The MDM Podcast

In advance of MDM's July 10 Virtual Sales Summit, Tom Gale, Tony Pericle and Nick Pericle dive into what high-performance distribution sales models look like in 2024 and the deeper challenges that sales reps face in the marketplace today. Their discussion covers changing roles and customer expectations and the ways in which technology, including AI, can help reps elevate their game.

MDM posted 403 news items in 2023 involving distributors, or manufacturers that sell into distribution. That blew away 2022 and 2021. So, how much M&A runway is still left, and what’s driving it? We chat with Brown, Gibbons & Lang Managing Director Kevin Sargent on that, as well as why distribution M&A is running much hotter than the greater manufacturing sector.

Mike Hockett chats with Terry Albrecht, who has been led Green Bay, Wisconsin-based Packer Fastener since co-founding the company when he was 22. They discuss how the distributor's culture and unconventional hiring and retention practices have worked wonders.

Decades before digital transformation became an imperative, Jay Platt, CEO of Blue Volt and former CEO of Platt Electric, was on a mission to improve how his customers, team members and vendors could access information – whether for training, customer support or building a stronger company culture. He’s still at it.

Speed wins in distribution. The ability to recognize and respond to threats and opportunities defines winners. Mike Marks talks about culture as the critical differentiator in periods of uncertainty, and the industry transition from traditional command-and-control leadership.