Carew International Addresses Margin Pressure and Direct Competition in Distribution Sales

New guidance helps distribution and wholesale sales teams protect margin, grow share of wallet and compete against direct and online sellers.

CINCINNATI, OH, UNITED STATES, August 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Carew International, a B2B sales and leadership training company with more than 50 years of experience, has released new sales training guidance for distribution and wholesale sales teams. The guidance addresses margin pressure from online price comparison, manufacturers selling direct to end customers, and the challenge of keeping counter, inside, and outside sales roles selling with one consistent approach.

A customer can now compare price and availability across three vendors before a distribution sales rep ever picks up the phone. Manufacturers increasingly sell direct to end customers online, removing distributors from deals they used to win by default. Carew's new resource is built to help distribution and wholesale sales professionals and sales leaders protect margin and grow accounts under those conditions.

The guidance covers three areas distribution and wholesale sales leaders raise most often:
• Selling value against direct and online competition - building a case for the distributor relationship when a customer can buy direct from a manufacturer or shop a marketplace online.
• Growing share of wallet across a large product catalog - uncovering and selling more of a distributor's full product line to accounts that may only buy a small fraction of what's available, in catalogs that can run into the thousands of SKUs.
• Coaching a mixed sales force - creating one consistent standard of customer conversation across counter, inside, and outside sales roles, each of which interacts with customers differently.

The resource also includes a set of frequently asked questions addressing margin pressure, customer consolidation through buying groups and group purchasing organizations, and how distribution sales managers coach a team spread across multiple selling channels.

"Distribution sales teams are being tasked with proving their value every day, because the customer has more options to buy than ever before," said Scott Stiver, Chief Sales Officer, Carew International. "The organizations that keep winning are the ones whose sales teams uncover the account's full range of needs and give the customer a real reason the relationship is worth keeping, whether that conversation happens at a counter, on the phone, or in the field.”

Carew has worked with distributors and wholesalers across industrial and MRO distribution, foodservice equipment and supply distribution, and heavy equipment dealer distribution for decades, helping sales teams build consultative selling skills through its flagship Dimensions of Professional Selling program alongside training in sales leadership, strategic account growth, and prospecting.

The full resource is available at https://www.carew.com/distribution-wholesale-sales-training/.

About Carew International
Carew International is a B2B sales and leadership training company based in Cincinnati, Ohio, with more than 50 years of experience helping organizations build consultative selling and sales leadership skills. Carew's programs, including its flagship Dimensions of Professional Selling, are used by sales teams across manufacturing, distribution and wholesale, paper and packaging, and other B2B industries to build trust with customers, differentiate beyond price, and win and grow profitable business. Learn more at www.carew.com.

Jeff Seeley
Carew International
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