Fastenal earned $287.1 million in the second quarter, up from $239.7 million in the second quarter of 2021. The distributor had quarterly revenue of $1.78 billion, up from $1.51 billion.
The consumer price index rose 9.1% in June, according to the Labor Department, marking the highest year-over-year inflation since December 1981 and exceeding estimates of 8.8%. The core index, which excludes more volatile food and energy prices, increased 5.9% year over year, also surpassing estimates.
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Multiple steps in the supply chain are vulnerable to fraud, but companies can detect and prevent it by using blockchain and conducting regular internal reviews of employees and processes, writes Chris Cunnane. Blockchain is particularly valuable, because it keeps transactions visible and prevents them from being altered or removed, Cunnane writes.
Truck drivers ages 18 to 25 said they were drawn to the field by steady pay and the opportunity to use technology, although they wished they had had more information upfront about what the job entails and what skills it requires, according to a study by the American Transportation Research Institute. The study also found that 73% of young adult truckers heard about the job from an older relative.
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Distributors should rely less on manufacturers to provide them with quality leads and more on company websites, writes Frank Hurtte, founding partner of River Heights Consulting. Hurtte recommends paying special attention to prospective customers, as well as dedicating sales teams to larger customers to "build an independent lead-generation system."
Business-to-business marketers can give their strategies a boost by being proactive with customers in the early stages of the buying process, writes Loredana Niculae, CEO of marketing automation consultant NNC Services. Using storytelling to inform audiences about the brand's mission and then creating opportunities for customers to express themselves as potential brand evangelists are among the approaches Niculae encourages B2B marketers to consider.
The best leaders are those who surround themselves with great people, have both a view of the big picture and what it looks like in "the trenches," and are able to handle a constant barrage of curveballs, says Tiger Tyagarajan, CEO of Genpact. "You've got to find a way to duck some, figure out which ones you're going to hit, prioritize those, delegate a number of them to your team, and trust them," Tyagarajan says.
Organizational change often has to happen fast these days, so use these strategies to implement change successfully, writes Brenan German, president at Bright Talent. Identify your objectives, organize a team to carry out the change, make the change understood and use training to continue enforcing the change, German says.
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