PPB March 2015

QUESTION

Ben Adler

Chief Of Sales

BEA Promo

UPIC: b123

Very simple answer: They are not

your client anymore.

Alex Delvecchio Jr.

Owner

Alex Delvecchio Ent LLC

UPIC: ADE

This is a complicated situation, but

here’s my two cents: If the supplier sells

direct to your customer at full retail, then

there is not much you can do except

offer you customer a small discount. If

the supplier sells at wholesale, then you

have a problem. Either stop doing busi-

ness with the supplier, or let your indus-

try colleagues know specifically who the

supplier is and what they are doing. If a

supplier doesn’t honor the supplier-dis-

tributor relationship, then I wouldn’t

honor them with my business.

Gregg Emmer

Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer

Kaeser & Blair, Inc.

UPIC: KAESER

You haven’t given enough informa-

tion for a definitive answer. For some

suppliers, all you need to qualify as a dis-

tributor is a pulse and a credit card.

Fortunately, they are in the minority. But,

for example, if the client is a business or

organization that resells everything they

buy from the distributor, they may actu-

A Distributor Asks:

We have a client who has “relationships” with four different sup-

pliers who have granted them “distributor” status. This means

they have cut us out of the loop and are selling directly to our

client. We can’t approach the supplier for fear they’ll call the

client. (This already happened inadvertently when we asked

about pricing—the sales rep actually called our client to com-

plain.) Can you suggest ways to handle this?

AN UNFAITHFUL

CLIENT

MARCH 2015 •

PPB

• 19

INNOVATE