MDM - Donnie Williams & Mike Hockett

Three analyst types from Donnie

Business analyst, data analyst, hybrid analyst.

Business analyst

Understands the business, translates operations into questions, and bridges departments and data teams.

Data analyst

Works with data systems, identifies patterns, and builds reports and dashboards.

Hybrid analyst

Combines business and data skills and is best positioned for leadership and actionable change.

Donnie’s key phrase

Your analysis should force a decision.

Driving the bus analogy

Rearview mirror is descriptive, windshield is predictive, GPS is prescriptive.

Donnie customer expansion framework

Descriptive segments customers, predictive identifies lookalike customers, prescriptive targets new markets and whitespace.

Donnie territory expansion framework

Descriptive maps current footprint, predictive assesses total addressable market, prescriptive ranks and targets the best areas.

Donnie fleet optimization framework

Descriptive identifies delivery needs, predictive models shipping strategies, prescriptive optimizes routing and delivery methods.

2026 revenue growth projection from Mike

8.8%.

What 8.8% growth is mainly driven by

Inflation and price increases, not increased sales.

Wholesale distribution share of GDP

About 27% of U.S. GDP.

Main M&A drivers

Private equity, Baby Boomer exits, and the desire for new markets or capabilities.

Largest M&A sector

Building Materials.

Digital sales reality from Mike

Grainger gets over 40% of sales from eCommerce, but most distributors do not see major total sales increases from eCommerce.

Distributors with less than 10% of sales from eCommerce

61%.

Five primary AI uses from Mike

Pricing and margins, customer service, inventory demand, sales enablement, logistics and delivery.

Biggest challenge for distributors from Mike

Hiring new skilled labor.

Ways distributors can defend value

Delivery, installation, bundling, customer service, technical sales, technical knowledge, and value-added services.

GEN-1 vs GEN-2 distributor

GEN-1 is ERP-centered and back-office focused, while GEN-2 is customer-centered and uses CRM, BI, ML, analytics, AI, and eCommerce.

Non-traditional competitors from Mike

Amazon Business and Home Depot.

Amazon Business facts

Elephant in the room, over 8 million customers, about $100 billion business.

Home Depot wholesale example

$18 billion acquisition of SRS.