In the old days, distributors operated as if all civilization ended at the edge of the piece of dirt they called their territory. Overlooking national trends, being caught off guard by new technologies and losing out on the opportunity to shape the future were all symptoms of this limited outlook. And even though industry associations offered up the opening to gain a detailed understanding of what was happening across the country, most saw the world through the rose-colored glasses of their own hometown.
Happily, those days are over. Associations like HARDI have provided the scientific tools for industrywide benchmarking. Tools like the Profit Report, Distributor Performance Dashboards, Regional Forecasts and the Supply Chain Scorecard all immediately come to mind. All of these provide excellent opportunities to fully understand the future HVACR environment. However, distribution is a fast and relentlessly changing business model. Still, I wonder if there might not be more to consider.