How Distributors Are Tackling Talent, Technology and Uncertainty: Insights from Great Ideas Roundtables

Great Ideas participants tackled topics such as industry knowledge transfer, dealing with a turbulent economy and more at NETWORK in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Photos by Steve Woltmann/ASA

In its fifth year. ASA’s Great Ideas roundtable event conducted each year at NETWORK has delivered nearly 500 great ideas on how firms are dealing with critical issues facing the industry. 

Participants at this year’s event in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida tackled how firms are preserving experience for the next generation as older team members are retiring, how successful firms are attracting new talent, strategies for dealing with a turbulent economy in uncertain times and how the industry is beginning to tackle digital transformation. 

Knowledge transfer: Preserving experience for the next generation

During this session on knowledge transfer, participants acknowledged the same primary challenge: decades of industry knowledge held by long-tenured, near-retirement employees is undocumented and sitting with aging reps, counter staff and managers —many in their 60s, 70s and even 80s. Even when you want to capture their expertise, it’s unclear how to transfer relationships, field instincts, and nuance to the next person. Several participants admitted they came to the table specifically looking for ideas to solve this. Participants offered the following great ideas:
 

• Create an internal “source book” covering vendors, contacts, product sources, and processes.
• Maintain active SOPs but avoid letting them become stale.
• Build shadowing opportunities — don’t wait for younger employees to initiate them.
• Capture knowledge during exit interviews or formal “retiree offboarding.”
• Use video training, YouTube-style internal content, or AI tools to capture and organize expertise. However, training Infrastructure should be more in-person not videos.
• Consider intern programs to document processes while learning the business.
• Soft-knowledge gaps — customer preferences, historical relationships or lessons from failed projects — were identified as the hardest to capture but among the most valuable.
• Some organizations use LMS systems, SOP libraries, or internal “playbooks,” but adoption is inconsistent unless local leadership reinforces it.
• Building desktop repositories with SOPs, selling skills, ERP instructions, benefits information, etc.
• Ensuring critical processes are “on paper” so the company isn’t exposed when someone exits.
• Unanimous agreement: Job shadowing is essential. Job shadowing for newer employees. Look at job shadowing as a form of mentorship.  It is often easier and less intimidating than formal mentorship for new hires.

Attracting and retaining talent in a shifting workforce

Recruiting remains challenging across the board. What strategies are working to attract and retain top talent?  How are companies adapting to hybrid or remote work while maintaining productivity and engagement? Here are some great ideas that participants offered:
 

• Create a great culture. Culture is key to attracting and retaining a great team.
• Heavy emphasis on networking and referrals, especially from trusted family or long-tenured employees. Offer referral bonuses.
• Annual compensation benchmarking against industry and regional data (ASA OPR reports were widely used).
• Create career pathing. Show employees what their career might look like and how they can obtain it. Younger people are impatient. They want to see a plan/path or they will leave.
• Cultural perks — company meals, social events, fitness rooms, on-site amenities, contests, PTO rewards.
• Younger employees expect flexibility, clear development paths, and work/life balance. Hybrid work remains polarizing — some roles simply must be in-person. Sabbatical programs (e.g., 1 month every 5 years) were shared as high-impact retention tools.
• Technology emerged as a retention differentiator: younger hires won’t tolerate outdated systems, and poor software experiences can directly drive turnover.
• Everyone agreed: This industry is not naturally attractive to young people, and hiring outside the industry remains difficult. But when hiring outside the industry works, look for strong work ethic, willingness to learn, emotional intelligence, ability to remain calm when things go wrong
• Effective recruiting strategies mentioned: Hiring licensed plumbers or ex-field techs: unmatched credibility and problem-solving ability. Promoting from within (warehouse → counter → sales). Hiring for transferable skills: urgency, detail orientation, problem solving, customer empathy. Poaching during big ERP transitions. Leveraging strong culture — people want to work for organizations with a good reputation.

Dealing with a turbulent economy: Strategies for uncertainty

Inflation, volatile pricing, and supply chain unpredictability continue to impact quoting, margins, and customer relationships. Participants offered the following great ideas:
 

• Look to develop a growth strategy that is forward looking — Two-plus years out not just quarter by quarter. Try to stick with your plan while being flexible.
• Distributors don’t want uncertainty over pricing.
• Provide honesty on lead times, which will provide trust by distributors over the long haul.
• Distributors should try to limit purchasing to normal quantities.
• Current and future prices should be posted on websites which will create certainty — list price ranges. Announce price increase through formal, dated letters.
• Distributors should consider pre-buys before price increases kick in.
• Diversity of suppliers is important to insure availability and pricing alternatives.
• Push marketing to customers — increase frequency.
• Look to use cost averaging — any increases should be passed along quickly.
• Share forecasts with key suppliers and customers to stabilize demand.

Navigating digital transformation: Balance innovation with operational excellence

Digital transformation can be daunting. Many employees lack the tools and knowledge to absorb what is needed. Distributors face pressure to modernize through ERP upgrades, AI, IoT, and e-commerce — often with limited resources or digital expertise. What technologies deliver the most value in operations, sales or customer experience? Table participants discussed these issues and offered the following great ideas:
 

• Have team members that have knowledge and ability to embrace digital transformation teach other employees.
• Promote the new digital transformation as a development/ career advancement opportunity to entice more employees to engage. Highlight that these new tools will enhance jobs, not replace them.
• Offer training as a lunch-and-learn.
• Explore Data Link as an opportunity to help link programs (Snowflake).
• Important to provide ample time to integrate. Align to be least disruptive.
• Engage tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot and become proficient.
• Advocate for less of what it is and more about what it can do. Talk possibilities.
• As ASA develops and offers expertise in digital transformation, refer to the association often to see what new things are offered. What shared experiences are available?
• Start with business outcomes, not technology.
• Anchor digital initiatives to clear operational goals: faster order fulfillment, lower inventory carrying costs, higher fill rates, better customer experience.
• Avoid “shiny object” tech; every investment should answer: What operational problem does this solve?

By Mike Adelizzi, CEO
 

How do I get a copy?

To receive a copy of the full NETWORK Great Ideas session, contact ASA’s Mike Miazga at mmiazga@asa.net.