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The HVAC System and Equipment Council covered a lot of ground at their committee meeting during the HARDI Annual Conference.

2014 could be a very interesting year for HARDI members that purchase sheet metal or otherwise keep track of the steel marketplace.

 That’s why HARDI will focus on the evolution of the distributor at this year’s HARDI annual conference, to be held Dec. 7-10 at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge in Phoenix. 

What does a successful sales strategy look like?

 Ask Norm Clark, senior lecturer at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, and he might sum up a high-performance sales organization in four phrases. 

 Corken Steel Products Co. hosted GeoFarm™ for its fifth consecutive year. The event was held on a 300-acre farm located near the confluence of Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The historic Veraestau property is a regional landmark and now serves as training grounds for geothermal system design, installation, and service. 

Agnostic innovation with intention to disrupt: an apt description of the Unleash WD Summit and its 17 storytellers from unrelated industries. Brought together by Dirk Beveridge, president and CEO of 4th Generation Systems, and founder of Unleash WD, each speaker shared ideas that to some HVAC wholesale distributors may border on absurd.

 E-commerce is information. Thought of often as a conglomeration of hardware and software, distributors can forget the value of the information contained in their e-commerce system.  

 Steve Deist is a partner at Indian River Consulting Group (IRCG) and someone that HARDI has called upon to head a session during the association’s annual conference, Evolve ’13. Distribution Center called Deist and got an inside scoop as to some of what he would be covering during his presentation for the Supplier and Manufacturer Representative program on Saturday, Dec. 7. 

The United States government is back to work and President Obama’s health care law continues on. Both small and large businesses are working to implement new federal health care regulations but many are finding this to be a difficult task that requires some investigation and thoughtful planning. To help, HARDI has introduced the Medical Stop Loss Group Captive Solution and has officially named Lacey Robinson as its Health Benefits Consultant.

 What are contractors looking for from their distributors? The list of answers Distribution Center received to that question was lengthy and diverse. After sifting through the results, 10 items seemed to cover the overall themes respondents were communicating.