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Understanding how buyers view a business can help explain why valuations sometimes fall short of expectations.

Ask a distributor to describe their day-to-day, and there’s an excellent chance that they’ll use the term “fighting fires.” It makes sense that this term has become so popular – the work sounds urgent and important, even heroic.

With a company’s website and social media accounts being the first places candidates often look to learn about opportunities, it’s surprising how many in our industry offer little or no information about what it’s like to be an employee at the company.

Strong business intelligence (BI) data has become a competitive necessity for distributors operating in increasingly complex and fast-moving markets.

The House Agriculture Committee reported the long-awaited Farm Bill, which incorporates provisions of the Healthy H2O Act — legislation ASA has championed that enables rural residents, particularly those relying on wells, to test their water and apply for grants to fund corrective measures, including third-party-certified end-point filtration devices.

AI is evolving faster than the policies, security systems, and safeguards designed to manage it. The smartest companies won’t ignore AI, they also won’t hand over the keys to their business until the technology proves it can be trusted with them.

The mechanics of rebates are not simple: Each manufacturer has its own playbook. Rules, tiers, exclusions, and volume triggers differ. On top of that, distributors add their own complexity.

Someone must own sales excellence. Someone must act as CEO for CRM. That person should be a respected sales leader with the autonomy to make critical decisions for the company. Their role goes beyond platform selection and configuration. They are responsible for driving adoption, setting standards, training, coaching and continuous improvement.

Homeowners are walking into showrooms with inspiration boards, saved posts, and a clear point of view, and they look to plumbing pros and product experts to help translate that vision into products that perform. That’s where partnerships with trusted design voices can make a difference — they create a relatable style story, simplify decision-making, and give the trade a confident place to start the conversation.

According to recent research from McKinsey & Company, AI adoption has surged over the past two years, with a growing share of organizations reporting measurable impact on revenue, cost reduction and customer engagement.