News and Trends

• Premier Farnell to sell BuckHickman
  Premier Farnell has announced plans to sell industrial tools distributor BuckHickman to the BSS Group. The sale is part of the electronic and industrial products distributor's plan to shift its focus to the electronic design engineer market. Electronics Weekly (U.K.) (3/21)

• Benefits value, not cost control, tops managers' challenges
  Benefits value has surpassed cost control as the uppermost challenge confronting employee benefit managers, thanks to rising health care costs, employee cost shifting and a maturing workforce, a new MetLife study says. "For the first time in the five years since we started doing this study, retaining employees has surpassed the cost of containing health and welfare programs as the No. 1 benefits objective," said Ronald Leopold, MetLife's VP of employer sponsored benefits. BenefitNews.com (3/12)

• Other News

• Actuant's sales increase 24% in Q2
  Industrial Distribution (3/22)

• Arrow Electronics division increases offerings through new agreement
  Evertiq.com (3/21)

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Best Practices

• The future for IT in wholesale distribution
  All wholesaler-distributors need to analyze their current IT systems and consider what upgrades are needed in light of the "rapid state of change" going on in the industry, says Merrifield Consulting Group Inc.'s president. He adds that figuring out the best IT solution requires every business, no matter what its size, "to upgrade their thinking assumptions and written-down, question maps in order to have better discussions on how to measure the multi-faceted concept of 'best total value' for their specific context." The Merrifield Consulting Group (3/22)

• Power of persuasion in the business world
  Learning to be a skilled persuader is vital in today's workplace. Many offices now have linear command structures rather than hierarchical, so getting what you want done might mean getting approval from an entire team of people. The Washington Post (3/18)

Sales

• E-mail communications should be value-driven
  E-mail works best when used in combination with face-to-face meetings and personal calls. Give recipients a beneficial e-mail that adds value, but be concise and give thought to what you're writing before you click send. American City Business Journals (3/19)

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by NAW SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Grainger names top 2006 suppliers (Progressive Distributor)

• Simple mathematics behind sales increases (CEO Strategist)

• Status of the cold call (BusinessWeek)

• Strong demand boosts Graybar in '06 (American City Business Journals)

• How to handle low-performers (SalesForceXP)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Small Business Manager

• Chain offers computer solutions
  Small and medium-size businesses usually call for help to set up their computer network, but they don't go far from home to find it. Now, CM IT Solutions Inc., a nationwide chain for IT outsourcing, offers a streamlined package for that sector, giving a little competition to Best Buy's Geek Squad. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (3/19)

	The Buzz(CORPORATE ANNOUNCEMENTS) Effective Pricing Management Leads to Greater Profits Learn pricing principles that can have an immediate impact on the profitability of your business in Strategies for Driving Profitable Revenue Growth for Distributors: Today and Tomorrow, a joint Webinar from pricing experts PROS® and Advanous® on March 28th at 2pm (EST). Please click here to register. Interested in learning more about advertising in NAW SmartBrief? Contact Henry Murphey at (202) 737-5500 ext. 245 or hmurphey@smartbrief.com

Executive Life

• Diet Coke Plus on grocery shelves soon
  Coca-Cola will launch Diet Coke Plus, a calorie-free soda fortified with vitamins and minerals, in April. "Consumers, including Diet Coke drinkers, are increasingly looking for more beverage options, and we wanted to offer them the convenience of a calorie-free beverage that is a good source of several essential vitamins and minerals, and one that delivers on the great taste that they have come to expect from us," a Coca-Cola executive said. American City Business Journals/Atlanta (3/22)

• Report: Tourist areas would be hardest hit by bird flu
  States with a heavy reliance on entertainment and tourism, such as Nevada and Hawaii, would likely get hit the hardest from a major influenza pandemic, according to a recently released report. The report predicts a pandemic would cause a $683 billion loss across the U.S. "In a pandemic, we will see people avoiding discretionary travel and avoiding large gatherings for the legitimate fear of contagion," said Jeffrey Levi, of Trust for America's Health, which conducted the study. The Washington Post/Associated Press (3/22)

NAW Insider

• Elevate your organization to the next level of performance
  The NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence and Deloitte Consulting have released Driving Growth and Shareholder Value: The Distribution Value Map. Known as the DVM, this extraordinary mapping tool helps distribution executives make crucial strategic and operational improvements through a systematic approach to higher efficiency, greater profitability, and added value to distributors and their customers. Use it to reenergize existing programs or jump-start new initiatives.

• Visa and MasterCard announce national processing rate changes
  Visa/MasterCard announced nationwide interchange rate increases effective April 2007. If you accept credit cards, these changes could significantly impact your bottom line. NAW has negotiated a deal through Solveras Payment Systems to lock in pre-increase rates if you enroll in the NAW/Solveras program before March 31. Visit the NAW/Solveras Web site, or call (800) 613-0148 for complete details. Some restrictions apply.

Weekly Poll

• Do you use e-mail as a sales tool?
  After voting once, check out the real-time poll results on NAW's All Access page as often as you'd like.

	Yes, I frequently use them.
	I occasionally do.
	No, I use other sales techniques.

Branch Manager Rexel CLS Waterford, CT Sales Manager ESP International Cedar Rapids, Iowa Distribution Center - Front-line Managers GRAINGER Kansas City, MO Sales Manager HireElements Seattle Account Manager/Branch Mgr 1 or 2 Valley National Gases, Inc. Bluefield, VA, USA

SmartQuote

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity." --Dorothy Parker, writer and poet