I once had a boss who told me, “It’s important to do things right, but it’s more important to make sure you’re doing the right things.”When you’re a leader in a products-oriented company, you are driving for share in an increasingly competitive and demanding marketplace.With things moving so fast, you waste a lot of effort addressing unimportant issues.We worked with an MRO distributor who was suffering what you might call an existential crisis in the midst of stagnating growth. Their leaders were making decisions based on why they THOUGHT customers bought from them: “We’re the people who make sure you always have the right amount of product in inventory so mission-critical processes don’t stop.” Our research revealed that customers liked that our client kept inventories at the right levels, but could do that on their own. What customers really valued was that while our client rep was on customer sites, he/she could solve technical problems. Once we understood that, we re-positioned the entire rep force.Every company has problems unique to their mindset & culture. But in our work with dozens of product-oriented companies, there are 3 problems that are so common I can share these focus shifts with confidence that at least 1 will be useful to your company:• Consider increasing the degree to which you work directly with your end users rather than relying on the support of your distributors. Your distributors might push back, but the reality is that their increasing lack of focus on you is making you less relevant & reducing your margins. Take back some control.• Make the shift from monetization to education to drive share. Financial incentives are losing their effectiveness as a solution to incentivization. If you want your distributors’ people to sell more, make sure they know your products better than they know the competition’s & they are equipped to have meaningful conversations with end users.• Ensure your digital presence is strong & your SEO is optimized. If not, you are more likely to lose to the competition unless you are in the highly unusual position of having a far superior widget (even then, it’s hard to make sure people know about it if you’re not online). A high percentage of sales journeys start online.A lot of consultants will help you focus on doing things right. We start by helping you do the right things.If this makes sense to you, let's talk. Whether or not we decide to do business together, I am confident that the call will be full of insights & actionable steps that can help you grow your business.