Thanks Mark. We are using bots to decipher incoming vendor docs, much as we would rather have them pass us the info electronically. I really wish AI could take our customers out to dinner and the game, so hard to find younger people who want to be social with customers. Maybe AI could help take care of me in my old age, would be great. The more help the better I say.
The need to form alliances must be prevalent enough for action. When a major pharmaceutical company explained to us that they were parting ways with us in order to gain national consistency in service we were then compelled to take the matter seriously. So, we formed a consortium of the incumbent independent distributors to compete against the national distributor. Our pitch was that we had unique understanding of their facilities, custom parts already in stock, and would standardize product in order to better service them. Since we also had B2B relationships, we won, our friends did not want new people. The point was this universal need that brought us together. Unfortunately, the need is usually not addressed until it is too late. Thus the venture model where one forward looking company or person with an idea drives forward with a capital providing partner works. Not sure about that working with disparate industry competitors who don't equally see the impending crisis. But maybe to the point a humanistic approach, toward the future of the industry could work. Perhaps that reason could be how antiquated and technologically adverse the distribution industry still is today. If we see a need to be more hip with the times collectively, we might be able to convince the manufacturers to invest more in distribution as an industry. It is actually them holding us back by not investing in digital connections with distribution. We know they are also considering and investing in alternate channels like Amazon. Most already sell there. But then again no B2B relationships with Amazon. They might as well hedge their bets by investing m[re into traditional distribution. We do have the relationships and might be able to use them to stop these alternative channels. The manufacturers who are more all in on investing in the existing channel will be the ones we partner more closely with going forward.
Steve - thank you for sharing! Lots of great insights in your comments. Building on your comments, have you seen small to midsize distributors (or manufacturers) using AI? Maybe building on what they can do around, "unique understanding of their facilities, custom parts already in stock, and would standardize product in order to better service them." Or something else? I was listening to this podcast earlier today. At about the 16 minute mark, the guest, Max Tegmark, author of Life 3.0 Being Human in the Age of AI, shared that he gets excited at the idea of "little guys" leveraging AI. He explains that AI is not expensive and therefore, not just for the big, dominant players. Tegmark offers a few ideas, but more work is needed. I'm excited because I think in distribution, we too often think that scale is the only way to compete. Here's a link to the podcast:
Thanks Mark. We are using bots to decipher incoming vendor docs, much as we would rather have them pass us the info electronically. I really wish AI could take our customers out to dinner and the game, so hard to find younger people who want to be social with customers. Maybe AI could help take care of me in my old age, would be great. The more help the better I say.
The need to form alliances must be prevalent enough for action. When a major pharmaceutical company explained to us that they were parting ways with us in order to gain national consistency in service we were then compelled to take the matter seriously. So, we formed a consortium of the incumbent independent distributors to compete against the national distributor. Our pitch was that we had unique understanding of their facilities, custom parts already in stock, and would standardize product in order to better service them. Since we also had B2B relationships, we won, our friends did not want new people. The point was this universal need that brought us together. Unfortunately, the need is usually not addressed until it is too late. Thus the venture model where one forward looking company or person with an idea drives forward with a capital providing partner works. Not sure about that working with disparate industry competitors who don't equally see the impending crisis. But maybe to the point a humanistic approach, toward the future of the industry could work. Perhaps that reason could be how antiquated and technologically adverse the distribution industry still is today. If we see a need to be more hip with the times collectively, we might be able to convince the manufacturers to invest more in distribution as an industry. It is actually them holding us back by not investing in digital connections with distribution. We know they are also considering and investing in alternate channels like Amazon. Most already sell there. But then again no B2B relationships with Amazon. They might as well hedge their bets by investing m[re into traditional distribution. We do have the relationships and might be able to use them to stop these alternative channels. The manufacturers who are more all in on investing in the existing channel will be the ones we partner more closely with going forward.
Steve - thank you for sharing! Lots of great insights in your comments. Building on your comments, have you seen small to midsize distributors (or manufacturers) using AI? Maybe building on what they can do around, "unique understanding of their facilities, custom parts already in stock, and would standardize product in order to better service them." Or something else? I was listening to this podcast earlier today. At about the 16 minute mark, the guest, Max Tegmark, author of Life 3.0 Being Human in the Age of AI, shared that he gets excited at the idea of "little guys" leveraging AI. He explains that AI is not expensive and therefore, not just for the big, dominant players. Tegmark offers a few ideas, but more work is needed. I'm excited because I think in distribution, we too often think that scale is the only way to compete. Here's a link to the podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/max-tegmark-life-3-0/id1169885840?i=1000508347261