NAW National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors

Description

It's vital that your employees understand the realities of how the finances of your business work, especially in today's economy. That's where the three-volume Official Guide to Wholesaler-Distributor Financial Success comes in. It shows you how to transition all of your employees to financial management thinking.

Outstanding distributors need to attract, retain, and inspire Gen-Xers—the highly educated and sophisticated individuals who bring career expectations and demands totally different from those of their Baby Boomer predecessors. They want and need to know how their company is doing and how their work affects the results of the business. Getting these “newbies” into high-output mode rapidly is an economic necessity today, whether the new hires are sales professionals, supervisors, or management staff. This Official Guide is your key to providing your staff with an in-depth look into accounting and financial management concepts that will enhance their understanding and equip them with the know-how they need to succeed.

What Readers Have to Say

"Brent Grover has clearly succeeded in helping newer employees gain a clearer understanding of 'the big picture' of a distribution firm and how departments work together. He's taken complex financial concepts and woven them into each chapter, so readers learn what is actually going on behind the scenes. These books will definitely help shorten the learning curve for newer employees and department managers."

— Dan Blaylock, President, Adams-Burch Inc.

"Brent Grover has done a good job of targeting his specific audiences in each volume. I plan to add these books to our inbound training package for salespeople and new supervisory personnel. Anything we can do to train the next generation of managers and sales reps about how you actually make money in this business is work well done."

— Mark Kramer, President/CEO, Laird Plastics, Inc.

"The three-volume Official Guide to Wholesaler-Distributor Financial Success hits the right combination of sophistication and simplicity...it provides clarity and help for ALL the audiences within a distribution company. I plan to buy these volumes and use them for new hires and current team members."

— Julia Klein, Chair and CEO, C.H. Briggs Company

Extended Description

The purpose of this three-volume Official Guide to Wholesaler-Distributor Financial Success is to promote strong financial management in wholesale distribution businesses. Profit results improve for distributors whose team has a solid financial orientation, as well as the traditional devotion to customers, suppliers, and employees. Secure financial management in a company can be achieved when each employee has a firm understanding of financial concepts. Use this three-volume set with all levels of employees within your company and chart your course to the pinnacle of wholesale distribution performance.

Extra Features for Training New Staff

In the back of each book, you’ll find a valuable tool—a glossary of distribution financial terminology that your staff will find very helpful. Additionally, chapters conclude with a list of discussion questions to help you transfer what has been learned to your company. Taking time to answer these questions will pay off as you start the transition to more financially oriented thinking; and as the staff begins to see how your company makes its profits, how they contribute to those profits, and why profits are needed to stay in business. Sprinkled throughout the book, you’ll see a series of sidebars called “The Accountant’s Toolbox.” They provide an in-depth look into certain accounting and financial management concepts that can enhance understanding and appreciation. These information capsules can equip your staff with the language and know-how they’ll need to apply the approaches they will be learning about.

Volume 1—Exploring the Financial Fundamentals of Distribution is the basic training portion of this three-volume set, intended for people new to wholesale distribution. This volume is the textbook and study guide for your company’s introductory course in the following subjects:

• How a distribution company is organized
• What the various departmental functions do, and how they
  work together
• What various wholesale distributor terms mean
• How distribution businesses determine margins, manage
  assets, control expenses, and generate profits
• Why profits are essential, and how they are used to grow the business
• Understand the basic distributor financial reports
• Recognize what benchmarks and Key Performance Indicators
  mean.

Volume 2—Distributor Manager's Guide to Departmental and Branch Financial Excellence is perfect for managers of a department, branch, division, or entire distribution company. It demonstrates the value of using financial tools in making management decisions and the vital role that financial management thinking can play in your wholesale distribution business regardless of your product line, customer base, geography, or size.

Volume 3—Distributor Executive's Guide to the Art of Top-Quartile Financial Performance is more advanced and provides profit performance information for financially oriented wholesale distribution executives and other professionals in the company.

Subjects covered include:

• strategic planning for distributors
• financing growth through acquisitions
• strategic pricing and customer profitability analysis
• lean distribution and other popular pathways to higher margins, cost reduction, and greater profits
• top-quartile performance statistics, benchmarking, balanced scorecards, economic value added, and other tools for measuring distribution management excellence.

Order multiple copies and get a quantity discount: Employees get the most value from industry-specific training presented by people in their own company, and when they study and discuss ideas with their colleagues at work.