Meet the Chiefs: Michael & Dan Schwab, D&H Distributing
This week on Meet the Chiefs, we talk to brothers Michael Schwab and Dan Schwab, co-presidents of D&H Distributing.
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Co-president Michael Schwab (pictured on left) earned his BS of Economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 and completed a law degree in 1988 at Villanova University. He began his D&H career in 1989 as an outside sales rep. in the Philadelphia area. In 1991, Michael joined the corporate group in the Harrisburg headquarters as director of merchandising. Over the years, he has overseen D&H's staff of product managers, which has grown from a department of two to the current group of more than 50 representatives. In 1999, Michael was promoted to vice president of purchasing where he played an integral role in establishing relationships with major D&H partners including ongoing relationships with Microsoft, and new SMB partnerships with Lenovo and Cisco Systems. His pursuit and other new vendor associations at D&H have led the distributor to become a go-to destination for industry leaders to deliver their solutions to the SMB marketplace. Michael assumed the role of co-president, along with his brother Dan Schwab, in May 2008.
Co-President Dan Schwab (pictured on right) has worked with D&H Distributing since 1995, when he created the company's education division. A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Dan was named vice president of marketing at D&H in 2001, and his initiatives contributed to the company's continued growth of more than 10% each year ever since. He has driven efforts at D&H such as the convergence of digital technologies in both the small business and consumer spaces, and has been a key influence in D&H's ongoing pursuit of emerging solutions to deliver a competitive edge to its resellers. Dan has been profiled in more than a dozen high-tech publications and has been a featured keynote speaker at technology-based industry conferences across the US. He assumed the role of co-president, along with his brother Michael Schwab, in 2008.
Number of Channel Partners: Approximately 15,000
Age of channel program: D&H works exclusively with the channel, no direct sales, and as a distributor has always done so. The company is in its 98th year, although it has evolved from a tire retread business to a consumer electronics distributor and on to become a major a technology and networking distributor.
Percentage of revenue driven through channel: 100%!
We pride ourselves on offering a consultative approach to service, which harks back to our roots as a regional distributor that had to grow its customer’s businesses in a defined territory in order to succeed. Our account reps therefore take a vested interested in each reseller’s ongoing business. In addition to that, D&H focuses on the “S” in SMB, on the independent reseller, offering programs for an underserved section of the marketplace, catered to the needs of this profile.
As Channel Chiefs we must continue to find new ways to give our customer the right tools to succeed. In the case of a distributor, it’s not so much our role that changes but the market that changes, sometimes at revolutionary speeds, sometimes evolutionary. We’ve implemented programs recently to engage on a more regular basis with our reseller customers to receive more feedback. As Chiefs, we need to become as responsive as possible to the needs of the solution provider as technology environments become more focused on protocols like seamless mobility, cloud-based services and IoT.
Channel parity. Often times vendors run programs at retail or other channels which creates inequity and demotivates good resellers.
We would identify a way to deliver hands-on training for all partners on a regular basis. We do regional training events, road shows and webinars, and although it is not realistic, we would love to do much more hands-on, practical, business and solution training with our partners.
We’re always excited over the opportunity to launch a new product lineup to our resellers. It’s also exciting to provide enablement tools that allow our VARs the opportunity to drive business and overall growth, such as through or Partner Marketing Services program.
We encourage our reseller partners to diversify and move into areas beyond their core competencies. This helps create more agility in quickly changing markets. D&H has found this to be an invaluable tactic over the years in our own experience in the channel. Diversification into different areas of technology and beyond have allowed us to quickly adapt to trends and market developments.
We hope most that our channel partners understand the concept of “the value-add.” As trusted IT advisors, resellers working in the small business sector become the primary decision-maker regarding the brands and types of technology that are deployed in order for end-users to solve their business issues. We want our resellers to understand the value that we bring to the table as their distribution partner, but we also want to teach them to convey their own value to those end-customers by delivering the right guidance and solutions.
We hope most that our channel partners understand the concept of “the value-add.” As trusted IT advisors, resellers working in the small business sector become the primary decision-maker regarding the brands and types of technology that are deployed in order for end-users to solve their business issues. We want our resellers to understand the value that we bring to the table as their distribution partner, but we also want to teach them to convey their own value to those end-customers by delivering the right guidance and solutions.
What is Meet the Chiefs?
Meet the Chiefs shines the spotlight on the channel’s head honchos and offers an opportunity to learn a little bit about the person's real thoughts on the state of the channel. Click on each photo to learn more about the channel chief you’re viewing.
Want to be included in an upcoming Meet the Chiefs? Send an email to The VAR Guy Editor-in-Chief Kris Blackmon at [email protected] for more information.
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