COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Heating, Airconditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) Foundation has announced its participation in the Texas A&M School of Industrial Distribution’s Consortium on Sales and Marketing Optimization. This is the third in a series of ongoing consortia being conducted under the guidance of Texas A&M’s Dr. Barry Lawrence, director, Supply Chain Systems Laboratory and the School of Industrial Distribution.

This will involve three HARDI member distributor companies as the case studies who will interact with the researchers at Texas A&M in producing this quantitative and qualitative study. The process is an intensive one which will look to answer questions such as: What should marketing look like in a distributor’s operation? Who should be responsible for marketing? What should the message be and how best to deliver it?

A company’s sales force is one of its most significant assets and the value created by the sales force is key to the success of the firm. According to Dr. Lawrence, while most firms put a great deal of emphasis on total output from the sales force, most do not understand how to direct the sales force on a path optimal to the firm’s profitability. HARDI’s contribution to this project will result in an educational training seminar conducted by the university which will be available in the summer of 2010.

“While sales have always been the underpinning to much of a firm’s success, sales tactics have changed dramatically over time due to the multiple demands of increased time to market, a more diverse supply chain, and increased demand for higher technology products in the HVAC industry,” said Don Frendberg, executive vice president and COO of HARDI. “We look forward to aiding our members in achieving new insights and best practices as they move into the next decade. This program is meant to solve industry challenges and we certainly believe it will assist our membership.”

Publication date:11/09/2009