Everything to Everyone
Distributors must be aware of product safety and compliance, especially in the medical market (see sidebar). Ron Williams, director of marketing, Fey-Line & Reflectix, Edgerton, Minn., shared the following advice on entering this sector.
"Distributors should, in my opinion, concentrate on developing their own brand rather than product availability. In other words, become a true marketing value-add rather than a resource. If you're a resource, you're pegged as a commodity broker," he explained. "If you position yourself as an expert and provide solutions to questions they haven't even thought of yet, you become a specialist—and we all know that in the medical market, specialists earn the most for their time and expertise rather than family practitioners."