Genuine Parts' Motion Industries unit is acquiring Kaman Distribution Group in a $1.3 billion deal that will close in the first quarter of 2022. Kaman has 1,700 employees.

Ace Hardware is pursuing millennials, especially first-time homebuyers and do-it-yourself customers, with special marketing campaigns known as PR activations. The company is also considering greater use of TikTok and social media influencers, says marketing executive Jeff Gooding.

Orders of autonomous mobile robots will exceed those of industrial robots next year for the first time, PitchBook forecasts. Meanwhile, the market for collaborative robots, or cobots, is expected to grow from $475 million in 2020 to $8 billion in 2030.

Organizations without effective risk monitoring technologies are missing out on proactive measures and risking longer reaction times in the event of a disruption, writes APQC's Marisa Brown. APQC research found that organizations with slower response times also spent more on procurement compared with faster organizations.

Sales leaders often teach their teams to uncover prospects' pain points as they pursue a sale, but many buyers are motivated by the prospect of making gains instead of simply removing obstacles, writes Anthony Iannarino. In addition, change itself can be a pain, and salespeople must acknowledge this barrier as they try to inspire buyers to make a purchase.

The top three areas that business-to-business marketers think need the most improvement for better sales and marketing alignment are, in order, feedback between teams, regular team meetings and reviews of lead quality, according to a report from Convince & Convert and Ascend2. The top three cited by sales professionals are, in order, target accounts, content planning, and budget planning and regular joint meetings.

One way the Great Resignation manifests is when an up-and-coming star is given a new boss who offers little support, development or relief from too much work, writes Wanda Wallace of Leadership Forum, who offers five signals for such situations. "Feeling uncared for is deadly for motivation and destructive to performance over the long run," Wallace writes.

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