SpartanNash has opened a $10 million Fargo, N.D., distribution center. The 80,000-square-foot facility features energy-efficient cooling and lighting systems while stocking 1,600 types of goods.

When distributors and manufacturers team up for joint calls, they can provide product training for customers, deal with specific product issues and help salespeople handle the range of products and questions, writes consultant Frank Hurtte. "If the manufacturer's guy isn't out with you, they are more likely providing this value to one of your competitors," he writes.

Many business-to-business sellers have either focused exclusively on digital tools or failed to make use of them, creating disagreement with buyers who seek experiences that combine digital and traditional approaches, write Jason Michaels and Kevin Doohan of Accenture Interactive. Finding the right balance is critical at a time when over 40% of B2B buyers have recently changed sellers, they argue.

Business-to-business marketers should seek to evoke emotions such as trust and confidence, and developing buyer personas is vital to understanding target prospects and their emotional needs, Rachel Cunningham writes. She explains how emotions can be engaged with simple changes to marketing copy that transform it from coldly factual to gently pushing emotional triggers.

Team members who fear their leaders are less creative, less thoughtful and less compliant, writes Harrison Monarth. "A leader who can inspire her staff with her vision can get their full commitment without resorting to scare tactics," Monarth writes.

Leaders have a responsibility to help employees grow but often want to do the work for them instead of asking good questions and implementing a flexible development plan, writes Julie Winkle Giulioni. Good leaders, she writes, "understand that they are the spark that helps ignite insights in others."

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Benj Cohen, entrepreneur of AI technology and third-generation distributor, says, "There is no question that AI personalization increases B2C sales. In this post, however, I want to explain how personalization works, and why it is so effective at increasing sales in B2C and B2B settings. I'll also sketch out a few unique ways that distributors can use data-driven personalization to increase multi-channel sales." Read his post.