Views
5 years ago

SUMMER 2018

  • Text
  • Fastener
  • Fasteners
  • Products
  • Diameter
  • Pins
  • Distributors
  • Manufacturing
  • Industrial
  • Rivet
  • Screws
Distributor's Link Magazine Summer 2018 / Vol 41 No3

24 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S

24 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Laurence Claus Laurence Claus is the President of NNi Training and Consulting, Inc. He has 25 years of experience with a medium sized automotive fastener manufacturer, holding positions including Vice President of Engineering, General Manager, Director of Quality, Director of New Business Development and Applications Engineer. In 2012 he formed NNi offering technical and business training courses as well as technical consulting, expert witness and consultation work. He can be reached at 847-867-7363 or by email: Lclaus@NNiTraining.com. You can learn more about NNi at www.NNiTraining.com. THREE THINGS THAT DISTRIBUTORS MUST DO WELL - PART 1 Not long ago I was reading a business management book. Amongst all of the things that the author was suggesting, he had a chapter on the twenty things that you should not be doing. It was an interesting concept and one very reminiscent of my training in competitive strategy, where one learns that strategy is as much about the things you say no to as it is the things you choose to do. Anyway, this idea struck a chord and led me to set about putting together this three part series on three things that distributors must resist the urge to ignore, and, thus cannot do poorly. Although I am sure that there are a large number of topics we could place in this category, for this series we will focus on three big ones; Customer Service, Quality, and Training. Doing the first two poorly is a sure equation to lose reputation and customers, while ignoring the third places you at risk of becoming outdated and irrelevant to customers. I often teach on the subject of quality and will commonly engage participants in a discussion about what constitutes quality and why it is so important. Invariably the dialog boils down to two consequences of poor quality, lost profits and lost reputation. I often make the point that although lost profits are painful to experience, they have every possibility of only being short term. Loss of reputation, however, can, and often does, have long-lasting and permanent consequences. It is likely something programmed into the human psyche, but when we feel that we have been wronged or disabused, CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLE we often do two things, 1. Vote with our feet by dropping the supplier or service provider, and, 2. Get memories like elephants that condition us to never go back to that supplier again. As the old adage goes, “Fool me once, shame on you, but fool me twice, shame on me.” Perhaps the only other activity next to quality that is so easy to entrap an organization and damage their reputation is providing poor customer service. In my experience it seems that the only organizations that can truly get away with abysmal customer service and not go out of business are the undertaker and the IRS because as the old saying goes, we can escape everything except dying and paying taxes. Ironically, providing good, actually exceptional, customer service isn’t that hard, but it must come from within the organization’s culture. In other words, no amount of training or desire is going to all of a sudden make an organization excel at customer service. No, it must be a value that the entire organization, starting at the top, must possess. There are many aspects and individual characteristics that can be utilized to gage whether an organization has good customer service or not. The remaining portion of this article is going to explore five of them. Although every organization is going to have its own unique situation which will define the customer service activities and values that it needs, these five are relatively universal and can be applied to pretty much any specific situation. CONTINUED ON PAGE 102

  • Page 6 and 7: in thesummer 2018 issue of 6 DISTRI
  • Page 8: 6 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Goebel F
  • Page 12: 10 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Guy Ave
  • Page 16: 14 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Robert
  • Page 30: 28 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK ALBANY
  • Page 36 and 37: 34 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK COMPUTE
  • Page 38: 36 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Michael
  • Page 41 and 42: THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 39 Innovat
  • Page 44 and 45: 42 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK FASTENE
  • Page 46 and 47: 44 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK ROTOR C
  • Page 48: 46 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK INTERNA
  • Page 52 and 53: 50 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK INDUSTR
  • Page 54 and 55: 52 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK SPECIAL
  • Page 56 and 57: 54 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK MID-WES
  • Page 58: 56 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Jo Morr
  • Page 61 and 62: THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 59
  • Page 63 and 64: THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 61 AFIXX A
  • Page 66: 64 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK BRIGHTO
  • Page 70:

    68 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Earnest

  • Page 73 and 74:

    On June 7, 2018, SWD Inc. held a gr

  • Page 76 and 77:

    74 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK FASTENE

  • Page 78 and 79:

    76 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Anthony

  • Page 80:

    78 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK Wrought

  • Page 83 and 84:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 81

  • Page 85 and 86:

    NFDA 50th ANNIVERSARY MEETING & CEL

  • Page 87 and 88:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 85

  • Page 89 and 90:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 87 FAR SRL

  • Page 91 and 92:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 89 ABBOTT-

  • Page 94 and 95:

    92 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK NORTH C

  • Page 96:

    94 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK BENGT B

  • Page 99 and 100:

    SOLUTION INDUSTRIES LLC SOLUTION IN

  • Page 101 and 102:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 99 WORDSEA

  • Page 103 and 104:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 101 WOMEN

  • Page 105 and 106:

    J.W. Winco, Inc., A Ganter Company,

  • Page 107 and 108:

    SEFA SPRING CONFERENCE BIRMINGHAM,

  • Page 110 and 111:

    108 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK CARMEN

  • Page 112 and 113:

    110 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK ALBANY

  • Page 114 and 115:

    112 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK COMPUT

  • Page 116:

    114 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK MICHAE

  • Page 119 and 120:

    FASTENER FAIR USA CLEVELAND, OH - A

  • Page 121 and 122:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 119

  • Page 123 and 124:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 121 FASTEN

  • Page 126 and 127:

    124 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK BRIGHT

  • Page 128 and 129:

    fastenerlinks THE DEFINITIVE WEB DI

  • Page 130 and 131:

    fastenerlinks BRINGING YOU THE FAST

  • Page 132 and 133:

    fastenerlinks BRINGING YOU THE FAST

  • Page 135 and 136:

    NFDA 50th ANNIVERSARY MEETING & CEL

  • Page 138:

    136 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK JO MOR

  • Page 141 and 142:

    PAC-WEST 50TH ANNIVERSARY MEETING &

  • Page 143 and 144:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 141 CROSSW

  • Page 145 and 146:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 143 ZaGO M

  • Page 148 and 149:

    146 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK GLOBAL

  • Page 150 and 151:

    148 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK SOUTHW

  • Page 152 and 153:

    150 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK BRYCE

  • Page 154:

    152 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK ZaGO M

  • Page 158 and 159:

    156 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK ANTHON

  • Page 160 and 161:

    158 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK LARRY

  • Page 162 and 163:

    160 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK ROBERT

  • Page 164 and 165:

    162 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK MID-AT

  • Page 166 and 167:

    164 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK LAUREN

  • Page 168:

    166 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK SEFA S

  • Page 171 and 172:

    Earnest Machine is now offering dom

  • Page 173 and 174:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 171 NORTH

  • Page 175 and 176:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 173 Suncor

  • Page 177 and 178:

    MAFDA GOLF & SCHOLARSHIP OUTING APP

  • Page 179 and 180:

    SFA SPING CONFERENCE & GOLF OUTING

  • Page 181 and 182:

    NFDA 50th ANNIVERSARY MEETING & CEL

  • Page 183 and 184:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 181 SEFA S

  • Page 186:

    184 THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK SPIROL

  • Page 189 and 190:

    SFA SPING CONFERENCE & GOLF OUTING

  • Page 191 and 192:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 189

  • Page 193 and 194:

    THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK 191

  • Page 196:

    advertisers index # 3Q, INC. 84 Spl

  • Page 200:

    advertisers index I ISC - INTERCONT

SHARE A PAGE FROM THIS MAGAZINE

OPTION 1: Click on the share tab above, or OPTION 2: Click on the icon (far right of toolbar) and then click on the icon (top right of the page).

Copyright © Distributor's Link, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy