ve seen a few excellent examples over the past two years.

Vision: Create a new image of the supplier relationship

In supply chain operations today, one of the most volatile areas is supply itself. Strengthening your relationships and communications with suppliers will help you reduce volatility and get closer to an in-the-moment view of supply as it fluctuates, so you can act to reduce the impact of disruption.

Solid relationships and communications mean you’ll have

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more control and visibility of your actual and potential product availability. Having that relationship with your supplier will also help you align priorities and ensure access to products that matter most.

For example, one building materials executive realized their distribution company needed stronger supplier relationships.

So they shifted the company vision to perceive suppliers as customers to build partnerships and demonstrate value.

Part of their strategy to verify and provide more value was to share data and analytics with suppliers.

Understanding: Seek understanding from your data – not your gut

Throughout this disruption, distributors have had to decide which items, suppliers and customers to focus on in the face of supply variability and limitations. Typically, their decisions and understanding are based on personal experiences, interpretations, opinions and bias. So you can imagine the potential for inaccuracy and missed opportunities here.

A better approach is to use your data, such as transaction data. For example, one distributor used channel data, categorizing items according to their data-proven supply and demand variability. The categories were surge, slump and static. Surge items saw variability over 10%, slump items variability under 10%, and all others were static.

With this data-driven understanding, they could make more informed decisions about which items to focus on, which items to increase communication on to manage volatility better, and where to invest in expediting orders or negotiating tradeoffs. Leveraging data analytics in decision-making made them a more cost-efficient distributor for suppliers.

Clarity: Find clarity in supplier performance as opposed to cost

Distribution operations are complex. Inventory, suppliers and customers are at once separate and interconnected. This can make it challenging to get clarity around next steps when there are product shortages and you need to build a more agile supply chain. Where should you consolidate suppliers?

Which products need more diversified supply sources? And how should you manage multi-category suppliers?

The key is to look at supplier performance, not just spend.

For example, one distributor assessed supplier performance for more than 300 suppliers by each of their 22 product categories. They categorized suppliers based on performance using annual purchase order data, identified which ones had costly inefficiencies, and had clarity amidst complexity for diversifying supply sources for specific categories.

Agility: Sharpen your view with analytics to reduce ambiguity

Making the timeliest buying decisions is like a superpower in the distribution industry. However, the information you need to make the best decisions in the moment may not be as readily accessible as you need. Rather, it’s ambiguous, siloed and dispersed throughout your operations – trapped in different systems and delivered via spreadsheet. As a result, when a shift or delay occurs in your supply chain, you’re at a time disadvantage.

Data and a solid analytics program are crucial to building your supply chain operations agility. For example, one distributor applied analytics for items, customers and suppliers – all critical to supply chain operations. They deployed inventory, customer and supplier stratification. This gave them a clear view of their operations – reducing ambiguity – so they could make the best decisions in all areas.

Your strategy should not hinge on returning to pre-pandemic conditions.

Turn challenge into opportunity

These are not the only ways to use VUCA Prime in the industry. However, analytics are a great starting point for building the traits you need to thrive in the current VUCA state of the supply chain. Being open to what your data tells you will help you eliminate bias and form a plan of action based on facts.

It’s imperative that you evolve as the industry evolves and remains volatile, and that you adopt these traits to become more resilient. It is impossible to say for sure what the supply chain will look like five or even two years from now, although experts have suggested scenarios – some more favorable than others.

No matter how the supply chain unfolds, the customer and supplier analytics you put in place today to set yourself up for success will only help you.

Dr. Senthil Gunasekaran is the co-founder and managing director of ActVantage, a company that helps distributors drive profitable growth through analytics. Visit www.actvantage.com for more details.

Data and a solid analytics program are crucial to building your supply chain operations agility. Shutterstock Photo

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ADVOCACY

ASA engages leading California lobby firm to take the battle at the state level

By Mike Miazga, Vice President Sales-Operations, mmiazga@asa.net

California Strategies’ Lily MacKay talks to PHCP-PVF industry stakeholders at the WSA annual meeting in Napa, California. Photo by Mike Miazga/ASA.

The American Supply Association’s commitment to protecting its members’ best interests on the advocacy front was on full display earlier this spring in Napa, California where Lily MacKay, of public services consulting firm California Strategies, updated Western Suppliers Association annual meeting attendees on ASA’s legislative efforts in California.

ASA retained Cal Strat last year, and the firm continues to represent the association and our members on critical California issues impacting ASA members’ interests, particularly on those issues that will have significant impact nationally.

“For ASA, our work includes monitoring legislation that would be relevant, especially topics such as lead, clean water, lead pipes, decarbonization, electrification and labeling requirements,” MacKay said. “We provide updates on committee hearings, legislative deadlines, relevant regulatory or agency actions, and also represent ASA at all stakeholder meetings.”

In addition to advocating on the industry’s behalf on key issues in 2021 such as amendments to AB 100 (lead level requirements for certified endpoint drinking water devices manufactured and sold in California) and updates on Prop 65 (marking of items that may contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm), MacKay brought Napa attendees up to speed on a variety of legislative and regulatory updates for 2022 thus far, including AB 1931 (lead pipe replacement) and SB 260 (greenhouse gas emission reporting for U.S.-based companies with revenues of more than $1 billion doing business in California), plus provided lead pipe regulatory and federal updates.

“though the bill is drawing some industry opposition because of its aggressive timeline,” MacKay said.

MacKay noted the California Municipal Utilities Association claims this bill is duplicative of federal efforts and believes the sampling required in the bill (1 tap test and then 4 subsequent ones) is more extensive than what has been scientifically deemed necessary.

“We are continuing to monitor for ASA how discussions are going to see if amends will be adopted, and if not, we will consider whether or not we want to get more directly involved with meeting with the author and sharing our perspective on the requirements,” MacKay said.

SB 260 (by Senator Scott Wiener): This bill requires U.S.based companies that do business in California and with revenues in excess of $1 billion to annually report, by January 1, 2024, their direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their operations and supply chain to the Secretary of State.

This bill further requires the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to develop regulations to guide that submission process, and to issue a report that estimates the emissions reductions necessary to maintain climate change below specified levels and make recommendations for how companies can achieve those reductions.

Lead pipe regulatory and federal updates: MacKay noted there is a large push from the federal side to replace lead service lines. Besides AB 1931, EPA was given, in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, $15 billion (over 5 years) for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Lead Service Lines Replacement program.

For 2022, EPA released $3 billion of these funds, to be disbursed both via loans and grants – grants would go to communities that fall under the “disadvantaged community” definition (different in each state), MacKay added.

AB 1931 (by California Assemblymember Luz Rivas): This bill addresses the lead pipe replacement issue in California by requiring a community water system to create an inventory of lead service lines in its distribution system, and creates a timeline for the replacement or removal of lead service lines that the community water system owns — with a deadline to submit the plan to the State Water Board by June 2023.

In California, SRF funds flow through the State Water Resources Control Board, MacKay explained. While these flow through the SWRCB, these are federal funds and do not require a state match. Further, under the law, 49% of the $15 billion are eligible for those funds via grant or 100% principal forgiveness loan.

This is in line with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s goal to replace all lead service lines as quickly as possible,

“We will continue to see a coordinated push from the federal government and from state governments around the country for replacement of lead pipes,” MacKay said.

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HUMAN RESOURCES

Managing the risk of remote work

By Nate Oland Remote work is becoming more and more common, and may involve a business’s employees working at locations away from the main office, or even working from home.

the implementation of written policies. Consider creating a policy to define the conditions that must be met for employees working remotely. Your policy may include:

A recent Gallup survey found that 45% of full-time employees in the U.S. are working partially or fully remote. Employing workers who work on a remote basis may be necessary simply due to the nature of a business’s operations, or it may be the result of employees seeking more flexible work opportunities that do not require them to report to an office on a daily basis.

E ligibility – Which employees are eligible for remote work?

In addition, the coronavirus pandemic helped push more workers into remote settings, and many have not returned to the office. Many employers have realized there are benefits to remote work, such as occupying no or less office space, having a wider pool of talent to hire from, higher retention due to more flexible work schedules, and even increased productivity.

E quipment and tech support – What equipment and technical support will be provided? Is compensation provided for use of personal devices?

While remote work can be beneficial to both employees and employers, it does not come without its share of risk. Businesses that employ remote workers should understand the risks and challenges that come with remote work, which may include:

Physical environment and dress code – Does the business have

C yber security and privacy concerns D ifficulties in communication between supervisors and employees E mployee access to software and equipment P hysical environment of remote workers S truggles with accountability and productivity C ompliance with other states’ employment laws and regulations And, just as not every job can be performed remotely, not every employee is suited for remote work. A business can help protect its bottom line by outlining guidelines and requirements through

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A vailability – What hours are remote workers expected to be available to customers or coworkers?

P erformance – How will productivity be measured?

S ecurity – What guidelines must remote workers follow to ensure security of company devices and data? any requirements for working spaces and business dress?

Remote work will likely only become more common in the future. Many U.S. employees are showing that they value the flexibility of working from home, along with the work-life balance such working conditions can encourage.

Businesses may find themselves in the position of allowing more of their employees to work remotely in order to stay competitive. And, even though remote work may raise concerns for employers, understanding the risks involved and proactively planning for and addressing them through the use of risk management and written policies can help ensure that remote work is rewarding for everyone.

Nate Oland is a senior national account executive at Federated Mutual Insurance Co. Federated Insurance is an ASA Association Partner and the recommended insurance provider for ASA companies for their property and casualty, workers compensation, and life and disability income insurance needs. For more information, visit www.federatedinsurance.com/association-groups/asanet.

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PERSONAL GROWTH

Being intentional in all things keeps you ahead of everything else. Shutterstock Photo

5 ways intentional working

helps achieve your career goals

By Mary Kelly

Intentional working enables us to achieve our goals by ensuring that the choices we make are aligned with our end goals.

Understanding the significance of intentional actions that are based on intentional choices allows us to accomplish our top goals.

Some people are confused by goals. They think that once they achieve those goals, happiness magically descends and everyone lives happily ever after. (I just watched “Into the Woods,” again.)

We know that anything worthwhile means constant process improvement. Once we achieve a specific set of goals, it is time to envision new ones. Constantly moving forward strengthens our faith in our abilities, builds our self-confidence, helps us see more possibilities, and make our goals attainable.

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Here are five ways intentional working helps achieve goals.

1) Intentional working means making the right choices: Intentional people recognize that the key to achieving a goal is taking the right action at the right time. For instance, if you want to make 20 more loans this year, you set daily, weekly, as well as monthly goals that will guide you in that direction and get you where you need to be. You break down 20 loans into daily or weekly manageable targets. For example, decide to make five extra outbound calls per week. That is just one more call per day, which is manageable.

Want to live healthier? Make small, healthier choices by taking the stairs, going to the gym, picking up an exercising class, eating more green vegetables, substituting sugary drinks with water, and avoiding foods that cause health problems.

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Deliberate goals encourage deliberate choices which guide us in the right direction and enable us to achieve what we want.

2) Intentional working strengthens core values: Working with intention encourages us to stand by our values or beliefs, and increases our faith in what we believe in. It reminds us that our life is our own. Our life is important, and we do not have to compare it to anyone else’s life. Comparing our success to others is comparing apples to oranges. Our values may be different. That does not mean better or worse, it is simply different. Comparison often robs us of our happiness and focus.

Working intentionally means we are not controlled by our environment or circumstances. Plane is delayed? OK. Lose a big client? OK. Make a new plan and move forward. We live by what we can control. What we control are our values and how we respond during crisis or change.

3) Intentional working means focusing on the big picture: “What needs improvement?” “Where can I improve?” “How can I make this situation better?”

We need to be constantly questioning to stay focused to continuously improve. Reaching work goals requires constant growth and adjustments. A setback today does not mean ultimate failure. It means reassessing the situation and mapping out a new plan.

To stay focused on what is important, instead of getting discouraged, remind yourself of your intention. Ask: “Who am I serving?”

“Where am I going?”

“What do I want to accomplish?”

4) Intentional working capitalizes strengths: Knowing our talents and skills keeps us from doubt. Doubts sometime creep in as: “I’m not sure I know how to do this.”

“What if I am in over my head?”

“Will others realize that I am not the expert here?”

Doubts make us question our abilities. Focusing on our strengths pushes out doubt.

It helps us realize our purpose, our worth, and what we can accomplish.

Working with intention makes us realize that we have what it takes to be successful.

5) Working intentionally helps us make smart long-term decisions: Real leaders know that distractions tend to be shortterm. Strategic planning means looking long-term at what is best.

Donuts are my kryptonite. I love donuts. But I also know that donuts are a short-term event with longer-term consequences.

Let us say I eat the donut. The enjoyment is short-term, but then I must spend several hours trying to recover from the negative health impact of eating the donut.

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Kelly (shown here speaking at ASA NETWORK2021 in Las Vegas) says to train your mind to constantly produce deliberate questions that play a significant role in making intelligent decisions and in moving forward. Photo by Bob Levy/ASA.

Before I eat the donut, it might help me to ask: “Will this help me to get a step closer to or further away from my goal?”

“Is this worth it?”

“Am I willing to live with the long-term consequences?”

Short-term gratification can cause us to take a moment to decide what is important to us.

Intentional people ask intentional questions, which are key to making smart and informed decisions. Train your mind to constantly produce deliberate questions that play a significant role in making intelligent decisions and in moving forward. If taking that next step aligns with your goal, do not hesitate to take it. If it has nothing to do with what you are aiming for, do not take the step, because it will only delay your progress.

Being intentional in all things keeps you ahead of everything else. It gives you the strength to keep working, continue trying and keep believing. An intentional life is a life focused on what you believe in, what you want to become, what you are meant to achieve, and who you are meant to be, as well as where you are going.

Be deliberate when setting work goals and work intentionally.

Speaker and author Mary Kelly, who spoke at NETWORK2021 in Las Vegas, is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and spent more than 20 years on active duty in intelligence and logistics. She retired from the Navy as a commander. Mary has a masters’ degree in history and economics, and a PhD in economics. Mary has more than 20 years combined teaching experience at both the Naval Academy and at Hawaii Pacific University. As an executive consultant and coach, Mary works with executives to help them attain their goals through leadership training, professional development and succession planning. To learn more, visit www.productiveleaders.com.

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PVF UPDATE

State of the PVF industry

ASA Industrial Piping Division members chime in on current market conditions and what they feel the future looks like in this space.

By Mike Miazga, Vice President Sales-Operations, mmiazga@asa.net

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Life has been good — check that — really good for the pipe, valves and fittings sector in 2022.

That’s the consensus from members of the American Supply Association’s Industrial Piping Division after being asked their thoughts on a variety of subjects concerning the current state of the PVF industry.

“2022 has exceeded expectations so far,” says Kyle Stratiner, executive vice president of engineered products at Kent, Washington-based Puget Sound Pipe & Supply. “We were not expecting jobs to get started as quickly as they did.

“The current industrial PVF landscape is healthy. There is a substantial amount of projects both active and upcoming, and manufacturing has recovered well from the COVID slump. Due to the price of oil, there is now a good backlog of both petrochemical and green energy projects upcoming.

In addition, while there is talk of a recession, the U.S. consumer is still strong and keeping industrial demand up.”

Richy Milligan, chief sales officer at Greenville, South Carolina-based Eastern Industrial Supplies, has an even stronger opinion of the robust activity Eastern has seen in 2022, calling it a “bull market.”

“This run has been simply amazing because it seems new projects continue to break ground and demand has remained consistent,” he says. “Fiscal 2021-2022 has far exceeded expectations. Budget projections have been eclipsed year-to-date by more than 16% due to product demand and inflationary influences. We feel this way because the numbers speak for themselves.”

Up at The Collins Companies in East Windsor, Connecticut, it has been much of the same, notes company President Paul Andruszkiewicz.

“Industrial PVF is as busy as we have seen it,” he says.

“We believe it is pent up demand and cash from the PPP program and other federal assistance programs that is driving the strong activity.

“We thought we would continue the recovery rate that started last year at the same pace, but business this year has been much stronger than we anticipated.”

Josh Aberman, executive vice president at Miami, Floridabased Lehman Pipe & Supply, adds a big surprise for the soon to be three-location South Florida distributor (with a Ft. Myers branch soon to open) has been “the overall strength of the markets we service.”

“We never could have projected the increases we have had,” he says. “2022 has, by far, exceeded our expectations.

Not only has our customer base grown, but we have also increased our penetration with our existing customer base.”

Worth keeping an eye on

Answers to the question of one or two things PVF folks should be keeping an eye on were bountiful from IPD members.

Lehman’s Aberman cautions the tide could be turning in the markets the distributor serves. “The market is definitely strong, but we are anticipating that things are going to slow down within the next year,” he says. “Our contractors currently have work on the books, but backlog is starting to dry up. I also see that people are leery about starting new construction projects. With pricing and delivery issues, more and more people are hesitant to start something new.”

Industrial PVF is as busy as we have seen it.

Business this year has been much stronger than we anticipated. -Paul Andruskiewicz, The Collins Companies Joe Pro, president of Aston, Pennsylvania-based PVF manufacturer Penn Machine, cites rising interest rates slowing the economy down, and rising wages and the difficulty in hiring new employees as two cautionary topics.

“2022 got off to a solid start,” he says. “That has slowed slightly in the second quarter. There is concern about the economy, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the upcoming midterm elections.”

For Jeff Camuso, president of Boston-based PVF distributor Charles D. Sheehy and the chairman of ASA’s Industrial Piping Divisions, eye-watching includes the consolidation of manufacturers and what they call in the auto industry “badge engineering.”

“As much as high oil prices help the industrial PVF oil and gas sectors, with the fed raising interest rates, we run the risk of recession, which can send things back the other way,” says Rob Raban, president of industrial PVF master distributor Industrial Valco. Shutterstock Photo

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“When you have a manufacturer that doesn’t really build their products, but simply assembles them or has another manufacturer put their name on them, our supply chain gets seriously compromised,” he explains. “When you are talking to a prospective manufacturer partner, ask some simple questions such as ‘Do you have a factory?’ ‘Do you have a CEO?’ I need to know that if there is a failure or

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a great opportunity, there is traditional management and manufacturing capacity in place.”

Puget Sound’s Stratiner says quality of product is a big concern currently.

“Supply chains were completely upended during COVID, but demand for products remains strong,” he says. “Manufacturers were forced to find other sources for raw material or components, as well as train new personnel as they had turnover, which has led to an uptick in quality concerns.”

Mike Abeling, chairman of Fontana, California-based Consumers Pipe and Supply, notes price increases also belong on the cause for monitoring list.

“Price increases are constantly changing the marketplace,” he says. “3% to 5% was the norm, now it is more like 10% to 15%.”

Abeling adds transportation, particularly into West Coast ports, “is an unbearable situation with no relief in sight,” he says. “Break-bulk shipments come into port and sit at anchor for three months or more before they can get unloaded. There is nothing we can do about it, except wait and pay the higher shipping charges.”

Looking into the crystal ball

All eyes appear to be on the U.S. economy going forward, particularly with constant talk of inflation, interest rates and a possible recession.

“As much as high oil prices help the industrial PVF oil and gas sectors, with the fed raising interest rates, we run the risk of recession, which can send things back the other way,” says Rob Raban, president of Rancho Dominguez Hills, California-based industrial PVF master distributor Industrial Valco.

“Hopefully, the fed is able to rein in inflation without sending us into a recession.”

Charles D. Sheehy’s Camuso cautions two things are likely, if not inevitable, to occur as soon as inflation slows down or contracts.

“Our inventories become devalued and our revenues suffer,” he says. “As patriots and consumers, we celebrate costs coming down, certainly fuel, groceries and travel; but as distributors of commodities, we must plan and compensate for those moments and the associated losses.”

Consumers Pipe’s Abeling sees prosperity continuing to stare at the industry for the rest of 2022 and into early 2023.

“Everyone is talking recession, but we do not see that dark cloud coming anytime soon,” he says.

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Lehman Pipe & Supply’s Josh Aberman says commodity pricing and alternative material options need to be monitored. “Today, more so than ever, people are looking for solutions to help combat price increases and availability issues,” he says.

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Puget Sound’s Stratiner adds: “We see the rest of 2022 and 2023 heading along the same lines as the first half of 2022.

We think industrial will stay strong, but see the potential for things to go south if projects get pushed due to the current cost of production and a potential recession. I think watching the major projects, such as the chip and battery plants, to see if they break ground and move forward over the next few months will tell us how the next few years will go.”

Penn Machine’s Pro feels the balance of 2022 “should remain good for PVF.” “The pent-up demand for oil and related projects is strong,” he says. “Natural gas and LNG projects will remain top priorities as Europe weans itself from Russian oil and gas.

Winter in Europe is right around the corner and the world will be faced with additional stresses on supplies. The midterm elections could create a shift in policy on fossil fuels and alternative energy sources.”

Eastern’s Milligan explains interest rates, midterm elections, inflation, potential recession, war in Ukraine and COVID management all are factors that will constitute influencing rolls with regard to future markets.

“It’s wait and see,” he says. “So, what can we do? What should folks be preparing for? Beyond managing expenses and inventories as mentioned earlier, take some profits and invest in your future. New technology, innovation, systems, automation and training are all excellent investments to lower your cost to serve and prepare your company when things do slow down, business flattens and efficiency rules.

Until then, be smart in managing your businesses and enjoy the ride. We have never experienced anything like this before.”

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DISTRIBUTION BEST PRACTICES

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Building a roadmap for distributor digital transformation

By Mike Marks A successful digital transformation is a multi-faceted process with the customer experience at its center. Distributors must know what they’re trying to build. What are the forces their customers are dealing with, and how are expectations going to change for them over the next three to five years?

Combine these questions with the overwhelming volume of new technology and beginning a digital transformation can seem daunting.

The key is to understand that digital investments are inevitable in today’s markets. There is a high cost of not doing anything.

To get started, create a digital transformation roadmap to guide the way to success, pinpointing what to invest in and how to minimize risk. This roadmap will also act as a launching pad for growth and increase shareholder value, encouraging customers to see you as their one and only choice.

As you build the foundation of your technology investment roadmap, consider these key elements:

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A lign your digital roadmap with your customer base and go-to-market strategies.

C reate a compelling value proposition for your customers.

T hink beyond traditional ROI calculations when evaluating technology solutions.

D evelop a framework to kick-start your transformation, or one that enhances or verifies an in-progress digital roadmap.

Where do you start?

Build a high-level innovation investment ROI model with upper and lower limits to track, while you go through the following steps: Executive research: Company leaders should make time to research and study their options. Talking to experts and peers, especially in your trade associations, is a good way to get reallife experience of the technology you’re researching.

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Create your North Star: Talk one-on-one with customers to gain insights directly from them, rather than your sales reps.

Use these conversations as opportunities to learn about your strengths and weaknesses as a business and define new capabilities needed to provide a value proposition for your customers. Run through scenarios so you can place yourself in the best competitive position.

Build and launch the minimum viable product (MVP): Design a multi-year investment roadmap, which includes a heavily funded first year to get your foot in the door. Monitor the progress carefully to see what aspects can be approved upon for the next year.

Consider how you’ll calculate the ROI: ROI for digital investments is different than simply dividing the benefit of an investment by the cost. To calculate the return on innovation investments, compare the profits of new products or service sales to the research, development and other direct expenditures generated when creating those new products and services.

Your organization’s North Star

You want your customers, when they look around in two to four years, to see your company as the one that understands their needs, is forward-thinking and is worth doing business with. To do this, focus on the customer experience and what you can do to align your value proposition to them.

Managing risk of an innovation investment

Without a tipping point to trigger action, the cost of not investing could be a slow death. However, there’s no need to completely overhaul your organization with new tech. To minimize risk, start small. Invest in a point solution, such as an ERP or CRM, to begin with. It’s limited risk, and the incremental short-term returns you gain will help fund your next investment.

Ensure that leadership is leading the charge. Invest with enough scale to warrant the necessary executive attention.

And routinely gather direct customer insights – not from your sales team. Sales reps are trained to listen to make the sale. Although they’re very good at reacting to threats and opportunities, they’re not trained to truly understand life from the customers’ perspective.

Track your progress carefully

Prioritizing digital initiatives is an essential first step, and it falls directly on the CEO’s shoulders. Monitor these five key performance indicators and share the findings on a routine basis, such as at monthly meetings or a formal quarterly review.

R eturn on digital investment P ercentage of annual technology budget spent on digital initiatives T ime to market of digital apps P ercentage of leaders’ incentives linked to digital T op technical talent attracted, promoted or retained

Moving forward – successfully

Do the research, set up the roadmap and don’t set unrealistic dates. Understand that the success of this investment lies in the details. Really engage the people who are going to use it and bring that input into the planning process. And if you hit a roadblock, realize it’s not really a roadblock. Ask someone who’s already done this implementation and ask how they moved forward successfully.

Segment your customers into winners, losers and uncertain categories. Consider where your winners will be in a few years. How will they react to change and what will they need to succeed? Shutterstock Photo

Segment your customers into winners, losers and uncertain categories based on whatever criteria you see fit. Then consider where your winners will be in a few years. How will they react to changes and what will they need to succeed?

Armed with these insights, you can build plans to align your resources to those future growth opportunities.

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The only roadblock is the capability of the team, and although that happens often, it’s surmountable.

Mike Marks co-founded Indian River Consulting Group in April 1987. Mike began his consulting practice after working in distribution management for more than 20 years. Over the years, his narrow focus on B2B channel-driven markets has created an extensive number of deep executive relationships within virtually every business vertical in construction, industrial, OEM, agricultural and healthcare.

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CORPORATE STRATEGY

Driving business agility: How agile is your company?

By Dell Technologies What is true business agility?

In today’s fast-moving global economy, business agility is paramount. New technologies are disrupting the business landscape. Customers, partners and regulators all have pressing priorities. Communication and collaboration are becoming ever more complex. And businesses must work harder to compete for talent. All of this requires the utmost agility. Enterprises that are slow to adapt can quickly become obsolete.

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In Dell Technologies’ report “Digital Transformation Through Automation,” the foundational point was made that in order to drive greater business agility, a business must automate as much of its technology and processes as possible. But this can’t really be achieved without creating a flexible and scalable backbone that’s based on a consistent hybrid cloud experience.

In today’s fast-moving global economy, business agility is paramount. In the current environment, it’s hard to

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overestimate the importance of agility. But what exactly does a truly agile organization look like? According to McKinsey & Co., the most agile enterprises share a common purpose and vision across the organization. They employ dynamic and passionate people. They empower their teams with clear, flat, accountable structures. They emphasize transparency, experimentation and rapid decision-making. And they remain continually committed to next-generation technology. Technology doesn’t impede these organizations; it empowers them.

Business agility requires analyzing information and making decisions at break-neck speed. Shutterstock Photo

Dell believes agile companies possess the following five characteristics: 1 Data-driven: The nimblest enterprises are data-driven, and they’re guided by a comprehensive data strategy that helps them achieve maximum value from their information.

2 Flexible: Flexibility is the hallmark of agility. In the new multi-cloud world, organizations that nimbly manage multiple cloud platforms bring new products to market faster, innovate more efficiently and deliver better customer experiences.

3 Hyper-efficient: Business agility requires analyzing information and making decisions at break-neck speed.

In today’s complex and volatile marketplace, companies that make well-informed decisions in response to changing market trends — and do so rapidly — enjoy an immediate competitive advantage.

4 Employee-focused: As the war for talent continues, companies that focus their employees on meaningful work differentiate themselves from the competition. By automating routine tasks, enterprises free up talent to spend more time on innovation — and increase employee satisfaction, thereby productivity in the process.

5 Customer-obsessed: In the digital age, the customer experience is king. By investing in automation, the most agile enterprises deliver highly personalized customer interactions, strengthening customer loyalty and boosting their long-term revenue.

Evaluating your agility

transformation — the modernization and automation of IT systems — is key to achieving agility. Indeed, according to a survey by the Enterprise Strategy Group, 81% of enterprises agree that their companies won’t be competitive if they don’t embrace IT transformation.

Yet modernizing and automating one’s IT systems can be challenging, and oftentimes organizations don’t know where to start. The first step is assessing where you are.

And to help organizations figure that out, Dell Technologies has created a five-phase agility curve that enterprises can use as a roadmap. Using the agility curve, companies can plot their current level of maturity while obtaining a structured roadmap for improving their agility.

Moving from “inefficient and rigid” to “transformative” is a journey, with each phase building on all the previous ones.

Once the transformative phase has been reached, companies can provision infrastructure in a highly agile way — consistently delivering new projects on time and on budget.

Phase 0: Inefficient and rigid

Phase 0 begins with the acknowledgement that infrastructure sprawl is depleting data center resources, and the organization is losing money due to legacy infrastructure. The business is focused on controlling costs, but lacks policies for business continuity, which leaves the IT environment exposed.

Next steps: B ecome more process-aware by establishing key performance metrics.

O utline operational inefficiencies that can be resolved by migrating workloads to the cloud.

O btain maximum flexibility by investing in a platform that straddles on-prem and the cloud.

Q ualify your requirements before moving workloads to the cloud, making sure your business requirements determine where specific workloads reside.

E xplore a shared responsibility model to determine your security and backup in the cloud.

Phase 1: Taking control

During Phase 1, businesses start to manage complexity using standardized tools and technology. They turn to different point products and vendors to fulfill a solution, yet the process isn’t efficient, and the project-based approach creates silos and inconsistent cloud usage.

In today’s fast-moving global economy, business agility is paramount.

Agility is key to delivering competitive advantage, and IT

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In the digital age, the customer experience is king. Shutterstock Photo.

Next steps: I dentify issues that block transformation and get stakeholders to agree on the severity.

M ake IT an active role in supporting cloud deployments.

A dopt a flexible consumption model that includes metering and dashboards, and that can be integrated with customer access points, such as mobile devices and sales portals.

C hoose a flexible cloud subscription model that allows you to easily expand and shrink capacity based on demand, requires no ownership and offers the option to walk away.

Phrase 2: Driven by IT

This phase is focused on data protection. Priority is placed on the disaster recovery objectives for each of the organization’s applications, and executives become analytics champions. The company integrates data sources and moves to centralized IT to drive decision-making for its cloud strategy.

Next steps: B uild a roadmap to chart out future IT and business workload needs.

P repare for automation by consolidating disparate management and ownership of clouds throughout the organization.

I ntegrate and start to automate processes across the enterprise.

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Phase 3: Differentiating

Once Phase 3 is reached, the organization begins automating its operations so it can free up internal IT resources to focus on strategic initiatives. The organization now has the ability to upgrade its operating model to add new roles and processes to support a multi-cloud infrastructure.

Next steps: A rchitect for integration, design for interoperability and consider new risks.

S tart to link strategic goals to the execution of specific processes.

Phase 4: Transformative

Phase 4 is the Holy Grail where data and analytics are linked across all programs to drive performance and innovation. The organization now has consistent infrastructure and can easily migrate workloads across clouds. It has simplified its IT operations for greater efficiency and control, has reduced its risk for greater stability and smoother transitions, and has achieved the dexterity needed to accelerate innovation.

Business agility in action

Over time, a relentless focus on agility pays off.

Organizations that automate their processes and transform their data increase efficiency, innovate faster, accelerate performance and improve their bottom line.

Editor note: These are excerpts from Dell Technologies’ whitepaper “How Agile is Your Business?” Dell Technologies is an ASA Association Partner and is the recommended small business/ IT solutions provider for ASA member companies. Visit www.dell. com/supply for more details.

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NETWORKING

Metropolitan Pipe & Supply’s Josh Brown was one of nearly 100 participants in the ASA Northeast Summit best practices roundtable session in Philadelphia. Photos by Mike Miazga/ASA.

Great ideas shared during ASA Northeast Summit Roundtable discussions in Philadelphia generate common challenges/solutions.

By Mike Miazga, Vice President Sales-Operations, mmiazga@asa.net The PHCP-PVF industry is predicated on relationships and the ability to meet each other face-to-face. To this day, even after the pandemic and the emergence of alternate forms of communication, the value of face-to-face conversation is worth its weight in gold.

And while it most certainly is great catching up with industry friends, customers, colleagues, etc., it has been wellestablished that the networking component of sharing best practices/trials and tribulations, also holds significant value.

ASA has seen that firsthand with the popularity of what it calls best practices roundtable sessions. These usually hour-long sessions typically feature a mix of distributors, manufacturers and reps at a particular table, and gained traction with the ASA Emerging Leaders group at its annual EMERGE conference. Those in New Orleans in May for EMERGE2022, got a strong dose of how powerful and valuable those best practices sessions are.

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Along the way, due to the overwhelmingly positive feedback ASA received, those sessions have been incorporated into other ASA events, including the very well-received Great Ideas Roundtable Sessions at NETWORK2021 in Las Vegas last November, and most recently at the successful revival of the ASA Northeast Summit annual conference in Philadelphia.

“As always, I find the roundtable piece of the conference valuable,” one executive of a Northeast-based distributor said after attending the Northeast Summit in Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia, some 100 attendees sat down on a Wednesday morning for a 75-minute best practices session.

Prior to the conference, a survey was sent to registered attendees asking what topics they would like to talk about at the roundtable session. The response was overwhelming and there was no way all the topics submitted would be able to be broached in such a compact timeframe.

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But what did come out of that Philadelphia session was a bevy of usable intel. Table-captain leaders were asked to submit notes from their sessions and an overall best practices report was sent to ASA Northeast Summit attendees.

Some Philly table captain highlights: Labor issue

Labor remains the biggest pain point. Employees are staying on for very short periods of time. People are demanding remote options that are not as prevalent in our industry.

Some report customers are poaching employees.

Highly compensated/long-term employees are knowledgeable but inefficient.

One table in Philadelphia noted supply chain issues are getting better in some categories, but there is concern for an artificial rush when certain bottlenecks open in manufacturing.

Interest in hiring for attitude and aptitude, less so for

Current business environment

industry experience.

Acceleration of costs seems unprecedented, but that can

The open order pipeline is larger than ever.

be passed along. Availability of goods is outweighing cost concerns at this time, but may be more of an issue with the threat of a possible recession looming.

Supply chain issues are getting better in some categories,

Showrooms are staying busy, but single-order values are

Inventory

but concern for an artificial rush when certain bottlenecks open in manufacturing.

Turns are down and valuation is up. The demand is still

strong and there is advance buying to avoid supply issues.

The purchasing formula needs to change, but nobody really knows the formula now. We are in unchartered territories.

Right now, we know warehousing is essential.

declining. The $5-$15,000 showroom order will be the sweet spot moving forward. Large dollar orders have tapered off.

There are challenges in trying to get material from ports on imports.

Companies are attempting to do more intermodal transportation to alleviate issues stemming from trucking shortages.

Some companies are utilizing outsource business such as Parts Runner and Uber to fill the delivery gap.

The economy is already desensitizing everyone to price

increases. Commodities may go down eventually, but most prices are going to stay up.

Training and education

Customers are more interested in technical training

sessions or field support. The “milk-run” type of sales call is not wanted by customers. Have a purpose.

Another pain point is the reliability of the information

The training and education piece was a hot topic during the best practices roundtable session at the ASA Northeast Summit. “Training from manufacturers must help participants better sell product/equipment benefits and features,” was a key takeaway from one table.

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pipeline. The level of information varies greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer and supplier to supplier.

Constant communication is critical to managing relationships. Transparency is preferred and respected, no matter how bad the news is. More ASA members should avail themselves to ASA business intelligence reports.

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More accreditation is needed for salespeople from manufacturers to bolster credibility.

Training from manufacturers must help participants better

sell product/equipment benefits and features. Likewise for reps and contractors who continue to see value in training credits and recognition. This can be achieved by more onsite, hands-on training at customer sites. Understand there are remote options (webinars, e-learning), but preference remains for live, hands-on training for contractors and distributors alike. Must offer tech (install and repair) and sales (value proposition) training options.

Customer relationship management: Information flow from the sales call is important. Some companies are having issues enforcing accountability with sales teams to report activities. Some assume a day off with no pay if no notes are entered. Telenotes, Salesforce, Rep Fabric are some of the platforms utilized.

Gerry Cooney of Cooney Brothers listens to a discussion at his best practices roundtable at the ASA Northeast Summit in Philadelphia.

Working with contractors

Customers are more interested in technical training sessions or field support.

Successful contractor engagement and retention coming from involvement in groups such as PHCC and other master plumber and mechanical associations.

Second half 2022/2023 prediction

Rep importance

Reps and manufacturers are spending more time creating demand for their products with engineers and specifiers, including spending more time on the commercial side.

Costs will continue to increase. Demand in some segments will decline, but service demand will stay elevated.

Q1 2023 appears to look strong, especially in the

commercial market. Planning for slower business in 2023.

Key to partner with the best reps.

One distributor has used their buying group joint marketing funds to pay sales staff to travel with reps.

Rep partnerships are critically important to both the manufacturer and distributor.

Future of outside sales

Manufacturers look at a distributor’s outside sales staff as

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an extension of their own sales team and distributors look at manufacturers the same way.

Outside sales will remain a significant and relevant part

of the business. Distributors will need to find ways to broaden the expertise of their sales staff through additional training or mentoring, including working more closely with manufacturers and reps on joint sales calls.

Compensation levels of inside vs. outside sales staff should be reviewed to address the real or perceived inequity as it relates to keys to success.

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NETWORK2022 November 9-11, 2022 Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park | Chicago, IL

Registration Details at www.asa.net