Progressive Distributor - Adding value to customers

Adding value to customers

by Rich Vurva

When manufacturers and distributors got together last year to form the Industrial Supply Association, its leaders promised to build a new kind of association where suppliers and distributors would work together to demonstrate their value to their joint customers. ISA is putting those words into action by revamping its annual awards programs. At the upcoming ISCON 2005 convention in Toronto in May, the association will jointly honor one manufacturer and one distributor with the American Eagle Value-Added Partner Award. ISA’s objective is to recognize how channel partners working together can help end-user customers lower their costs or improve their productivity.

The association is accepting nominations until the end of March.

In addition to the joint American Eagle Value-Added Partner Award, manufacturers and distributors can individually vie for separate Value-Added Manufacturer and Value-Added Distributor Awards. Plus, ISA also created two American Eagle Corporate Citizenship awards to recognize one manufacturer and one distributor for their efforts to enhance their local community. Each winner will receive a $1,000 scholarship.

Winners will be chosen by the ISA Partnership Enhancement and Awards Committee, which is chaired by Kathleen Durbin of General Industrial Tool and Supply in Sun Valley, Calif., and announced at ISCON 2005.

“The Toronto convention will be our first opportunity as a new association to give awards to members,” says Durbin. “The committee felt it is especially important at this time to revamp the old American Eagle and Value-Added Partner Award program to reflect the new mission of the association. By recognizing how a manufacturer and distributor work together to benefit the end-user customer, we believe the new American Eagle Value-Added Partner Award truly captures how our members add value to the supply chain.”

If you’d like to nominate your company for any of the awards, you can obtain more details and a nomination form at the ISA Web site www.ValueAddedPartners.org or at www.isapartners.org.