2018 was a banner year for HVACR distributors. The 77 respondents to Distribution Trends’ 2019 Top 50 Distributors survey represented $19.1 billion in HVACR sales, which is up 7.9 percent from the $17.7 billion in HVACR sales reported for fiscal year 2017. As such, 95 percent of the respondents reported increased HVACR sales. Every company that ranked in the Top 50 showed higher HVACR sales in fiscal 2018 versus 2017. Thirty-seven of the Top 50 reported double-digit sales increases, and, of those, six saw their HVACR sales jump 20 percent or more from the previous year.
So, how exactly did these top-performing distributors achieve such significant success? What strategies and game plans did they employ to achieve sales growth? What’s next on their agendas when it comes to 2019, 2020, and beyond? Distribution Trends recently connected with leaders representing five of the 20 largest distributors in the nation to discuss these topics and more.