ORLANDO, FL — If distributors are to survive in a world of new channels and alternative systems, they must know the difference between selling and marketing.
This was the message of consultant J. Michael Marks, who addressed the annual meeting of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Wholesalers International (ARWI) here.
Confronted with new challenges like e-commerce, which compresses the time needed to make a buy-sell transaction, distributors must wean themselves from the traditional function as sellers and embrace the more challenging role of marketers.