MODERN DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT: KEY FINANCIAL METRICS FOR DISTRIBUTORS TO ‘MANAGE THE PANIC OF 2009′
This Modern Distribution Management article by Thomas P. Gale is from January 2009. It contains a checklist of possible indicators of a downturn. Take a look and see if you experienced any of these during 2009.
Modern Distribution Management Excerpt:
Brent Grover was our speaker on an MDM Webcast this week, and as always with his background as a CEO and CPA, addressed a range of focus points for distributors to review as they manage the panic of 2009, the title of his talk. Brent is far from an alarmist, but he argues that this downturn is structurally different than others most business executives have experienced.
He covered the details, levers and pain points across several financial areas - financing, credit, cash flow, cost control - and how distributors can sharpen their focus in each. As moderator, I felt it offered some benchmarks and tools for distributors of all sizes to form the core of an executive team meeting on how to tighten the seams of the ship, even in the middle of a storm.
Brent is a strong advocate for trailing-twelve-month financials (TTM) to give a much more accurate picture of trends. “Distributors should treat every month as year-end,” he said, and not rely on the last calendar year or quarterly data.
One slide that especially caught my attention was a distributor checklist - 15 indicators or danger signs that Brent feels are important to monitor. Here are half of them…