Every distributor does an annual budget – but that’s not the same thing as formulating a strategy. The budget process is very tactical, focused on current operations and does not typically account for broad industry trends, disruptors or major technology changes. If you don’t want to get blindsided, you need a strategic plan. A strategic planning process will allow you to think about the positioning of your company and how you need to adapt your value proposition over time. On this episode of Wholesale Change, Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein, Ph.D., talk about the strategic planning process they’ve developed to help distributors formulate long-term plans. This feeds into the short-term budget process but also enables changes that empower a company to thrive in the long term.