In the Mind of a Distributor

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Benj Cohen

7 episodes

1 week ago

In this episode of In the Mind of a Distributor, Benj sits down with Gary Corless, former CEO of PSS World Medical (now McKesson Medical-Surgical), to unpack how the company scaled from a $15M startup pulling orders in shopping carts to a $2B industry leader. The key to that growth was a rich company-wide culture where everyone (not just sales) owned the number. Gary walks through how PSS built a true growth culture that aligned teams from the warehouse to the C-suite, turning everyday roles ...

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Technology

Business,

Management

Episodes (7/7)

In the Mind of a Distributor

Creating a winning growth culture | Gary Corless

1 week ago

32 minutes

In the Mind of a Distributor

Merchandising massive product catalogs | Brian Walker

In this episode, Benj sits down with Brian Walker, Chief Product Officer at Grainger, to unpack how one of the largest distributors in the world approaches merchandising at scale. With over 2 million SKUs in their core business and an endless assortment model through Zoro, Grainger’s merchandising strategy is anything but simple. Brian explains how they decide which products to carry, how they use customer context to guide those decisions, and what it takes to make the right products easy to ...

1 month ago

21 minutes

In the Mind of a Distributor

Navigating private equity partnerships | Larry Stoddard

In this episode, Benj talks with Larry Stoddard, a distribution industry veteran who's led companies through massive growth phases at Ferguson, Bradco, and RelaDyne. Larry pulls back the curtain on what private equity partnerships actually look like in distribution: from why PE firms are drawn to distributors, to the real operational challenges of integrating multiple company cultures. He also debunks the biggest myth about private equity (spoiler: they don't come in swinging axes...

2 months ago

34 minutes

In the Mind of a Distributor

Building a value‑added services strategy that works | Matt Cohen

In this episode, Benj talks with Matt Cohen, President of Replenex, about joining his family business and leading a shift towards a model built around offerings that truly matter to customers and the business. In the first half, Matt shares what it took to align the team around value-added services. The second half gets tactical, covering: what most distributors get wrong about value-added serviceswhy customers often underestimate the real cost of these offeringsthe changing economics and p...

3 months ago

23 minutes

In the Mind of a Distributor

Building a growth engine through M&A | Jeff McLendon

In this episode, Benj talks with Jeff McLendon, CEO and President of Specialty Building Products, about how he scaled the company from $500 million to $4 billion by pairing intentional acquisitions with disciplined organic growth. He unpacks how the two strategies fuel each other and why the operations and people side of acquisitions are just as critical as the financials. Sharing several examples, Jeff breaks down what makes a good acquisition — not just on paper, but in practice. He s...

4 months ago

29 minutes

In the Mind of a Distributor

Selling to enterprise customers | Joyce Lansdale

In this episode, Joyce Lansdale—Vallen's VP of Enterprise Business Development and Chairman of the Industrial Supply Association Board—shares her deep insights on selling to enterprise customers. With over 30 years in distribution, she explains exactly what these big clients are looking for, which internal and customer teams have to collaborate in order to have a successful partnership, and the impressive logistics behind delivering unpredictable spot buys (like sourcing a firetruck).&n...

5 months ago

33 minutes

In the Mind of a Distributor

Building a billion dollar distribution business | Chuck Cohen

In this episode, Benj talks with Chuck Cohen, Managing Director of Benco Dental, about what it really takes to build and sustain a growing distribution business over the long haul. Chuck shares the story of growing Benco from $85 million to over $1 billion in revenue. Along the way, he reflects on the decisions that made that growth possible: from how the company thinks about long-term investments, to evolving the company’s sales structure and embracing new technology and service offerings. T...

6 months ago

28 minutes