When I was in my second year of kindergarten—don’t ask—on my report card I received all “S”s, as in “satisfactory,” except for “U”s across the board for “Accepts constructive criticism.”
Not only did I not improve that year, I imagine “thin skinned” would show up on my performance reviews today—except my boss has learned it’s best to just leave it alone.
I say this to preface TBB’s annual Distributor Issue because industry suppliers keep the lights on here, and I’d hate for our good friends to overreact. But I’m using this page to pass along some of the comments included in “Talk from the Top,” MEMA’s first anonymous and candid survey of heavy duty aftermarket distributor execs and their feelings about their supplier partners. The polite summary of the report is included in our coverage of HDAW’24, but to borrow from the parlance of our times, this tea just begs to be spilled.
In channeling my kindergarten teacher, MEMA’s Shannon O’Brien (who conducted the confidential interviews) explains that the purpose of constructive criticism is to help us improve. She also noted: “Please, don’t shoot the messenger!”
So let’s keep that in mind as I share some unfiltered quotes from the report (or, again, just skip to the summary if your BP is being monitored).
On the topic Lacking True Partnerships & Poor Service Levels:
- You can’t call yourselves a people business and not have people involved. Suppliers have to figure this out financially.
- I expect better communication from suppliers!
- It’s amazing how many of them wait until there’s an HDAW to reach out and have a conversation with us. That is highly disturbing.
- When suppliers started tightening things, the more experienced folks were let go or left. A lot of the people that would go the extra step are gone.
- You can’t just show up and check the box on your CRM. You need to show up with an agenda and a plan. Most salespeople are not doing that.
- They need a more tailored approach to who they’re dealing with. You need to deal with the big distributors in a different way than mom-and-pops.
Read more: ‘3 Dragons,’ ‘4 Bulls’ presenting at 2024 Vision Conference
Lack of Focus on IAM
- Stay invested in the independent side of the aftermarket. The suppliers that are really sharp and understand where their margins come from are aware of that.
- I’m hoping a challenging 2024 economy will push focus back into the AM as being a valuable channel and re-focusing on growing this channel.
- The aftermarket continues to be an afterthought, and almost every supplier’s service level has deteriorated over the last 3 years.
- In the past I would hear quite often that distributors are “costs” in the value chain. It’s fair to say that in the last 2-3 years, the distributor came out of this supply chain challenge as being considered capable to take care of their customers.
- Sometimes the AM doesn’t get the appropriate time and effort from suppliers, particularly the big ones. I get that the OEMs are going to pay the bills, but what you’re seeing is this creep of new suppliers, private label, slip in .... and that proliferation will continue and hurt these branded suppliers if they don’t give the appropriate attention to the aftermarket.
Guiding Thoughts for Suppliers
- These “cracks” will allow some Amazon, Elon Musk or whatever to come in and swoop our business away. It will require a whole other level of trust and partnership integration to take us into the next decade or so.
- Modernizing the sales and marketing approach and doing a better job with the training: Technology can help with both of those.
- They have to look at their distribution model and make sure they are not creating situations where people may walk away from their product and make other choices.
- In the aftermarket speed and availability is everything. Suppliers have to get back to being fast and easy, and having some level of consistency.
- The best vendors invest time and effort in our relationship. They have a business plan. It’s hard to move the needle beyond the industry average if you don’t have a plan to get you there.
