Building materials distributor Palmer-Donavin has announced that Chief Financial Officer Robyn Pollina will become CEO on Aug. 1. Pollina replaces Ron Calhoun, who is retiring.
More than 800 third-party logistics providers and 3,200 long-distance trucking businesses got loans worth more than $150,000 each from the US government under the Paycheck Protection Program, according to reports. Dozens of Amazon delivery contractors reportedly received loans ranging from under $350,000 to at least $1 million.
Warehouses that feature smart technology are helping online merchants keep up as the pandemic and other forces reshape the market. Distributors want technology that will enable them to make warehouse operations more efficient and less expensive. "Our job is to find ways to make that happen for them," says Will O'Donnell of Prologis Ventures.
The growth of external delivery options means that distributors should reevaluate owning a large fleet of delivery vehicles, writes John Gunderson. "The COVID-19 disruption is just accelerating the move from DIY delivery to more outsourced delivery, making it a critical time to look at possible changes," he writes.
The riskiest thing that sales organizations can do during tumultuous times is resist change and continue to do things as they've been done in the past, writes David Brock. Instead of grasping at traditional practices and familiar patterns, companies must "rapidly reinvent, restructure, and redefine" how they work and help their customers achieve success, Brock writes.
Business-to-business companies should improve their e-commerce experience to appeal to stressed buyers during the pandemic by offering real-time inventory and creating visual and written content that accurately showcases products, Joe Harris writes. Provide fast shipping options and real-time order tracking and enable self-serve reordering, he recommends.
Frequent video calls during the work day is leading to screen time overload and "Zoom fatigue" among many employees, writes Stacy Adams, head of marketing at Vyond. Adams outlines ways training leaders can help relieve this fatigue, including by offering asynchronous video and letting workers choose not to turn on their cameras.
Leaders can ease the pain of layoffs in how they deliver the news and by the compensation offered, write Kellogg School of Management professors Kent Grayson and Sanjay Khosla. "When the business conditions improve, valued employees will likely be eager to return, in part because of the trust that has been established with the team," they write.
NAW's new project, "How Technology Will Transform Wholesale Distribution," will help forward-thinking distributors to develop successful marketplace strategies, form new methods of differentiation, and survive and thrive through the digital transformation and disruption before us. To ensure that our research includes the advanced technology distributors are using now or contemplating using, please take 7-9 minutes to complete this survey. All answers will be kept confidential.
Are you well-informed about different best practices and knowledge in our industry? If not, NAW's Top 10 E-book List can help get you up-to-speed quickly so you and your business can stay competitive in these challenging times.
