Salon Lumen

Salon Lumen 2016 — A Video

More than 5,300 visitors travelled across Quebec to participate in the 9th iteration of Salon Lumen, the electrical industry's largest trade show in Quebec. Salon Lumen was held on April 19 at the Centre de foires de Québec and on April 21 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal. A video of the event that took place in Montreal was produced by Sonepar. Watch it here… Read More

Opinion

Agility - Playing Musical Chairs

Should musical chairs be an Olympic event? Or maybe it should be a scientific degree at colleges and universities. Perhaps it could be a business or art degree. Not many would take this childhood game seriously, but understanding this game's dynamics may help you overcome the most important crisis you may face in your entire business career. The game consists of lining up chairs and playing music. Children walk around the chairs until the music stops and they must then quickly sit down. Each time the music stops, a chair is removed and someone who can't find a chair to sit on is eliminated. This game, like many other childhood games, mirrors the cruel side of real life. Read More

Best Practices

Innovation Takes Culture, Not Only Books: Part 2

In Part 1, David Gordon looked at drivers of innovation. Here in Part 2, four ways to expand your frame of reference and generate innovative new ideas. The issue of expanding your frame of reference is critical to innovating. While it has been said that "there is little new in the world as the Greeks and Romans already invented it" (okay, maybe the kernel of it), no one has a monopoly on ideas. "Borrowing" is not considered bad. A key to success is observation and adaptation. Consider these opportunities… Read More

Peers & Profiles: Young Leaders

Jason Prevost — Gather, Grow and Give (A Recipe for Successfully Closing a Generation Gap)

Jason Prevost is National Chair of Electro-Federation Canada (EFC)'s Young Professionals Network. He is also VP of Marketing at Standard Products. Father of two young teens and very involved with Habitat for Humanity, he gathers, grows and gives. No matter what you ask of him, he always has a solution, someone he can refer you to, an angle to follow up on. His openness to new ideas is amazing, as well as his respect for the opinion of experts. He never imposes his own opinions, yet his knowledge and skills are often sought out. This was not always the case. Read More

CEMRA - Opinion

What is an Independent Manufacturer's Sales Representative?

Depending on who you talk to, that answer can be as long as Tolstoy's War and Peace! Google it up and you get this : "A manufacturer's representatives (rep), also known as independent sales representatives or sales agent, is an individual, sales agency or company that sells a manufacturer's products to wholesale and retail customers." Not much of an answer is it? Well, that's Wikipedia for you. You would think that in this day and age, amongst peers at Electrofed that this question wouldn't be asked of us anymore yet, we get it all the time, usually from inside people at manufacturers that do not use independent reps. Here is what an independent manufacturer's sales representative is: It is by far the purest form of free enterprise. We finance our own growth and get paid only when we've performed. Read More

Best practices - Distribution

Loss, Theft, Damage… What is the Cost?

Imagine that we are in a sales meeting. If we discuss losses in this meeting, what do we talk about? We could talk about theft, general shrinkage, and, of course, the running over of products by forklifts. However, I wonder if we should instead discuss what to do when loss occurs, and how to cover that loss. If we were in this sales meeting together, I would tell you about a loss of a $100.00 item. The cost to cover that $100.00 item…potentially $5,000.00 in additional sales. I would close the meeting by saying, "Get out there, you awesome sales professionals, and sell $5,000.00 more to make it up! You can do it!" I feel like this conversation with the sales team might go over like a lead balloon. If you have ever found yourself standing at the business end of an angry customer call because your inventory is "missing", "lost", or otherwise in-dispose…then you need to keep reading. Loss is a very serious and very important issue in all of our companies. This subject of losses does not just cover physically lost items, but this covers: misplaced items, miscounted items, items that leave as "samples" but aren't logged, mis-shipped items, misidentified items, items run over by a forklift, and of course, theft. Read More

Economy

Building Permits, March 2016

The total value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities was down 7.0% to $6.9 billion in March, marking the second decline in three months. The decrease, which followed a 15.3% gain in February, was largely the result of lower construction intentions for commercial buildings in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia. In the non-residential sector, the value of building permits was down 22.8% to $2.4 billion in March, following a 32.6% increase the previous month. Declines were reported in half the provinces, with Alberta responsible for most of the drop, followed by British Columbia and Ontario. Read More

Economy

New Housing Price Index, March 2016

The New Housing Price Index (NHPI) rose 0.2% in March, following an identical increase in February. The index has increased for 12 consecutive months, largely driven by higher new housing prices in Ontario and British Columbia. Of the metropolitan areas covered by the index, the top contributors to the national increase in March were the combined region of Toronto and Oshawa (+0.4%) and Vancouver (+0.4%). Builders in both regions cited market conditions as the main reason for the advance. Read More

IN THE NEXT ISSUE

Looking back - Educational Commitment