Inventory management is a key skill for any wholesale distributor striving to be Best-in Class to master. An integral and often overlooked part of this is the management of Dead Stock.

Dead Stock is one of those silent killers that can significantly impact many aspects of a WD...cash flow, warehouse management, marketing, and profitability. It’s not unusual for a WD to have 40% or more of its entire inventory investment comprised of items contributing 1% or less to sales!

To learn how you can ‘Slay the Dead Stock Dragon’, FHB is hosting a Wholesale Distribution Seminar Series this month!

The trick as a good manager in an increasingly competitive economy is to identify how to continually improve your business. If you are not doing more for your customers for less money today than you were yesterday, you can be certain your competitor is. The question becomes therefore how do we reduce costs, improve customer service and generally do more with less?

For many businesses, technology provides many competitive advantages. With the ubiquity of high speed Internet access, one such opportunity is Web Based conferencing/training/support. FHB has used this technology for several years and our clients often comment on the benefits. In fact we now offer all our training remotely making training faster, easier and less expensive for our clients. Perhaps your customers would benefit too...

Are you comfortable making mistakes and owning up to them? Are your employees self-motivated and fully productive? Do you have a clear vision for your organization that you share and develop within each of your employees?

If you answered "yes" to the above questions-- you are demonstrating solid leadership skills that will permeate throughout your company. Leaders have vision, drive and a desire to take action, they invest the time to create a solid team comprised of capable people, and then as Ron Fory puts it, they get out of the way.

Send out the search party! I know we have a case of those widgets around here somewhere! Too often inventory comes in through the door of a wholesale distributor, only to be seen again after an intense walk down the aisles, necks cranked to scan the top shelves for the missing culprit. Read how with a little organization and discipline, you can banish the inventory scavenger hunt from your warehouse!

"Experienced only need apply." Do your career advertisements or job descriptions indicate a requirement for previous experience only? If so, you may be screening out valuable, talented candidates before considering all of your options.

Experience can be invaluable and in many cases is absolutely necessary for specific positions. In some instances, however, a well educated quick learner can integrate very well into a career without prior experience and perform even better than someone with experience. An entirely "green" candidate enables an employer to teach and train the inexperienced employee according to the company's specific requirement. No previous bad habits to unlearn and a positive, clean slate attitude that can absorb new concepts and ideas.

Wendy Kwong, 2006 recipient of the Enterprising Woman's Conference Award and Lieutenant Governor's Award, is such a candidate. With a perfect GPA and strong work ethic, we saw great potential in Wendy as a long term asset to our firm.

Reprinted with permission from Red River College, Leader's Edge Summer 2006 publication.