Google parent company Alphabet held a confidential meeting last week with representatives from FedEx and other companies to consider opportunities for business and investment in e-commerce logistics and fulfillment. The topics discussed included predictive analytics and drone delivery, sources said.

In an effort to boost grocery sales, Amazon is offering a two-hour delivery service for Prime members in over 20 metropolitan areas at no additional charge. Opening more Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers over the past year has allowed the retailer to offer free two-hour delivery, Vice President Stephenie Landry said.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says NASA's vision is for at least one US city to develop air traffic control systems for commercial drones by 2028. "They could be carrying cargo or could be carrying people, doing thousands of missions every day," he said in remarks at the Commercial USV Expo in Las Vegas.

AnyMind Group's Chris Lu explains why business-to-business marketers and human resources teams must work together to improve employee engagement and work culture to boost customer experience and employee advocacy. Use regular feedback mechanisms for employees to understand their passion points, as "[d]eveloping content that employees want to share and are proud of sharing adds a different viewpoint towards employee advocacy -- providing a more authentic and organic angle to marketing content," he writes.

Christa Tuttle offers business-to-business marketers tips on how to engage prospects via experiential marketing, including the need to understand the preferred channels of their audiences and incorporating storytelling into innovative experiences. Share brand experiences via social to create a buzz and "learn and adjust your experiential strategy as you go to ensure it's attuned to both your brand and your audience," she writes.

Listen carefully, ask how you can help and inquire about difficulties potential leaders on your team are experiencing rather than "directing and telling," writes Pamela McLean. "Developing talent is one of the most important jobs of great managers and leaders and it all starts with how you show up, communicate and believe about your people," she writes.

Leaders can create a toxic work environment when they constantly complain, second-guess themselves in front of their employees, micromanage and play favorites, writes Lolly Daskal. "This misuse of leadership will trickle down into their organization, causing distress, betrayal, frustration and anger, and eventually leading to an unsuccessful culture and working environment," Daskal writes.

NAW Institute Fellow Mark Dancer and Mike DeCata, President and CEO of Lawson Products, will have a lively and informative discussion about how distributors can lead in the age of B2B innovation, defeating disruption and reinvigorating our business economy through digital transformation. Register for NAW's Nov. 14 "Welcome to the Age of B2B Innovation" webinar, sponsored by PROS. Can't attend? Register anyway and we'll send you a webinar replay link.

This study brings together best practices from leading distributors and their suppliers that were developed through a consortium on Optimizing Channel Compensation. The resulting Channel Alignment Framework is the first-of-its-kind map that seeks to build optimal manufacturer-distributor channels. Distributors need to read this book and buy it for their manufacturer partners. Then they need to sit down with those suppliers and properly plan effective processes to get the supplier market access while meeting distributor investment needs.

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