One of our favorite go-to blogs in the distribution industry is The Distributor Channel by Frank Hurtte, founding partner of River Heights Consulting.

With over 30 years of sales and distribution industry experience, Frank has a lifetime of expertise to lend those in the industry. He recently completed a great nine-part series on how to construct a sales strategy for your company and sales team.

The beginning of the year is a good time to go over your strategies and see where you are lacking and what needs to be changed, beefed up, or eliminated. Going through this series by Frank Hurtte is a great way to analyze your strategy and tackle your 2015 sales goals.

Frank sugggests applying a sure fire three question test for strategic planning at the account level and then focusing on your top five accounts. Click on each link to pull up the corresponding article:

Part 1: Strategic Account Planning

Part 2: Knowing where you stand

Part 3: What do you know about your account?

Part 4: Prioritization of accounts

Part 5: What value do you bring to the customer?

Part 6: Sometimes, it’s not just what you know, but who you know

Part 7: How to think about opportunities 

Part 8: Follow the money

Part 9: Partners, allies, friends and money 

Tribute, Inc. is a leading provider of ERP business management software for industrial distributors and fabricators in the fluid power, automation, and motion control industry.