Welcome to ISAPartners.org!

Productivity -- Profitability -- Information

This section of isapartners.org features information about profitability from leading industry experts such as Al Bates, Adam Fein and Scott Benfield. Click on the stats/research link for the most recent ISA Profit Report to see how your firm compares to other distribution companies.

End of Year 2007 Profitability Analysis (members only)
by Al Bates, Profit Planning Group

The accompanying set of exhibits provides an overview of financial trends in distribution between 2002 and 2006. It places special emphasis on the changes between 2005 and 2006.

The analysis covers forty different lines of trade in distribution. In developing such a macro-view of distribution, it is not possible to compare most financial ratios directly. For example, some industries have a high gross margin and accompanying high expenses, while others have a low gross margin and low expenses.

What is possible is to compare the direction and magnitude of change. The emphasis is on how much performance changed during the time period covered.

Articles from Dr. Alfred Bates (members only)

The Sales to Payroll Delta: A Critical Planning Tool
• Click here for the supporting exhibit.

GMROI: Good intentions gone awry
• Click here for the supporting exhibit

All sales volume is not created equal
• Click here for the supporting exhibit

Improving margin with product mix: Mission impossible
• Click here for the supporting exhibit

Avoding investment myopia
• Click here for the supporting exhibit

All customers are not created equal
• Click here for the supporting exhibit

Hey, the truck is going right by there anyway
• Click here for the supporting exhibit.

Sales Force Pricing: The Stockholm Syndrome
• Click here for the supporting exhibit.

Driving sales volume: Thinking inside the box
• Click here for the supporting exhibit.

Remembering the mistakes of the past