WHAT ARE EXECUTIVES SAYING ABOUT THE VIDEO,

(If you enjoy a short case study story, see the entry from Clay Gilbert!)

Bruce’s new video is the best investment that I have ever made. It's clear that he knows the distribution industry inside out. We are going to make this required viewing at each of our branches. I’m confident that this video series will help to take us to the next level.

Jim Sobeck

CEO

New South Supply, LLC (concrete contractor supply distributor)

Greenville, SC

www.newsouthsupply.com

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We’ve been followers of Bruce Merrifield’s service management concepts since the mid-80’s with great results. One concept alone ("quick and dirty" customer profitability analysis) moved us from dismal results to significant profitability in one year.

We have run scores of employees and customers through his first video, "The Dynamics of Distribution", but the new one has everything that Dynamics had plus 4 times more with a better learning methodology. The new one is a masterful contribution to the distribution industry and an incredible value. We’re confident that "High Performance.." will improve our already excellent performance even more.

Frank Stapleton

CEO

Macpherson’s-Artcraft, Inc. (Art Materials distributor)

Emeryville, CA

www.macphersonart.com

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The content of "High Performance…" is unparalleled. The video modules led our management team on a step-by-step rethinking of our business assumptions and practices. We had great discussions all the way through it. Then, with newfound energy and focus for implementing the video’s ideas, we have gotten quick improvements in company morale and results. And, we have only begun!

Brian Kileff

CEO

Oenophilia, Inc. ( Wine importer, distributor; wine accessories distributor)

Hillsborough, NC

www.oenophilia.com

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Bruce has had a huge beneficial influence on Labatt Food Service since the early ‘80’s. His essays, videos, industry group presentations have all combined to give our company new ideas and a common language that has helped us grow from a small family company of $8 million in sales to a regional distributor with a broad and deep professional management team doing $350 million.

His latest video, "High Performance.." is a compendium of all of his thinking packaged into short modules designed to be both quick and accessible to all of our employees. There are many ways these modules can be grouped for different employee teams and for supporting different objectives. This video is the most uniquely valuable educational tool we have ever experienced.

Blair Labatt

CEO

Labatt Food Service, Inc.

San Antonio, TX

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At Snavely Forest Products, we have subscribed to "distribution according to Bruce" for almost 20 years with great results. I still have his "8 elements of service excellence" laminated and hanging next to my desk; I quote them to all employees regularly.

We will get countless hours of valuable training out of this new video that goes into both old and new concepts more thoroughly than anything Bruce has provided to us before. The video has already re-energized us to measurably improve a number of aspects of our business.

Steve Snavely

CEO

Snavely Forest Products

Pittsburg, PA

www.snavelyforest.com

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This video ("High Performance..") is a PHD program in distribution management in a box. I think every distributor CEO should at least go through it on their own. Then, whether they decide to transform their company with it or not, they will at least be able to understand how their best competitors are stealing their best customers with value-based service performance and marketing.

John Dubuque

CEO

Plumber’s Supply

St. Louis, MO

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I have heard Bruce speak several times and his message has always been clear, concise and bold. So, in 2002 we rolled out his "High Performance" tape video to 50 of our employees and did not hold anything back. As a result, we have been energized and have systematically begun looking at customer profit/loss rates in order to create distinctions that are wins for us and wins for our customers.

I have run estimates on the rate of return on the cost of our employees’ time to attend the complete tape session versus implemented profitability ideas. We will easily have total payback within one year. Beyond simple cost benefits, I believe we have a attained tighter corporate culture and we speak a similar language based on well grounded logic and principle. We have raised our standards of excellence and we are enthusiastically hitting the new targets.

Steve Flagg

President

Quality Bicycle products

Bloomington, MN

www.qbp.com

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When I first received the package from Merrifield Consulting I was excited. It was almost like Christmas morning. I was going to have a REAL business improvement gameplan to walk my organization through - I couldn't wait. I watched the first video at home, which included 11 modules out of the 53. I wanted to run into the office the next morning and force all our associates to watch it all that day, but I realized that it was too much to take in all at once and besides Bruce had a better plan.

I didn't know exactly how we would indoctrinate our whole company, but I knew it had to happen. The first week of January, 2002 I showed the Introduction module to our management team. They agreed (some reluctantly) that other people needed to learn the concepts discussed in High Performance Distribution Ideas for All. A little over 12 months later all of our associates had seen almost all of the 53 modules. Yes many of them were reluctant at first. After all, when they got out of school "they were finished learning"- or so they thought.

Merrifield’s Implementation Guide and methodology leads you through a simple and many times fun hour of education once a week for each group. The repetition of the concepts and action plans reinforced the true "North Stars" for our business to follow. All our associates gained a new understanding of how business works and a much greater appreciation for what it takes for business success. Bruce makes it clear that there is NO "money tree" – results come from the right paradigms and assumptions applied with vigor.

The industry financials that Bruce shared allowed the opportunity to share our company financial results and put them in perspective for everyone. In fact that was a real wake up call for many of our sales guys, which resulted in significant growth in previously flat territories! Further, Bruce’s solutions filled the void that was created from the shifting business assumptions. I was excited to see our people actually want to learn how to improve their areas of responsibility and the company as a whole.

Teamwork within and especially between departments rose dramatically as we all learned the importance of information and communication to SERVE the CUSTOMER! I knew we were on the right track when a frontline customer service rep stood up to our Operations Manager and told him why we were going to get a special delivery to a top customer. She had just watched Bruce TV that morning and we had discussed hypothetical customer situations that gave her insight and courage to handle similar situations in the future. There are many other stories like this one where frontliners became decision makers and are servicing the "right" customers in the "right" ways.

In a word I would say we have "Alignment" from top to bottom and side to side in our organization now. As a company we know the "North Stars" to guide our direction and decisions. We created a group of measures that we all review regularly because we couldn’t manage what we weren’t measuring. Also, morale is at an all-time high! Yes we still have conflicts, but now they are productive and not destructive.

All that is nice but if our results stayed the same then it would have been a poor investment. Our business results have improved significantly! In a "down economy" we were able to grow our Gross Profit $ per Associate by over 10% as we also grew our Gross Profit per Order by more than 76% over the last 4 years. Most importantly our Net Profit grew by over 50%! We have been an average distributor and we are on the journey to becoming a great one by using the principles that Bruce shared with us.

I would highly recommend High Performance Distribution Ideas for All to any distributor and challenge them to give their people the chance to learn about how to make their business great(er.)

Clay Gilbert, President
Thornton Brothers, Inc.
Athens, GA
www.thortonpaper.com