Year: 2021

The Butler Gas Products Company Board of Directors voted in support of a new slate of officers effective October 1, 2021.   Longstanding former CEO and second generation owner Jack Butler will advance into the role of Chairman. His daughter, Abydee Butler Moore, Butler Gas President and former COO will step into the role of CEO. Abydee’s mother, Elissa Butler, continues as Treasurer. After growing up in the business, Abydee joined the Butler Gas Products team full-time in 2009 and purchased 20% of the company in 2015. As third generation owner, she is responsible for the successful implementation of the company’s 100 Year Plan.…

With suggested tools that will make the biggest impact by Thomas J. Armitage, site-seeker, inc. With COVID behind us, it’s time to re-focus on our pre-pandemic priorities. For most of us, that’s back to the old grind: finding ways to generate more sales and more revenue for our companies. The past 18 months were tough on many companies. Sales and marketing is the best place to start when looking to make the most significant impact on your bottom line. Here are five areas to focus on to generate more sales this year. Local Optimization Featured Tool: Yext For local companies…

After the introductory marks, Abydee welcomed the six participants for the morning’s opening session, “The CEO Track.” She was joined on stage by industry stalwarts: Jason Krieger, Jenny McCall, Richelle Smith-Brecht, Mark Raimy, Wally Brant and Alex Kennedy. The panel followed the SWOT analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. “The CEO is not a reward, it’s not a medal and it’s not somewhere you park somebody when they get old. It’s an active job and an active duty. To me, a good day as a CEO is being visible,” said Indiana Oxygen CEO Wally Brant. “Be engaging with your people.…

The term “Made in the USA” is one that is familiar to everybody. We’ve seen it on packaging. We’ve seen it in commercials, usually accompanied by flags waving, baseball in the background and apple pie coming out of the oven. And research suggests that the term does more than evoke feelings of patriotism. It can actually drive consumer spending and habits. But the term “Made in the USA” and other similar claims, like “American Made,” are more than just branding and sloganeering.  Made in the USA is actually a federally protected designation from the Federal Trade Commission.  According to the…

“Cause I love the adrenaline in my veins, I do whatever it takes.” I know, you’re asking, what is he talking about? It’s from a song by Imagine Dragons, and it’s that song that I go to when I’m stuck. And it’s not exactly about the lyrics, I don’t think I could recite more than a couple of lines. It’s more about the beat, the bounce, and the title. It gets me going. I just love the thought that you can do whatever it takes to find your way through it, to finish, to go all out for the W,…

By Mike Emerson, Indian River Consulting Group For salespeople, the top predictor of income should be performance, not tenure. But, all too often, it’s the other way around. The truth is traditional sales compensation plans that are tied to territory and tenure no longer work. If you haven’t already updated your sales compensation plan to meet pandemic-induced changes in how sales teams interact with customers, it’s time to act. As we examine in NAW’s What’s Your Plan? Smart Salesforce Compensation in Wholesale Distribution, the key is to make sure your updated sales compensation plan is the right one. The role of…

by Randy MacLean, President of WayPoint Analytics In this article, I’ll share the most effective analytics used by companies to actually control their results. If you have financial or performance responsibility, you’ll likely be using the new measures that follow to get control of your results. Managers at or near the top of every company have certainly experienced failures in attempts to control the financial measures that please the owners and stakeholders. Traditional financial metrics (like ROI, GMROI, EBITDA, inventory and receivables turns) seem to have a pernicious immunity to our intentions and actions. The reason for this is that…

Praxair Distribution, Inc. has named Roch Monahan Associate Director of M&A – Business Development, U.S., reporting to Mark Herrington, Director of M&A. In his new role, Monahan will play an instrumental role in identifying and investigating potential acquisition targets. “Roch’s extensive knowledge of the business, industry experience and commitment make him a great fit for the role and a valuable addition to the M&A team in support of PDI’s strategic growth initiatives,” Herrington said. Monahan has more than 30 years of experience in the Industrial Gas Industry serving as Chief Operating Officer & VP of Sales and Marketing for OKI…

EspriGas, a technology and data-driven gas management company, announces today its expanded partnership with Panda Express®, the largest family-owned and operated Asian dining concept in the U.S., to include nearly 2,000 locations. As the exclusive supplier of beverage grade CO2 for Panda restaurants, EspriGas facilitates the management and delivery of both cylinders and bulk CO2 through its extensive and experienced network of local gas suppliers. EspriGas began working with Panda in 2019 as a supplier for 300 of its locations. After experiencing a better model to supply CO2 used to carbonate Coca-Cola products from the beverage fountains, Panda expanded the relationship to include…

The need for welders has reached a critical point, and the American Welding Society (AWS) Foundation, in partnership with Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, is bringing the welding experience back to high school with the Light a Spark Grant. “The AWS Foundation is extremely pleased to offer these grants to high schools that do not currently offer a welding program, thus providing hundreds of students the opportunity to experience welding for the first time and consider the possibility of welding as a career,” said Monica Pfarr, AWS Foundation Executive Director. The Light a Spark Grant is a turnkey package designed to…

The 2021 Morris Gold Award was presented to Ella Sinkovits of Messer Canada, during the CGA Canada 2021 Annual Meeting Kick-off held virtually on Tuesday, September 14, 2021. The award was presented in recognition of Ella’s outstanding and long-term contribution to, and leadership on behalf of, the compressed gas industry and CGA Canada. Since 2012, Ella has been participating and actively contributing to many CGA Committees including the Canadian Cylinder Specifications Committee (Chair 2021-present; 2015-2017); the Cylinder Valve Committee; and the Cylinder Specifications Committee. She is currently a member of 18 work items and has led and been a key…

ITR Economics is excited to announce its new partnership with investment banking firm ButcherJoseph & Co. ButcherJoseph & Co. specializes in ESOPs, mergers and acquisitions, private capital sourcing, and valuation advisory services for middle-market companies. Their industry-recognized team of professionals has executed 200-plus transactions, exceeding $15 billion in total value. ButcherJoseph is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., with a presence in Washington, D.C., and offices in Chicago; Charlotte, N.C.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Nashville, Tenn. This partnership will help ITR Economics expand into the M&A space, where we will provide valuable economic insights to those looking to acquire or sell a…

The Women of Gases and Welding (WGW), GAWDA’s newest committee, continues to promote our mission “to enhance the success of women in the gases and welding industry” as well as “foster a more diverse and inclusive environment for women” in our GAWDA membership.  Several WGW members will be in Colorado Springs participating in this year’s GAWDA Annual events. Look for our purple ribbon on our badge. We would love to talk with you. The Women of Gases and Welding would like to thank all those who have signed up for our upcoming GAWDA Annual WGW Lunch & Hiking Networking event!…

I’ve been in the welding and gas business for more than 50 years. I truly thought I had seen it all. But this past year and a half has truly been both the best of times and the worst of times in this industry. And, I promise, when I include the best of times in that sentence, I’m not going crazy! But before I get into how it has been the best of times, I think we can all agree that the past year and a half has been pretty bad. We all went through some tough times. But those…

My sales career has given me the opportunity to call on many successful people in different types of businesses and with varying levels of education. These associations have allowed me to learn about the ways individuals find achievement. While the variety of paths taken on the road to success is astonishing, they all share one direction — belief in oneself. To achieve success, you must not just conceive of a way forward, you must believe in it. Banish Negativity Napoleon Hill stated, “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Hill is an example of someone…

Sales Pipeline Forecasting Fact or Fiction? By Jay Spielvogel, Venator Sales Group, LLC “I believe I have a 50/50 shot of getting an order.” “They loved our pricing; I’d give this a 75% chance of closing at this point.” “My contact is reviewing our quote internally; I’d say we have a 90% chance of closing this one.” Sound familiar? How often do you hear these optimistic statements from your sales team, and then find yourself asking, “Whatever happened to all of the other deals that you forecasted at 90% chance of closure?” Only to hear the typical responses: “They are…

Rather than selling to another company, many members are selling to their employees Across all industries, companies are facing a generational shift that is impacting their entire organizations. As C-suite executives and owners reach retirement age, they are faced with a question of what to do with the business. At the Seven Springs Regional Meeting, Meritus Vice Chairman Rob D’Allesandro laid out what he describes as the five alternatives to selling the business outright, ranking them on a spectrum from staying independent to an outright sale. Those options included an Enhanced Supply Relationship, a Joint Venture with another Distributor, an…

Utilizing the Program & Leveraging its Resources On Thursday, July 15, GAWDA and the CGA hosted a live webinar entitled “The GAWDA/CGA Safety & Training Playbook.” The webinar discussed how GAWDA members can participate in the CGA subscription program and get the highest safety return on investment from their GAWDA membership. GAWDA members have free access to the full CGA library of technical publications and the online training modules, just by virtue of participating in the CGA Subscription Program. “We realized at the Spring Management Conference that we have huge untapped potential in rolling out the CGA/GAWDA alliance program throughout…

Most companies that have survived for more than 80 years look unrecognizable compared to their beginnings. Perhaps no company better represents that massive transformation than Mason City, Iowa’s Huber Supply Company. Huber Supply Company was formed in 1939, when Elmer Smith’s boat broke down on Lake Erie, stranding him in Port Clinton, Ohio. It was there that Smith met Nelson Schmidt, who worked for his father at a boat repair shop and was able to fix Elmer’s boat over the weekend. Elmer, who was working for Smith Equipment at the time, told Nelson to look him up if he was…