The Future - As We See It.....

D&L - Where Are We Going?

June 1, 2005

As the industrial sector of our economy contracts, our position as an independent manufacturers representative will become more and more important. In the past, manufacturers have gone to market mainly with their own sales force. There are many reasons for this but the main reason is technical expertise. Cost has now become a driving force and because of the intense competition from overseas (especially China), the manufacturer must consider more efficient ways to go to market. We feel that because of our ability to offer a full service of marketing tools, the concept of "outsource marketing" will be of greater appeal. D&L offers the manufacturer everything from local inventory to technical "face to face" contact with the end user. Many distributors and reps have widened their focus to include more and varied markets such as construction, welding etc. etc. D&L on the other hand, has given priority to what we know best - Industrial Distribution. We have even focused more, in that we have committed our resources to the metal working market. This has made it possible to gain the technical expertise needed to be successful. Manufacturing will be a smaller business in the future but we hope to be a "Bigger Fish In A Smaller Pond".

Nov 24, 2009 (4 years later)

Well, we just went through the big meltdown of '08/'09 and if I thought things looked bleak when I wrote that first letter (almost 4 years ago), the last two years really changed things. We all know what happened so I won't go into that and the main new lesson learned is whether or not America will stay in the manufacturing business at all. For the first time in our great history, The politicians and lawyers have set us on a course where our children will have a LOWER standard of living than us. They have literally given away our whole industry and the higher paying jobs that came with it. Now for the small companies like us it is just a case of downsizing and eliminating those good jobs so some of what we built will survive. The business we had up until the meltdown just is not going to come back. Even the larger bigger brands that have had their own sales and marketing systems now have to consider a leaner and cheaper method to bring their products to market. That is what we do better than any other alternative they may dream up. So now I guess we will hope to be a "Smaller Fish In An Even Smaller Pond". I just hope the politicians and lawyers don't kill the manufacturing business off entirely. Well they say that whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger but I just don't feel that strong after this latest beating. In a way our job is even getting easier because there is less and less people to deal with and because times are so lean that whoever is out there buying tools and supplies for their struggling manufacturing business, they just don't have the time to spend on vendors with new and better answers. Our real advantage is that we know what people are left and are already dealing with the greatest majority of them. In simple words we have access to the few people around who can do some purchasing to keep their business running. The good thing for us (and not so good for the principals who try to go it alone with their own sales force) is that they must pay an ever increasing demand for salary and expenses, and is not productive anymore because his salesman is what we call "On the outside looking in". On the other hand we are not, because we are dealing with all of them in one way or another and have the ability to expand source of supply through our system.

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