Distributors that have proven resilient during the pandemic have learned to do five things, writes Mike Emerson of Indian River Consulting Group. Increased supply chain resilience and inventory visibility, transparency, stress testing, digital-influenced sales channel strategy and better use of data will all help distributors thrive, he writes.

Synnex and Tech Data have traditionally focused on different parts of the IT distribution market, although they overlap in their Americas businesses. If they merge as planned, their product offerings, partner programs and support services could be affected.

Supply chains need to completely move from paper to digital to save money, simplify operations, speed up payments and reduce errors, writes Brian Belcher, chief operating officer and co-founder of Vector. "By implementing electronic BOLs, driver workflow and mobile capture, companies can advocate for the need to relieve stress felt by shippers, retailers, carriers and 3PLs," he writes.

The Virginia-based Commonwealth Cyber Initiative is developing a resilient distributed positioning network and distributed coherent multi-input, multi-output network for a warehouse at a Marine base in Georgia. The networks will locate items within the warehouse and strengthen its connectivity using 5G internet.

Marketers can earn trust through their content marketing by demonstrating empathy with customer pain points and tapping subject matter experts for content creation, writes Zissman Media President Mindi Zissman. Create tangential content that's useful for your audience and tell inside stories about your company to humanize your brand and showcase industry leadership, Zissman writes.

Brands that want to tap into the rising mobile usage trend among Generation Z, Generation X and boomers can maximize app marketing efforts by employing contextual targeting for various media channels, aligning promotions to fine-tuned audience segments and avoid "interruptive ads," suggests Jonathan Harrop. "Today's mobile users expect high-quality, relevant messaging and seamless engagement and conversion experiences," Harrop writes.

Being aware of the thoughts and distractions that occur during conversation can help you be a better listener and more organized, says Ximena Vengoechea. "Investing in developing this crucial skill improves your emotional intelligence, strengthens your relationships, helps you collaborate better, and ultimately feel more connected to others," she says.

Failure manifests itself in three forms, writes Dan Rockwell: The arrogant who avoid responsibility, the humble who deserve a second chance and the manipulators who repeat mistakes even after swearing not to. "Deal firmly with the arrogant, gently with the humble, and shrewdly with manipulators," he writes.

In this free NAW webinar on April 6, at 2 p.m. Eastern, Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein of Distribution Strategy Group and Alex Moazed of Applico will bring you the latest thinking on marketplaces. They'll evaluate the marketplace strategic options available to distributors, such as becoming a third-party seller on a merchant-owned marketplace, becoming a third-party seller on a marketplace not owned by a merchant, building your own marketplace, the imperative for an industry-owned marketplace, and opting out of marketplaces. Register now! Sponsored by Oracle Netsuite and Zoro.

NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence Fellow Mike Marks writes, "The field sales rep is as American as baseball. But the traditional role of the B2B field sales rep was on a steady decline even before the pandemic, as we have lost roughly 25% of the B2B field sales jobs since 2015. In the wake of COVID-19, with tighter budgets and a spike in e-commerce use, transforming bloated market-serving sales teams into a lean market-making force has become even more vital to distributors' survival." Read his post.

NAW and Distribution Strategy Group have launched a seven-part free series called, "Adding Value in a Post-Pandemic World: New Leadership Strategies for Distributors." We'll focus on innovative ways for distributors to differentiate themselves from industry disruptors. Distributors will understand the challenges facing the industry over the next decade, and will be armed with new modes of thinking and information to build robust strategies with staying power. Each part includes a free research report to download and a free webinar to watch live and on demand. Sponsored by Oracle Netsuite and Zoro.