The world has changed, vendors changing, distributors need too

Frank - This is an old problem but just very much accelerated within the new dynamics of the market. I founded the largest distributor in Europe, the third largest in the world - and still have connections into the distribution - so i guess I know what you are talking about.

The owners and managers running a distributor, with extremely rare exceptions, are old, the prototype of inflexible, and averse of any change. They just sit and hope the "good old days" come back. They don't. New distributors will take the butter from their bread before they even realize it.

You describe the problem in a perfect way - they lose the connections and have no clue what is going on. John Chambers is fighting since 2 years that the channel need to embrace social media. But what is the channel doing? Nothing - zero - nada - just sit, wait and bitch and moan about the economy.

Do more with less is a market dynamic since building harbors in Egypt 2,000 B.C. Distributors are no exception.

Now here is what a distributor needs to do:
1) Get a hold of all their current contacts and create relations in the social web. If any connection moves, they know within 24 hours. There is no way that who ever moves is telling the WORLD that they just did.
2) Do the same with their resellers as this is an identical problem - always was.
3) Build a social bond with the vendors that go beyond the margin conversation, logistics issues or channel conflicts.
4) Build a social bond with the channel partners, VARs, dealers, brokers, agents, whatever we call them and understand what is on top of their minds. This will lock partners more than 2% additional discount.

I'm rolling out a new partner program for our partners that is almost entirely social media based. Not all vendors are that far - but a distributor can't say "It's the vendors fault if my business sucks".

Axel
http://xeesm.com/AxelS
(my social map)

Practical Application of Social Media in Distribution

Axel
I think you are right. Social networking has moved from a cool gimmick for college kids to a workable tool for business. Recessions tend to accelerate trends. This one is no different. Folks who had no idea what social media was all about started thrashing around on places like www.linkedin.com as soon as they found themselves without a job. It’s too bad in some ways, but great in others.

The past 18 months has been megacorp musical chairs. When clients ask me how I manage to keep track of so many people on the supplier side of distribution, I smile and say, “Well it’s my job”. One critical tool for me is social networking. By the time we come out of the recession, we will find a whole bunch of people who learned it. To those who do not learn it – beware.