There are many things that I love about our group NetPlus Alliance but one of my favorites is the diversity of our members. There is nothing cookie-cutter about our distributors; each is unique and every conversation that I have or visit that we make, proves this to be true.
Now this isn’t to say that our members don’t share the same issues; in fact, it is quite the opposite. Many have the same, ‘putting out fires/no time for the big picture’ challenge, but that’s a great benefit of your NetPlus Alliance membership: you can look to us for support and learn from each other. How do you handle the deluge of daily responsibilities in the distribution business and not be soaking wet all the time? What do you do with the constant stream of vendors showing up at your door, when you have customers to call and people to manage? You might be at this stage or you might be beyond it. Let me know what's worked for you, and I'll post your comments in an upcoming blog.
I posted a tweet this morning from Inc., on maintaining good vendor relationships. It made me think of something that I learned a while back that I still try to practice. A couple of years ago, I woke up early and a woman preacher was on TV talking about relationships. I was intrigued and watched a bit, and truthfully don’t remember much, except the one thing that she kept repeating, “You have to ask for what you want.” She wasn’t talking about being pushy, she was saying that the people you love/live/work with, want to know what you need. It’s harder than it sounds, but if you start to apply to maybe one interaction at a time, you will be surprised by the result.