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“The manufacturers only seem to cater to big
distributors who do a high volume with them.”
“Stop selling direct. Manufacturers should not
compete with their distributors.”
“Manufacturers should discourage discounted
pricing, especially online. How can we compete when they're selling
10 percent below cost?”
“Suppliers have gone too thin on outside coverage.
How is one rep supposed to cover seven states?”
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
FROM DISTRIBUTORS |
- What does it really cost to make your product?
- What are your profit margins?
- Am I getting the best price?
- How are you pricing me compared to my competitor?
- Are you giving better pricing or terms to
the mega-distributors?
- Why isn't your company more attentive to small
distributors?
- How willing are you to work with buying groups?
- How is it that the major gas suppliers always
seem to raise prices by the same amount at the
same time?
- Why are there so many surcharges on your product?
- Why do you sell through big-box stores?
- Why do you sell direct?
- What are your future plans for selling direct
versus working with distributors?
- How much of your product comes from overseas?
- What goes into hiring your factory reps?
- Who really makes the decisions there?
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“Manufacturers treat me like an account number
rather than a customer.”
“There's no respect for the longevity we have
with some of our manufacturers.”
“Limit distribution! If everybody on the street
has a product, then there's no value in us having it.”
“We only ever see sales reps from our manufacturers.
I'd like to see the top dogs once in a while too.”
“Sometimes it takes much, much longer to get
an answer from the factory than it should.”
“Too many of the manufacturers' upper management
are professional managers, not welding people. They don't understand
the industry.”
“We show our manufacturers loyalty, but we don't
feel like they're showing us the same.”
“Everything these days seems to be assembled
in the USA, not made here.”
“Different reps in different parts of the country
give us different prices on different days. Why can't it be onsistent?”
“There's so much turnover now, thanks to all
the consolidation, that it's getting harder to form lasting elationships.”
“Phone menus are a nuisance. I want to talk
to a real, live person.”
“Problems should be resolved quickly. There've
been times when I've had to wait a year to resolve a problem with
an invoice. A year!”
“When they started selling through the big-box
stores, they pretty much turned their backs on all the distributors
ho had built those products' brand recognition.”
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