『Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution Podcast』のカバーアート

Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution Podcast

Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution Podcast

著者： Kevin Brown & Tom Burton
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Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution is the weekly podcast sponsored by LeadSmart Technologies that takes a deep dive into the topics impacting manufacturers, wholesale distribution, independent sales agents, and the global wholesale supply chain.


Hosted by Kevin Brown, a 30-year veteran of wholesale distribution, and Tom Burton, a recognized thought leader in SaaS platforms for distributors, each episode reveals a unique perspective and valuable information about wholesale distribution. Debuting in February 2023, the ATHIWD podcast springboards from Kevin & Tom's popular LinkedIn and Facebook Live shows, bringing their industry insights to a wider audience.


Whether it's M&A, SaaS and cloud computing, B2B e-Commerce or supply chain issues, we peel back the onion into the topics that impact your business most.

© 2026 Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution Podcast マネジメント マネジメント・リーダーシップ 経済学
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  • The AI-Native Distributor: Agentic Buying, Smart CRM and the Future of Growth

    The AI-Native Distributor: Agentic Buying, Smart CRM and the Future of Growth
    2026/07/31

    How can wholesale distributors plan for growth when interest rates, tariffs, global conflict, artificial intelligence, and changing buyer behavior are all moving at once?

    Kevin Brown and Tom Burton examine the economic and technology forces shaping manufacturing and wholesale distribution. They discuss Federal Reserve policy, consumer confidence, Section 301 tariffs, supply chain visibility, AI-native business models, agentic purchasing, and the growing role of robotics in industrial operations.

    What You’ll Learn:

    • Why the Federal Reserve has limited options for responding to inflation caused by geopolitical price shocks
    • How Section 301 tariffs could affect inventory planning, margins, sourcing, and supply chain strategy
    • What new industry survey data reveals about distributor confidence, demand recovery, tariffs, and technology adoption
    • How businesses can move from basic AI assistance toward an AI-native operating model
    • Why agentic AI could reshape how contractors and other B2B customers research products, request quotes, and place orders
    • How humanoid and purpose-built robots may change industrial labor, workplace safety, and the protective equipment market

    Episode Highlights:

    00:00 – Looking at the upcoming 200th episode of Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution

    13:40 – Why the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and why some policymakers still favor an increase

    29:15 – What declining consumer confidence could mean for spending, employment, and distributor demand

    38:40 – How Section 301 tariffs are changing inventory valuation and supply chain planning

    47:25 – Why global shipping chokepoints are creating new risks for oil, freight, and product availability

    54:20 – What electrical distributors say about demand recovery, tariffs, margins, AI, and data center growth

    1:03:30 – The stages of AI maturity and what it means to build an AI-native enterprise

    1:12:10 – How agentic AI could transform the traditional wholesale distribution buying process

    1:20:35 – Humanoid robots, purpose-built machines, and the future of industrial safety

    Tools, Frameworks, and Strategies Mentioned

    • LeadSmart Meridian 360 enterprise growth platform
    • Smart CRM and CRM-ERP integration
    • LeadSmart Revenue Expander
    • Hidden revenue detection and trapped-potential analysis
    • AI maturity stages, from AI-assisted to AI-native
    • Agentic AI purchasing and automated ordering
    • Inventory visibility and supply chain analytics
    • Human-centered sales automation
    • Section 301 tariff analysis

    Closing Insight:

    The companies that succeed through the next phase of wholesale distribution will understand more than what is happening inside their ERP. They will connect customer, sales, marketing, e-commerce, inventory, and operational data so their teams can make faster and better decisions.

    Subscribe to Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution for weekly insights into the economy, technology, supply chains, manufacturing, and distribution growth. Visit AroundTheHornPod.com to explore previous episodes and sign up for the newsletter. To learn how LeadSmart Technologies helps distributors connect their data and uncover hidden revenue opportunities, visit LeadSmartTech.com.

    Leave a Review: Help us grow by sharing your thoughts on the show.

    Learn more about the LeadSmart AI B2B Sales Platform: https://www.leadsmarttech.com/

    Join the conversation each week on LinkedIn Live.

    Want even more insight to the stories we discuss each week? Subscribe to the Around The Horn Newsletter.

    You can also hear the podcast and other excellent content on our YouTube Channel.

    Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.
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    1 時間 24 分
  • Data Centers Everywhere, Section 301 Tariffs, and Amazon Business Crushing It: What A Time To Be Alive!

    Data Centers Everywhere, Section 301 Tariffs, and Amazon Business Crushing It: What A Time To Be Alive!
    2026/07/24
    What happens when tariffs, global shipping disruptions, AI infrastructure demands, and changing buyer behavior all hit wholesale distribution at the same time?On this episode of Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution, Kevin Brown and Tom Burton examine the economic, technological, and supply chain forces shaping manufacturers and wholesale distribution teams. They discuss inflation and interest rates, the transition to Section 301 tariffs, growing risks across major shipping routes, Amazon Business’s expanding influence, the copper shortage behind AI data center growth, and why companies need a more disciplined approach to AI investment.What You’ll LearnHow Section 301 tariffs could create greater planning certainty for distributors, even as import costs remain elevatedWhy disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, and the Panama Canal could create a global supply chain “perfect storm”How distributors can compete with Amazon Business by solving complex problems and embedding themselves in customer operationsWhy AI efficiency may increase total energy and computing demand instead of reducing itHow revenue leaders in distribution can evaluate AI tools based on measurable business outcomes instead of promisesWhy employees who guide, challenge, and pressure-test AI produce stronger work than those who simply delegate tasksEpisode Highlights04:20 – How LeadSmart uses connected ERP and CRM data to uncover hidden revenue opportunities13:45 – What the Federal Reserve’s inflation language could mean for interest rates and business planning23:10 – Why Section 301 tariffs may be more legally durable than previous tariff policies34:05 – The global supply chain risks developing around the Strait of Hormuz, Suez Canal, and Panama Canal43:20 – How Amazon Business reached $60 billion in merchandise volume and what distributors should do next52:15 – Why complex services, technical support, and customer integration remain powerful competitive advantages59:40 – Copper shortages, data center construction, and the infrastructure required to support AI growth1:10:05 – Why workers who actively direct AI agents outperform people who accept the first answerTools, Frameworks, and Strategies MentionedMeridian 360 HubLeadSmart’s connected data hub brings information from across the business into one environment, giving leaders greater visibility into customers, teams, sales activity, and growth opportunities.GeniusFeed AI and Revenue ExpanderThese tools analyze business data to identify white space, wallet-share opportunities, customer risk, and hidden revenue. The discussion also explores how this type of predictive sales analytics could support M&A due diligence and business valuation.Make Complexity Your StrategyDistributors can protect their customer relationships by focusing on services that are difficult for large online marketplaces to replicate. These may include product customization, technical support, equipment commissioning, kitting, cutting, and on-site problem solving.Embed Into Customer OperationsVendor-managed inventory, on-site personnel, tool cribs, vending systems, and job-site inventory programs make the distributor a direct part of the customer’s workflow.Jevons ParadoxAs technology becomes more efficient and less expensive, demand often grows faster than the efficiency gains. The hosts apply this idea to AI computing, data centers, energy consumption, and future infrastructure requirements.Outcome-Based AI AdoptionBefore investing in AI or sales technology, businesses should define specific outcomes they expect to achieve. Those outcomes should guide implementation, client success meetings, performance measurement, and technology budgeting.Closing Insight:AI, tariffs, e-commerce, infrastructure shortages, and supply chain disruption are creating a more complicated operating environment for wholesale distribution. The companies that succeed will be the ones that improve visibility, strengthen customer relationships, and connect technology investments to measurable growth.Subscribe to Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution for weekly analysis of the news and trends affecting manufacturers, independent sales agents, distributors, and the global wholesale supply chain.To receive the weekly newsletter, visit AroundTheHornPod.com.To learn how LeadSmart Technologies helps distributors connect sales, CRM, ERP, marketing, quoting, and customer intelligence data, visit LeadSmartTech.com.Leave a Review: Help us grow by sharing your thoughts on the show.Learn more about the LeadSmart AI B2B Sales Platform: https://www.leadsmarttech.com/Join the conversation each week on LinkedIn Live.Want even more insight to the stories we discuss each week? Subscribe to the Around The Horn Newsletter.You can also hear the podcast and other excellent content on our YouTube Channel.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.
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    1 時間 26 分
  • What Is CRM-ERP Integration?

    What Is CRM-ERP Integration?
    2026/07/17
    What happens when wholesale distributors realize “CRM” is no longer the real conversation, growth, data, AI, and sales enablement are?In Episode 198 of Around the Horn in Wholesale Distribution, Kevin Brown and Tom Burton unpack the shift they saw firsthand at the Affiliated Distributors Functional Success Summit: distributors are moving beyond traditional CRM adoption questions and toward connected data systems, AI-enabled sales strategy, and future-proofing distribution. The episode connects macroeconomic uncertainty, supply chain risk, AI governance, human judgment, and enterprise growth strategy to the real decisions facing wholesale distribution teams today.What You’ll Learn:Why distributors are moving past traditional CRM conversations and focusing instead on how to help sales teams create more value, become more consultative, and grow revenueHow CRM-ERP integration, data warehouses, e-commerce platforms, marketing automation, and disconnected point solutions can limit customer visibility unless they are unified into a true enterprise growth platformWhy inflation measurement, interest rate uncertainty, and prediction markets matter to revenue leaders in distribution making investment and growth decisionsHow Strait of Hormuz disruption, Suez Canal risk, oil volatility, plastics, fertilizers, helium, and global logistics instability can ripple through manufacturing and wholesale distributionWhy AI still needs human judgment, oversight, and strategy, and why many companies miss expected ROI when they assume full automation instead of building a realistic digital transformation planEpisode Highlights:01:16 – Lessons from the Affiliated Distributors Functional Success Summit and why sales enablement is replacing traditional CRM talk03:55 – Why disconnected data across ERP, marketing automation, e-commerce, and point software creates risk for distributors06:37 – Episode 198 begins: how Around the Horn connects the economy, supply chain, M&A, sales, marketing, AI, and robotics to wholesale distribution08:30 – LeadSmart’s Meridian 360 Enterprise Growth Platform and the move from Smart CRM to broader business growth engines12:32 – Inflation cooling, gas prices, and why energy volatility still affects distributors, manufacturers, fertilizers, heavy minerals, and supply chains15:23 – Kevin Warsh, Fed measurement reviews, CPI, PPI, the 2% inflation target, and the need for more real-time data20:25 – Prediction markets, PolyMarket, Kalshi, and whether betting markets can offer useful economic signals27:17 – Strait of Hormuz risk, Iran, shipping disruption, oil exposure, the Suez Canal, Houthi rebels, and what it means for global supply chains43:02 – AI watchdogs, model testing, DeepMind, Fable, Mythos, and the role of government QA for high-powered AI systems48:38 – Human judgment in the age of AI, digital twins, job displacement fears, and why AI ROI depends on data readiness and realistic automation expectations56:00 – APR Supply’s sales tool adoption gains and how better sales technology can support outside sales revenue growthTools, Frameworks, and Strategies Mentioned:LeadSmart TechnologiesMeridian 360 Enterprise Growth PlatformSales CompassSmart CRMSales Co-PilotAI Co-Pilot for SalesCRM-ERP IntegrationCRM Data Enrichment with AIHidden Revenue DetectionSales Automation Without Losing the Human TouchFuture-Proofing DistributionHybrid Selling ModelsConsultative CommerceData warehouses and data lakesMarketing automationE-commerce data integrationERP data unificationAI-enabled business intelligencePrediction marketsPolyMarketKalshiCPI and PPI measurement reviewsAI model QA and AI watchdog conceptsHuman judgment in AI strategyAPR Supply sales tool adoptionMaster of Distribution Management programClosing Insight:The episode’s central message is clear: the future of distribution is not about buying more disconnected technology. It is about connecting data, people, process, and AI into a strategy that helps teams sell smarter, serve customers better, and make better decisions under uncertainty.Leave a Review: Help us grow by sharing your thoughts on the show.Learn more about the LeadSmart AI B2B Sales Platform: https://www.leadsmarttech.com/Join the conversation each week on LinkedIn Live.Want even more insight to the stories we discuss each week? Subscribe to the Around The Horn Newsletter.You can also hear the podcast and other excellent content on our YouTube Channel.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok.
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    1 時間 1 分
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