Wurth Industry North America has formed Wurth Additive Group, a US-based company that provides additive manufacturing services. "Additive manufacturing fits into our industrial customers because it helps create products that historically are either too expensive, too difficult to make, or too difficult to source," says Wurth Additive Group CEO AJ Strandquist.

Integrated warehouse management system and warehouse execution software platforms can provide flexibility and crucial information, according to industry experts and vendors. "A key benefit of this approach is that by bundling these solutions together, users can achieve the operational efficiencies they need more quickly, rather than needing to stitch together solutions," said Elisaveta Dimova of Honeywell Intelligrated.

US sales of Class 8 trucks increased by 37% last month for a total of 22,031 orders, according to WardsAuto.com. However, a survey of fleet operations by the American Trucking Associations' Technology & Maintenance Council found that 73% of respondents are experiencing delayed delivery of new trucks, and 63% of that group have waited 60 days or more.

Distributors can revamp sales compensation plans in response to the changing nature of salespeople's jobs by setting long-term definitions of success and using relative performance programs, writes Mike Emerson of Indian River Consulting Group. He discusses how to determine variable incentive pay and pick appropriate performance measures to evaluate.

Sales objections often represent a sizeable roadblock, but can also provide a valuable opportunity to address a prospect's challenges and concerns, writes Shruti Kapoor. In this article, Kapoor discusses how to handle common sales objections, including those regarding budget constraints and low interest levels.

Leaders need passion, but too much of this can make them resistant to change and overwhelm or intimidate people around them, writes Lolly Daskal. "To be an effective leader means being able to read the room and meet people where they are -- not where you want them to be," she writes.

Mike Hayes, a former Navy SEAL and National Security Council official, shares lessons learned from the military and public service. "When you lean into problems instead of running away from them and look at what you can bring to the table instead of waiting to be asked, that's how you show value -- and that's how others end up relying on you," he writes.

To help distributors move past the pandemic successfully, every new copy of INNOVATE TO DOMINATE ordered now includes -- at no extra charge -- a brand-new e-chapter called "Distribution Leans In: Stories of Resiliency and Innovation during the COVID-19 Pandemic." NAW has added this new e-chapter to give distributors immediate ways to apply all the lessons of INNOVATE TO DOMINATE as they emerge from the unprecedented challenges to a stronger business future. It's time for distributors to change the game and dominate the future of wholesale distribution.

With signs that masks, social distancing and, especially, vaccinations, may put COVID-19 in the rear-view mirror in 2021, we will explore in this third free webinar how the effects of the pandemic will change the distribution industry in the long run. Join NAW and Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein of Distribution Strategy Group on May 19 at 2 p.m. ET. If you can't attend, register anyway and we'll send you the recording. Sponsored by Oracle Netsuite. Register here.

Designed for C-suite executives, these NAW roundtables provide actionable strategies that will increase your company's competitive advantage. Companies belonging to this community are from distribution firms that exceed $1 billion in annual sales. You'll engage in thought-provoking conversations with your peers and hear from industry experts on topics that will ultimately increase your profits! Register today.