On Money Ball, The Oakland A's and The Electrical Industry (Part 2 of 4)
Bill Floyd
Click here to read Part 1
Part one of this article examined the quandary that Paul DePodesta and Billy Beane faced in Money Ball. How do they win when they had a fraction of the money and resources that their competitors had? The article draws a parallel to the electrical industry and the technical challenges that most suppliers and wholesalers face when they easily outspent by behemoths like Granger, Amazon and other big guys. Our solution: Get serious about studying the solutions, get creative and refuse to continue with the status quo. Open your eyes and see MORE than you want to see. See what you NEED to see.
Granted, many seminars on technology solutions in the electrical industry leave its attendees more confused than enlightened. Well let's cut through all the noise. ElectricSmarts has been at this for 15 years now and have hundreds of partners. Using our ElectricSmarts model as examples here are several practical, inexpensive ways to proceed, to be creative, to change the game, and play to your advantage.
Strategy 1: Use a third party like ElectricSmarts to share costs and utilize a reservoir of technical expertise and talent that you don't have to pay for. Technology is expensive.
Years ago manufacturers realized that it was damn expensive for each of them to send company salesmen into every territory in the country. The cost was high to support, invoice, finance, and collect debts for all those customers. Hence, the birth of the distributor and today's supply channel model. The distributor apportioned those costs among the many suppliers and customers they served. Technology is no different. Everybody doing their own thing is extremely expensive and marginally effective. Do you have the right team to understand today's technology? Do you know if the strategy in which you've heavily invested is on the verge of becoming obsolete? Do you even know the right questions to ask. Is your technology team really very smart or just smarter than you?
Here's just one example of the benefit of how NOT going it alone is an enormous benefit. ElectricSmarts has created a great mobile app template that includes: one or more Manufacturer's Catalogs (depending on who it's created for), IDW data, Spec Sheets, Videos, latest Products and more. The cost for a Manufacturer or Distributor to replicate this is easily a six figure expenditure. The cost to get it from ElectricSmarts roughly $2,500 a year. ElectricSmarts also assumes all support, research, and maintenance. If the technology changes, it up to Esmarts to update it and to deal with the changes that the likes iTunes imposes. It's also on Esmarts to look ahead and make sure your mobile app remains relevant. Like Money Ball, this team approach is thinking outside the box and a way to multiply resources, tap into external expertise and keep your costs in check.
Next Issue - Part 3:More real inexpensive examples to succeeding with technology next issue.
For both Distributors and Manufacturers relying only on your own ability to attract viewers to your website leaves an awful lot of industry eyeballs on the table. Contact us: BFloyd@ElectricSmarts.com. We'll tell you more.
Part one of this article examined the quandary that Paul DePodesta and Billy Beane faced in Money Ball. How do they win when they had a fraction of the money and resources that their competitors had? The article draws a parallel to the electrical industry and the technical challenges that most suppliers and wholesalers face when they easily outspent by behemoths like Granger, Amazon and other big guys. Our solution: Get serious about studying the solutions, get creative and refuse to continue with the status quo. Open your eyes and see MORE than you want to see. See what you NEED to see.
Granted, many seminars on technology solutions in the electrical industry leave its attendees more confused than enlightened. Well let's cut through all the noise. ElectricSmarts has been at this for 15 years now and have hundreds of partners. Using our ElectricSmarts model as examples here are several practical, inexpensive ways to proceed, to be creative, to change the game, and play to your advantage.
Strategy 1: Use a third party like ElectricSmarts to share costs and utilize a reservoir of technical expertise and talent that you don't have to pay for. Technology is expensive.
Years ago manufacturers realized that it was damn expensive for each of them to send company salesmen into every territory in the country. The cost was high to support, invoice, finance, and collect debts for all those customers. Hence, the birth of the distributor and today's supply channel model. The distributor apportioned those costs among the many suppliers and customers they served. Technology is no different. Everybody doing their own thing is extremely expensive and marginally effective. Do you have the right team to understand today's technology? Do you know if the strategy in which you've heavily invested is on the verge of becoming obsolete? Do you even know the right questions to ask. Is your technology team really very smart or just smarter than you?
Here's just one example of the benefit of how NOT going it alone is an enormous benefit. ElectricSmarts has created a great mobile app template that includes: one or more Manufacturer's Catalogs (depending on who it's created for), IDW data, Spec Sheets, Videos, latest Products and more. The cost for a Manufacturer or Distributor to replicate this is easily a six figure expenditure. The cost to get it from ElectricSmarts roughly $2,500 a year. ElectricSmarts also assumes all support, research, and maintenance. If the technology changes, it up to Esmarts to update it and to deal with the changes that the likes iTunes imposes. It's also on Esmarts to look ahead and make sure your mobile app remains relevant. Like Money Ball, this team approach is thinking outside the box and a way to multiply resources, tap into external expertise and keep your costs in check.
Next Issue - Part 3:More real inexpensive examples to succeeding with technology next issue.
For both Distributors and Manufacturers relying only on your own ability to attract viewers to your website leaves an awful lot of industry eyeballs on the table. Contact us: BFloyd@ElectricSmarts.com. We'll tell you more.
