"Digital footprint" sales, including e-commerce and internet vending machines, constituted 50% of Fastenal's total third-quarter sales and were valued at $901.2 million, while e-commerce alone accounted for 18%, or $324.43 million. E-commerce is "coming from a lot of activities throughout the organization, which means it's becoming part of our DNA," President and CEO Dan Florness said.

Distributors should evaluate sales transformation advice to see whether it works for their particular sales process, methodology and model, which will require conducting internal research, writes Mike Kunkle, vice president of sales effectiveness services at SPARXiQ. "The real power comes not from having a prescribed answer, but by having a process or methodology to determine what you should do (perhaps even a hypothesis to test, to monitor, to shape), to get the result you want in your specific situation," Kunkle writes.

Warehouse renters are paying an average of 18.8% more for locations near major US airports that ship cargo, compared to regional averages, and as much as 37% more to be adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport, according to CBRE. The rising demand is likely due to factors such as nearshoring and supply chain disruption mitigation, and rents will remain elevated in the near future, CBRE says.

Supplier relations management is no longer siloed and now reaches up to the board level, with a focus on stronger relationships rather than repeated cost savings, Vendorful co-Founder and CEO Peter Bonney says. Bonney and Suppeco co-founder and CEO Sheldon Mydat discuss the continued evolution of SRM; its role in environmental, social and governance; and the benefits of robust SRM.

Sales managers -- and the companies that employ them -- must recognize that leading and coaching the sales team rather than getting buried in internal work is the only way to ensure they reach their quotas, sales consultant Anthony Iannarino writes. Managers can take four steps, including building a sales plan and coaching team members on prospecting, to give each team member several ways to reach quotas.

More than half of business-to-business marketers say their budgets are either flat or lower this year, with content creation and strategy and customer marketing hit hardest. Half of respondents said they are still expected to hit more goals than they did last year, and 58% expect their 2023 budget to remain the same or to decrease.

The death of a colleague can be traumatic, especially for those in leadership positions. Educator Fred Ende, a curriculum and instructional services director in New York, explains that he could cope better following a recent loss by "welcoming the grief," sharing his struggles over the loss with colleagues and allowing himself the time to heal.

National trends and the inflation rate factor into the calculation of employee raises, research shows, but this year's median pay increase of 4% -- up from the typical 3% -- covers only about half the inflation rate. Employers should also consider industry- or location-specific influences and whether they want to focus on cost-of-living, merit or market adjustments.

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