The MDM Podcast
The distribution industry is changing, with new players and technologies that will shape how you compete and sell. Stay ahead of your competitors with this regular series from Modern Distribution Management, and learn the trends and strategies that will keep you in the lead for the long haul.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 25 minutes
- Episodes
- 102
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
S10E5: A Breakdown of Fastenal's Decade-Long "Big Pivot"
All three parts of John Gunderson's November series on Fastenal's "big pivot" — which examined the distributor's decade-long transformation from a distributor dependent upon nationwide branches to on…
S10E4: Voices of NAW's Executive Summit
The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors’ 2024 Executive Summit was its best-attended such event in years, and NAW’s content lineup was ready for it. This compilation podcast features mini…
S10E3: How Singer Industrial Handled Several Years of Change
In the past two years, industrial rubber and fluid power products distributor Singer Industrial has sold off a business unit, rebranded and made over a dozen acquistiions alongside greenfield expansi…
S10E2: After a Huge 2023, What Does M&A Look Like in 2024?
MDM posted 403 news items in 2023 involving distributors, or manufacturers that sell into distribution. That blew away 2022 and 2021. So, how much M&A runway is still left, and what’s driving it? We …
S10E1: Cracking the New Leadership Code
Leadership has been a critical differentiator for how well a distribution firm has performed over the past three years of disruption. Leadership consultant, coach and author Alain Hunkins discusses t…
S9E14: Jennifer Murphy Says Distribution's Diversity is a Beautiful Thing
NetPlus Alliance has served industrial distributors and suppliers as a buying group since 2002, but its roots date back nearly 200 years. Its Owner, President and CEO, Jennifer Murphy joins to discus…
Quicktake 12.08.23: Report Card on Distribution Business Models
Time for a check-up on the state of the industry as 2023 ends. Mike Marks and Tom Gale review the shifts – seismic and otherwise – that have shaped the competitive landscape across the dimensions of …
S9E13: BradyIFS + Envoy Solutions See Many Ways to Win
BradyIFS and Envoy Solutions are behind much of the consolidation in distribution's JanSan, foodservice and packaging supplies verticals, and they took it to another level with their landmark merger …
S9E12: How Kodiak Grows through Local Empowerment
In just a dozen years, Kodiak Building Partners has gone from inception to No. 11 on MDM's Top Building Materials Distributors List, acquiring over distribution 100 locations along the way and now ha…
Quicktake 11.17.23: Price is Now Priority for Customers
The relative importance customers assign to the equation of price, availability and support has shifted in Q3, with important implications for distributors. And now digital is in the mix. James Dorn …
S9E11: Amazon Business is Just Getting Started
Amazon Business surpassed $35 billion in annualized sales in early 2023, and it has plenty of further expansion on its mind. The marketplace’s worldwide director, Todd Heimes, joins us to discuss how…
Quicktake 11.03.23: Fix Your Biggest Critical Constraint for 2024 Growth
It’s strategy season, and even optimistic predictions are for flattish overall industry growth in 2024. Mike Marks and Tom Gale talk through the bottom-line impact of focus in dealing with whatever f…
S9E10: The State of Innovation in Distribution
As distributors transform business models to stay competitive and close to customers, innovation has become a critical differentiator. NAW Chief Innovation Officer Bart Tessel and Applico CEO Alex Mo…
Quicktake 10.27.23: Drive Profit with Active Category Management
In this continuing series on executing a Profitability Playbook, James Dorn outlines ways to leverage manufacturer incentives, create strategic tiered suppliers at a product category level, and capt…
Quicktake 10.20.23: Playing Offense in Defensive Times
Mike Marks and Tom Gale discuss the data points from Q3 and what the front lines in distribution are saying about how the fourth quarter of 2023 is shaping. Plus five proactive things distributors ca…
Quicktake 10.13.23: Protect Your Pricing & Profit
With softening demand trends going into Q4, my conversation with James Dorn of Dorn Group busts the myths of not being able to grow both top-line revenue and margin in challenging market conditions. …
Quicktake 10.06.23: From Vision to Transformation
In a debrief on core themes from MDM’s 2023 SHIFT conference, Mike Marks and Tom Gale talk about a clearer vision for the future of distribution emerging, the transformation levers to get there, gett…
S9E9: Endries' Michael Knight on His Learning Curve, Coaching & AI
Michael Knight became CEO of Wisconsin-based Endries International in late 2022 after a long tenure with an electronic components distributor. He joins the podcast to discuss his first year leading…
Quicktake 09.29.23: A Profitability Playbook for Distributors
This conversation between Dorn Group President & CEO James Dorn and MDM CEO Tom Gale centers on how data analytics will prove crucial to distributors’ profitability in the year ahead, as the inflatio…
S9E8: Culture Misconceptions about "The Great Resignation"
The notion of "no one wants to work anymore" persists amid today's challenging labor pool in distribution, but Dr. Donte Vaughn - an expert in organizational leadership - says that's a major misconce…