What Top Distributors Are Fixing First: Lessons from NAW 2026
What Top Distributors Are Fixing First: Lessons from NAW 2026
Every year, leaders in distribution gather at NAW’s Executive Summit to talk strategy, growth, and what’s next.
What rarely gets captured is the quieter consensus that forms across those conversations—the priorities leaders keep circling back to, the problems they’re actively working to fix, and the decisions they’re making about what not to focus on yet.
After this year’s Executive Summit, we sat down with White Cup’s own Todd Daubenberger (CRO) and Kristen Thom (SVP, Customer Experience) to unpack what actually stood out.
One theme came through loud and clear: the strongest distributors aren’t chasing shiny objects. They’re sharpening execution—by tightening focus, modernizing how teams work, and making practical moves that show value quickly.
👉 You can watch the full on-demand conversation here.
Or, if you’d prefer a summary, here are five patterns that surfaced again and again, and what they mean for distributors heading into 2026.
1) Disruption Is No Longer a Phase — It’s the Operating Environment
Last year, many conversations at NAW had a “wait and see” edge—tariffs, supply chain shifts, pricing pressure, economic uncertainty. Leaders were asking: What’s coming next?
This year felt different.
The tone wasn’t anxious. It was pragmatic.
Distributors seem to have accepted that volatility isn’t a temporary storm to outlast—it’s the environment they operate in now. Trade policy may shift. Costs may fluctuate. Technology will continue advancing. Workforce expectations will keep evolving.
The posture has shifted from, “What’s coming?”
To:
- “This is what’s in front of us.”
- “How do we plan for it?”
- “What do we fix first?”
That shift matters. Because once leaders stop waiting for stability, they stop overengineering grand solutions. Instead, they lay out actionable, clear next steps teams can start taking today.
2) Big tech overhauls are losing to “snackable” improvements that prove value fast
A strong sentiment at NAW: many distributors have already taken on the heavy lift (ERP modernization, cloud transitions, security posture upgrades). Now the mindset is shifting from major replacement projects to getting more out of what they already own.
That doesn’t mean “do nothing.” It means:
- Stop assuming the next win requires ripping out your tech stack.
- Start asking where incremental improvements can unlock real performance.
One phrase that stuck with us: “snackable projects.” Initiatives small enough to deliver value quickly, learn, and build momentum—without tying up the business for 12–24 months.
This approach is showing up in how leaders evaluate new investments:
- Can we deliver value along the way (not only “two years from now”)?
- Can we measure impact in weeks, not quarters?
- If it doesn’t work, can we pivot without sunk-cost paralysis?
As Kristen Thom summarized it, “If the only way you’re evaluating a tech initiative is by the value it might deliver two years from now, it’s probably going to fail in today’s world.”
3) Sales force optimization is becoming a board-level priority (and it’s not just “sell more”)
Across side conversations and sessions, one pressure kept surfacing: “Do more with less.” And the fastest lever leaders want to pull is sales productivity.
But what’s interesting is how they’re thinking about it.
Leaders aren’t only asking for better effort—they’re rethinking the shape of the sales organization:
- The right mix of hunter vs. existing-account coverage
- Faster adjustments when roles or responsibilities aren’t working
- More strategic selling motions, not just more activity
A related insight came up repeatedly: many distributors are moving toward a partnership model where the distributor doesn’t just understand the customer, but helps the customer serve their customers better (like White Cup customer, LEPCO). That shift requires sales teams to walk into every conversation better prepared and more relevant.
Which leads to one of the most practical asks we heard:
The “customer scorecard” moment
Leaders described the need for a customer scorecard embedded directly into CRM so reps have the right context instantly—without hunting through inboxes, spreadsheets, ERP screens, or tribal memory.
At minimum, they want to see:
- Purchase history and buying patterns
- What customers buy vs. what they don’t (gaps = opportunity)
- AR status / account health signals
- Cross-sell and up-sell indicators
- The story behind the account, not just transactions
This type of report puts the right insight in the rep’s hands in the moment they need it. See White Cup’s Customer Scorecard, and recently released AI Account Summaries.
4) “Structured data” is really about systematizing tribal knowledge so relationships scale
Distributors are sitting on mountains of it across ERP, PIM, CRM, emails, notes, and rep knowledge. The trick is how to make this data useful, actionable, and visible.
When NAW leaders talked about moving knowledge from people’s heads into company systems, the underlying motivation was clear: customer relationships used to be primarily one-to-one (rep to customer). Now they’re increasingly many-to-one:
- Outside sales
- Inside sales
- Customer service
- Marketing
- Digital touchpoints
That diversity of touchpoints can strengthen relationships—if the business has a shared source of truth that keeps the customer experience consistent.
Without it, the experience can feel fragmented: “I’m not known, I’m not heard, and everyone asks me the same questions.”
The opportunity is real, and it doesn’t require a multi-year “perfect data” initiative to get started. The practical path is:
- Centralize what you already have
- Surface it where teams work
- Improve data quality by usage, not by waiting for perfection
5) AI is everywhere, but the conversation is maturing from ambition to readiness
AI came up constantly at NAW, but not always as celebration. If anything, the tone feels like it’s moving through a familiar adoption curve: early excitement → hype peak → a disillusionment dip → then practical use cases that actually stick.
The clearest disconnect we heard: distributors are excited about AI, but they don’t want vague initiatives with unclear outcomes. The best framing we heard for 2026 priorities was:
“If I can’t tie an AI project directly to a line on my P&L, it’s not a priority for 2026.”
That single filter forces clarity. “Efficiency” isn’t enough. Leaders want to know what efficiency means in dollars, service levels, inventory outcomes, and growth.
Two very practical AI themes stood out:
1) Small, targeted AI use cases are winning
The “rip and replace” dreams are giving people gray hairs. The wins are happening in focused areas like:
- Product recommendations and next-best actions for reps
- Faster account insights and prep
- Automation that reduces friction (without hiding the logic)
2) AI policy is becoming a must-have
Leaders recognize their teams are using AI tools with or without them, so guidance is essential:
- What tools are approved?
- What data is safe to use?
- What customer information should never be entered?
- What does “good usage” look like?
A written AI policy isn’t bureaucracy—it’s leadership.
Where to focus first in 2026
If you’re sorting through competing priorities right now, the strongest through-line from NAW is this:
Reinvention doesn’t require reinvention of everything. It requires disciplined execution.
The distributors moving fastest aren’t predicting the future perfectly—they’re building the organizational muscle to adapt quickly, prove value in increments, and keep teams aligned.
And maybe the best closing thought we heard at NAW was about leadership itself:
“I’ve never seen a room full of pessimists accomplish anything.”
Optimism, in distribution, isn’t blind confidence. It’s the decision to look at reality, choose the next right moves, and keep going.
Watch the full on-demand webinar
In the full session, White Cup’s Todd Daubenberger and Kristen Thom unpack these themes in much more detail—especially the execution traps leaders are trying to avoid, and the practical signals they’re using to prioritize change.
Watch the on-demand webinar: What Top Distributors Are Fixing First: Lessons from NAW
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