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Partnering continued through on this attribute, they really stand out from the crowd." Dealers surveyed also said theywould like to have more accessibility to the company president and other princi- ples; work with manufacturers that offer innovative products that fulfill real-world needs; respond quickly to problems; assist in demand creation; and have a true appreciation for its allies. "Some dealers bring more to the table than others in terms of truly adding value to the end user's experi- ence and purchase," said one respon- dent. "We need a vendor that has a pro- gram that rewards with true differentia- tion those dealers that provide addi- tional value." Distributors and dealers that partici- pated in independent studies conducted for the plumbing, heating, cooling and piping…had similar responses when askedwhat theywanted fromtheirman- ufacturer partners to improve business relations.More product options for their customers, a better competitive position fromtheir suppliers (pricing that guar- antees a profit), more pertinent train- ing,more realistic leads, and something called loyalty were among the most fre- quent responses. Both distributors and manufacturers were pretty nebulous in their definitions of support,service,per- formance, commitment, accountability, and something called loyalty, a long- standing concern that continues to ham- per forward mobility. It's pretty evident that in lieu of metrics,we relapse back on individual incidents and exceptions to a norm that has not been defined. Turning an EyeToward Progress It appears that two or three working points become crucial in developing this collaborative initiative sought by industry players: As long as there's a glut of prod- uct, and a glut of distribution alterna- tives, it'll become increasingly more dif- ficult to achieve those immeasurable factors. As long as there's a dependency on this cocaine called sheltered income, it'll be extremely difficult to incorporate mutual accountability, 1 4 FEDA News & Views individual growth, or a level playing field. Collaborative talk is just that 'talk.' We see very few relationships built on the factors defined.Trust is not a company factor, it's an individual fac- tor. People are loyal to people, not to companies.The very nature of the con- cept is extremely difficult to compre- hend. It's doable, but it's not easy. In fact,many believe it's the most difficult initiative one could undertake, given our history, habits, perceived entitle- ments, and personalities. There are a few givens concerning partnerships in distribution channels: • If you've seen one; you've seen one. • They are elusive, difficult to measure, short-termdriven, and inconvenient. • They require honesty, integrity, accessibility, critical assessment, and constant attention. • They are driven by individuals, and eventually become part of a culture; they are rarely accepted by companies or teams at the beginning. • They are limited; not everyone gets to play. • They are wrought with failures, which must be accepted, corrected, forgotten, and learned from. • They are metric neutral; there is no advantage to measuring or being measured, both must happen for all parties. • They are long term; beyond this business cycle; beyond this quote; beyond this deal. • They are not used to achieve short-termprofit margins; they are not re-negotiated with each opportunity to make the numbers. • IF done from the same end-game perspective, they are extremely lucrative, profitable, fulfilling, and provide the only real competitive advantages in the channel. Relationships continue to play an important role in channel choices, opportunities, change and profitability. If you can ever get to a point where you can at least agree onwhat'smore impor- tant long term, than a short-term fix or short-term profit, and can agree to do business based on that, then you've taken the first step toward change. There are no magic formulas—just hard work. Pick one player, give yourself five years and never believe it's 50/50. Both allies have to commit to more than 50 percent to make it work. It's top down, not bottom up. Metrics are bigger than sales, margins, errors, or competition; they're based on what can be, not what was. Lastly, no amount of planning or business discipline can replace all ran- dom influence; so cultivating the right relationships seems to be a matter of identifying a need in someone's strate- gy—and nurturing it. u A Guide to Measuring the Facts On the right is a portion of the supplier report card Mike Workman helped develop for a major contractor rollup in the HVAC industry. The initiative was part of a common meas- ures program all parties involved agreed on in an effort to cut costs and improve per- formance. A major sticking point of the plan: the contractor would only partner with suppli- ers that agreed to use mutual measures to define business activities and priorities (payables, quotations, expan- sion, etc). "Report cards point to mutual opportunities for improving the bottom line—but they only work if you consistently monitor progress, share information, reward improvement, and keep it a high priority," says Workman, adding that metrics are not designed to focus on what went wrong, but on what to focus on making right.