Electrical Wholesaling’s editors are start-ing to crunch the data from the 2020 Top 200 survey, and a few things are already be- coming immediately apparent: Distributors will need to master the art of the online sales call and rethink their customers’ delivery and product pickup options.
Brian Beggs, the VP of investor relations for WESCO Distribution, Pittsburgh, said, “Digital solutions will continue to differenti-ate distributors and influence how we serve our customers.”
Clarice Collins, the CFO for Electric Supply & Equipment, Greensboro, NC, echoed the comments of many Top 200 distributors with his belief that online training videos, virtual meetings and webinars will be the norm in the future. “I see this as being a big push to become more of a virtual world where we can help customers face-to-face instead of traveling to the customer loca tion,” he said.
Several other respondents saw big changes in store for the format of and attendance at many of the industry’s biggest conferences because of the travel concerns.
EM will offer subscribers a sneak preview of the EW Top 200 in the next issue.