White Cap CEO John Stegeman says his company is well-positioned for growth, particularly through mergers and acquisitions, despite the challenges of finding labor. "If you're operating in North America today, I think one of the biggest challenges a distributor has -- and it doesn't matter what kind of distribution you're in -- is a war for talent, especially in light of a strong virtual labor environment," he says.

United Natural Foods posted fiscal first-quarter profit of $76 million, up from a $1 million loss a year ago. The distributor had total sales of $7 billion, up 4.7%, and noted that sales in its "supernatural" category related to Whole Foods Market totaled $1.4 billion, a 13.5% increase.

With US malls losing a third of their value since 2017, according to Green Street, some developers have considered converting the shopping centers into e-commerce warehouses or distribution centers such as the one Amazon has opened at a former mall site in Ohio. Though a viable option, malls for sale are frequently priced too high and transforming them into such distribution and fulfillment centers requires a significant capital investment.

Contractors that switch distributors cite, by descending importance, "people, process, products, and, to a much lesser extent, price," writes Lincoln Smith, chief strategy officer at HMI Performance Incentives, which performed the survey. As trust becomes more crucial and the pandemic changes how sales is done, "[t]he inside salesperson has become the lynchpin of the contractor-distributor relationship," Smith writes.

The consultative nature of modern sales means that salespeople are paid for the value of the advice they provide, writes Anthony Iannarino. "Because your decision-maker is engaged in a making a decision about their future, helping them understand how best to make that decision is value creation," Iannarino writes.

Business-to-business companies that go "big" with their marketing campaigns, such as IBM, Spotify and DHL, see success amid the "blandscape" of advertising common in the industry, writes Kalle Hellzen, chief creative officer at 180 Amsterdam. "Bigger bets are about retaining your distinctiveness and choosing to stand out, to be famous for something both recognizable and remarkable," Hellzen writes.

Todd Ordal offers 13 questions for leaders to ask about their performance, their organization, staffing and culture for 2021 as a moment of strategic reflection before 2022. "Yes, I'm sure you already have a 'quarterly business review' or some other type of annual planning meeting, but I also know that those become very tactical and judgmental," Ordal writes.