Many of you already know that we at Contracting Profits partner with the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) to provide educational seminars at their annual convention. This past fall we had a great turnout of attendees at the sessions, and from the looks of the conversations following each, it seemed as though some of you were networking every chance you could.

But we realize that not everyone is able to attend the show to meet the innovative suppliers in attendance. At the same time, many of you continue to expand your operations, making the need for strong supply ties all the more important.

As you grow, you’ll likely need the right supply partnerships to support your expanding needs. That’s why we’ve chosen to partner with ISSA yet again to provide a valuable resource for finding the right distributor.

In the printed edition, you’ll find a complete listing of ISSA’s U.S. and Canadian distributor members. Since many of you are branching into multiple regions, we opted to include a breakdown of known national, regional and multi-regional providers, as well as an extensive state-by-state listing.

Then we turned to customer behavior and business marketing experts in the supply industry to find out how you can determine if a specific distributor can properly serve your many needs. You’ll find their suggestions in our story, “In Search of Excellence” .

John Walker also has an interesting column this month. He asks you to look at your half of the supply relationship to determine if you truly are making decision to benefit your company. Or are you like some BSCs who honestly don’t know enough about their operations to know what they need from a good supplier? Remember, if you don’t know what you’re asking for, no supplier can satisfy your needs, even in this elite group.




POSTED ON: 1/1/2002