46 FEDA News & Views
OPERATIONS
Six Ways to Prosper in Distribution
By Michael E. Workman
President of Michael E. Workman Associates LTD.
mike@mworkman.com
Stick around long enough and it seems
you'll see the pendulum swing from
one 'right' way to do things to a way
that is completely opposite. We've been
wooed by cure-alls that tell us we must
move from, or to, models such as team–
individual; competition—collaboration;
c e n t r a l i z a t i o n – d e c e n t r a l i z a t i o n ;
hierarchical structure–flat structure;
spend–save; diversify–focus; and
insource–outsource.
It seems we continue to cycle through
the solutions, magic formulas and
strategies with little or no apparent
change. ere are a couple of things we
can probably agree upon. One, we are
living in a time of unprecedented change
and, two, the number of options offered
to us continues to escalate.
Someone once told me that all you
had to do to prosper in the distribution
business was to be effective at six things.
You had to buy low, sell high, collect
sooner, pay later, turn your inventory
more often and improve your operational
skills while lowering your internal
costs. Sounds pretty simple. Well, the
principles might sound simple and true,
but implementation is getting harder to
do. During this constant change mode of
business, it appears that dealers might
do well to keep in control of a few new
and a few old concepts. Most of those
apply to any business, but some appear
to be more dealer-specific. Hoping to
not insult your intelligence, lets look at
six ways we might effectively accomplish
those first six things more closely in the
coming 24 to 36 months.
PHOTO COURTESY OF EDWARD DON & COMPANY
