DEALER FOCUS
Unapologetically You Examining why independent distributors will win the future.
“I’m just the middleman – I make the deal and send the goods. “Soft skills are soft – we have to focus on closing the sale.” “We’re too small to implement technology.”
Does the industry truly look and think like this anymore? Not according to Dirk Beveridge, founder of UnleashWD, a design, innovation and strategy firm that transforms legacy distributors into nimble and innovative market leaders. Beveridge, who just finished his 97-day We Supply America tour, will be a featured speaker at the 2022 FEDA Annual Conference. His presentation will explore what more than 175 dealers from a variety of industries experienced during the pandemic, how they responded and how they’re operating today. One of the most important findings
from Beveridge’s tour is how dealers stepped up during the pandemic – more than other industries – to take care of their people and their businesses. At the same time, they were forced by rapidly changing business conditions to suddenly shift to “tomorrow” by “embracing the hardness of the business and working tirelessly to innovate, improve and grow,” Beveridge says. That
unparalleled performance should not go unnoticed, nor should the positive contributions dealers made to their communities and employees during the lowest point of the pandemic. In recognition of those accomplishments and the new type of leader that emerged from this difficult period, Beveridge wants dealers to think of themselves in a new light: as the “noble generation.”
Despite these successes, Beveridge
recognizes that one of the biggest hurdles distributors face is how they see themselves. No matter how well dealers performed, contributed and evolved into a stronger industry during the past few years, many are still reciting the same false narratives and self-deprecating beliefs that hold them back – an enigma Beveridge finds perplexing. This damages the industry, Beveridge says, especially as distributors emerge from the pandemic ready to launch into an exciting new phase of innovation and profit. He notes it’s important for dealers to recognize how many of those assumptions they’ve already shattered in recent years. “These false notions need to be obliterated because they prevent dealers from recruiting and retaining top talent, outperforming the market and staying ahead of the competition.”
18 FEDA News & Views
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
