MRC Global reported fourth-quarter sales of $686 million, an 18.5% increase from a year ago, and full-year sales of $2.67 billion, a 4.1% increase from 2020. The company lost $4 million in the quarter and $14 million for the full year, although both were improvements over year-ago figures.

Distributors should hire one person to oversee analytics and add other employees to support them, as few people can handle analytics by themselves, says Tony Pericle, founder and CEO of ProfitOptics. The right person in charge "could assemble those resources in a way that allows you to build and then to maintain and then to also improve those systems moving forward," Pericle says.

Declining diesel prices and rising freight volumes contributed to an increase in transportation analytics firm FTR's Trucking Conditions Index in December, when it reached 14.45, its highest level since May. The distribution of truck drivers across the US remains more important than the overall number of drivers, and "the market could remain stressed until capacity stops shifting from larger carriers to smaller ones," said Avery Vise, FTR's vice president of trucking.

B2B sellers must update their view of sales to include lessons learned on the ubiquity of information, pandemic-related uncertainties and the trend toward greater autonomy among buying teams, writes Anthony Iannarino. "Those with a low-resolution lens will continue to struggle to sell effectively, unless and until they start facilitating each buyer's journey, taming the uncertainty that prevents change, and providing counsel, advice, and recommendations that improve their prospective client's future," Iannarino writes.

Distributors succeed at marketing when they offer differentiated, regular messaging, own customer lifetime value, customize promotions and measure e-commerce by more than online shopping carts, say Jonathan Bein and Ian Heller of Distribution Strategy Group. "At the end of the day, you want to really understand what you do best that customers care about and will pay for," Bein says.

Information we learn for the first time is more "sticky" in our minds than revisions or corrections, argues a recent study, which may explain why revised COVID-19 guidance seems to have little effect on behavior. Counteracting this phenomenon -- known as "continued influence effect" -- requires giving clear reasons why original information was wrong and why new behaviors are needed, says Maddy Jalbert, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington.

Leaders can't make improvements unless they are clear on what's working and what's not with their strategy, processes and people, writes Paul Thornton, who offers four steps for identifying new possibilities and delivering a compelling message for change. "If the first requirement of a leader is to define reality, the second requirement is to identify the best opportunities to improve the status quo," Thornton writes.

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