Distributors and their supply partners search for better ways to support their mutual customers, find new prospects, develop prospects into customers, and generally drive growth to both of their businesses. Historically, and before the internet, joint calls were the only form of cooperative selling. Marketing efforts, while serving to develop customer awareness, were mostly conducted by the supplier with distributors pursuing any leads generated and occasionally representing the supplier in a local trade show. With a few minor exceptions, joint marketing has been confined to co-op funds which the distributor might apply to promotional items and events. Often, these funds are spent on such things as logoed shirts, pens, and golf balls. Cooperating in some form of digital marketing makes great sense, but nobody really knew how to start. We at KYKLO have been thinking about the situation for a long time. How might we assist in the way distributors and their suppliers connect? What makes the best sense in the new economy? KYKLO reached out to a few progressive suppliers and developed a plan. Five Suppliers are Onboard We are pleased to announce that five innovative suppliers have signed agreements to partner with KYKLO. In alphabetical order: Festo Corporation  – A global leader in Pneumatics and Electrical Automation industry Mitsubishi Electric Automation  - Part of a $40 billion global company providing a broad range of automation products ranging from PLCs and drives to motion control and robotics. Phoenix Contact  – A global supplier of Automation and Interface and Interconnection products. Pro-face  – A division of Schneider Electric providing state of the art operator interface devices. Wago Corporation  – A supplier of a wide variety of Electrical and Automation solutions ranging from interconnection devices to power supplies to controllers and I/O. Under the agreement, KYKLO will provide enhanced offerings to each of the suppliers’ extensive network of knowledge-based technical distributors. This effort will give customers served by these distributors access to hundreds of thousands of the suppliers’ products via KYKLO’s ecommerce platform. Further, KYKLO will optimize customer communications to enabling better data sharing between customers and their local distributor. New and featured products will receive priority consideration on the distributor’s eCommerce system. Using this feature, a new product will automatically appear in the distributor’s website early in its introduction phase. Additionally, entrance to the online product configurator will feature special messaging from the supply partner. Supplier funding to assist in this operation will allow many of these distributors to apply co-op dollars to the effort of digitalized marketing using the KYKLO Program. This is an important effort for the future. Here is what John Bukowski, North American Channel Manager at WAGO, said,  “We have found that distributors who have embraced webstores and ecommerce have outpaced the growth of our “normal” distributor by a factor of 2X.”  This is something which independent knowledge-based distributor cannot ignore. In most instances, it is convenience not price which drives the web-based business solution. John went on to say, “One of our large corporate customers related that its tougher to get a new vendor set up than to just pay more for the product online. This is not an optimal situation as we would much rather see the customer buy from a distributor who invests in developing application team supporting the technical aspects of our product and creating new demand for our products. Therefore, it is crucial for High Tech distributors not to ignore the procurement/e-commerce side of their business.” These suppliers believe customer behavior and the way potential buyers discover new products has made a dramatic shift over the past few years. Rather than rely on the salespeople to provide product data and technical details, buyers research product technologies via the internet. This means new potential customers are sometimes not clearly visible to the distributors. According to Sloan Zupan, Mitsubishi Electric Automation’s Director of Corporate Marketing,  “The buyer’s journey has changed. Instead of gathering information from salespeople, more customers are doing research over the internet before making a call to a sales rep from either the distributor or manufacturer.” Prior to KYKLO most technology focused, and application skilled distributors could not support an effective web-shop. While the costs associated with building a platform have decreased in price, the cost of creating product data, constantly updating new products, and maintaining high search engine optimization (SEO) were outside their reach. Further, buyers contrast the quality of their experience against mega sized companies rather than a competitor across town. KYKLO levels the playing field. In the view of Mark Snyder, Channel Director of Festo USA,  “… every distributor must be looking at ways to make themselves “Amazon Proof”. They need an easy to use webshop which is optimized for internet searches as well as their traditional technical support and customer backup.” An important step for Knowledge-based Distributors and their Partners Theses new agreements provide a solid digital connection between customer and their local distributor. New products available via a webstore serve to compliment the distributor’s local efforts, providing an early connection to customers gathering information. Web searches for product and technology details attract what one of the suppliers called “dark side of the moon” unknown customers. Looking further, existing customers will now have a one-stop-shop for finding products serviced by their favorite distributor. We believe this is a trend and expect other supply-partners to soon recognize the value of presented by this type of agreement. It’s a win-win for distributor and partners and an extra convenience for the customers they share.

Pro-face is a recognized leader in Human Machine Interface and Industrial Personal Computers. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a Schneider Electric company, they maintain a global and local presence to provide world class availability, support, and service. Further, Pro-face uses a network of technology focused knowledge-based distributors to bring their product to customers. Pro-face partners with distributors in the truest sense of the word; this is not a “toss product over the fence” to the channel arrangement. Working with distributors to develop joint marketing is something the company exceeds the norm. Quoting Janelle Morris, Marketing Communications Manager of Pro-face America: “It is our goal to partner with our distributors to make sure they have everything they need to promote our products and attract new customers. This has included things like social media posts, help with designing LinkedIn and Twitter content, and even the design of special banners for websites and promotions. We like to work closely on co-marketed email campaigns and co-funding special marketing projects.” It made natural sense to assist distributors in their move toward digitalization. Morris has observed distributors with a web-presence have outperformed traditional brick and mortar only distributors before the COVID crisis. During the Pandemic, those who pushed the envelope by offering digital presence and a webstore accelerated continued to see growth. Ms. Morris made this poignant statement:  “Customers are moving into the age of digital buying. We know that customers often have a surprisingly good idea of what they want even before reaching out to a salesperson. Online research is the first step of the buying process. One of the key differences between consumer and industrial purchases is the final step. After satisfying most of their needs online, industrial customers often have a need to better understand their own application specific needs. This is where one of our technology-based distributors’ team comes in and finishes up the sale.” As an expert in the field of Distributor Digitalization, KYKLO plays an important role in quickly bringing distributors into full digital engagement. Returning to Janelle’s first comment, Pro-face wants to provide the right tools to make sure distributors have the right tools promote products and attract new customers. KYKLO fits the bill. Existing customers have access to rich product data – the stuff needed to make buying decisions. Conversely, undiscovered customers searching the web for a source of HMI products discover Pro-face and their local distributor – thus opening the door for more sales. Pro-face becomes KYLO’s first Platinum Partner, by allowing distributors to use up to 50 percent of their Co-op dollars to fund investment in the KYKLO system. Further the agreement calls for close cooperation between Pro-face and KYKLO on new product launches, arming distributor webstores with complete product data on day-one of the product launch. Specialized market creating messages will be embedded into distributor webstores which better brand the product. Again, quoting Pro-face’s Morris: “KYKLO serves as the one stop shop for distributors. We feel this allows our highly technical, solution-based channel to serve up enhanced product data as well as apply their own brand of technical expertise. For Pro-face the agreement simplifies the job of producing best-in-class content for customers searching the internet.” About KYKLO: Headquartered in Bangkok Thailand and Buffalo, New York, KYKLO provides a state-of-the-technology solution to distributors via a cloud-based eCommerce platform. Unlike traditional suppliers who provide an unpopulated webshop and require the distributor to supply product data, KYKLO provides rich product data for nearly 2 Million SKUs. All a distributor need do is connect their ERP (Business System) to KYKLO’s system. Every KYKLO client receives in depth guidance and ongoing coaching tied to engaging customers with their ecommerce platform. Additionally, they provide best practices for using the system for generating quotes and assisting inside salespeople in product selection.

KYKLO and WAGO USA have teamed up to build a more robust customer experience with WAGO distributors in North America. Under the terms of the newly signed agreement, KYKLO will provide proprietary services to further enhance the customer experience at distributors using KYKLO’s ecommerce platform. KYKLO will optimize customer communications by enabling better data sharing between customers and distributor. New and featured WAGO products will receive priority attention on the distributor’s eCommerce system. Using this feature, a new product will appear in the WAGO section of the distributor’s website on the first day of its introduction. Additionally, entrance to the upcoming online WAGO product selector will enable an easier discovery and selection of WAGO products. KYKLO will apply world-class SEO expertise to improve the visibility of WAGO products. This gives WAGO greater market attention, and more importantly, allows customers to find WAGO solutions based on application-based product specifications. Each visit to the WAGO section of the distributor’s webshop potentially generates leads. Even further, product search data gathered by the KYKLO system allows distributors to better understand localized interests for WAGO Products. Customer service is improved because the eCommerce platform is open 24x7 providing enhanced product data, automatic feature comparison, and “drill down” product selection. Once the product is selected, the system will offer up potential add-on products and accessories which are often overlooked. Once a bill of materials is selected, the order is automatically entered into the distributor’s business system, regardless of time or day of the week. Customer service plus quality products equates to rapid growth. WAGO and other manufacturers see growth in internet-based distribution, but feel the combination of high-touch technical support and an easy to use eCommerce offering as a step forward in strengthening their channel to market and fighting the commoditization of their technologies. WAGO will encourage their distributors to develop their skills in the eCommerce sector by allowing distributors to allocate up to 25 percent of the CO-OP funding to their efforts. About KYKLO: Headquartered in Bangkok Thailand and Buffalo, New York, KYKLO provides a state-of-the-technology solution to distributors via a cloud-based eCommerce platform. Unlike traditional suppliers who provide an unpopulated webshop and require the distributor to supply product data, KYKLO provides rich product data for nearly 2 Million SKUs. All a distributor need do is connect their ERP (Business System) to KYKLO’s system. Every KYKLO client receives in depth guidance and ongoing coaching tied to engaging customers with their ecommerce platform. Additionally, they provide best practices for using the system for generating quotes, and assisting inside salespeople in product selection.

The seed round was led by Felicis Ventures’ Sundeep Peechu and IA Ventures’ Jesse Beyroutey Buffalo, NY, Nov 16th, 2020 — As COVID-19 continues to accelerate the need for digital operations, the e-commerce and sales management company KYKLO is announcing a $8.5 million seed round to continue to bring electrical and automation businesses online. Led by Felicis and IA Ventures, with support from strategic angels, including the founders of Hybris, Shippo, former Magento SVP Growth and the participation of other institutional investors including Jungle Ventures, Wavemaker partners and Seedplus, the round brings KYKLO’s total funding to $10.2 million. KYKLO’s SEO-optimized, e-commerce platform digitizes operations and manages content and webstore work quickly and efficiently, so that wholesale distributors can focus on their core strengths — building customer relationships and growing sales, without having to invest in technical webstore setups. KYKLO’s catalog has over 2.5M SKUs, and it has 35+ distributors as customers. Leading manufacturers such as Schneider Electric, Wago, Festo US and Mitsubishi Electric Automation have endorsed KYKLO as a preferred ecommerce provider for their channel partners, and KYKLO is a key strategic partner of the Association for High Technology Distribution (AHTD), one of the largest automation associations. “With 80% of the $640 billion electrical, industrial and automation distribution industry still relying on PDF catalogs and phone and emails for its operations, distributors face a challenge in the market,” said Sundeep Peechu, Managing Director and founding member at Felicis. “KYKLO’s platform helps these companies keep pace with crucial industry needs and reassess how digital tools can transform their sales force.” “Having spent my whole career in the manufacturing and industrial space, I experienced the pain points of this pen and paper industry first hand,” said Rémi Ducrocq, KYKLO’s Co-founder and CEO . “I started KYKLO because I felt compelled to bring these industries online. Digital technology is here to transform not only how technical buyers select and buy, but also how distributors' salesforce sell more effectively, especially in a post-covid era.” IEC Supply, a specialty electrical, automation and controls distribution company, is an early customer of KYKLO. Since partnering with KYKLO, IEC Supply’s online sales jumped over 500% within the first 6 months of implementation . In addition to online sales growth, IEC Supply also accelerated new customer acquisition, generating three times the amount of new customer interactions per month. “The KYKLO platform gives us a chance to compete with large chain wholesalers in the digital space without a massive marketing or web development budget,” said Matt Zielinski, VP of Sales at IEC Supply.. “The KYKLO Webstore puts our products on the first page of Google and allows my team to efficiently use their time to solve technical challenges.” Progressive manufacturers believe KYKLO is the perfect tool for their technically focused distributors channel. Mark Snyder, North American Channel Manager for industry leader Festo said, “It’s impossible to say which vertical segment is responding/switching to eCommerce more vibrantly than others, but the general user market across all sectors is definitely switching faster. The big National Distributors are focusing on this in a major way. In my mind KYKLO provides the tools for the small and medium sized distributors to level the playing field.” The funding will be used to expand KYKLO’s U.S. footprint, including investment in sales and customer success, while also scaling its tech team in Bangkok. KYKLO will ultimately build the largest universal product catalog in the industry and will continue platform development and ensure it remains on the leading edge by enhancing functionality to support distributors' contractor and industrial customers. About KYKLO KYKLO is an e-commerce platform that enables electrical, industrial and automation distributors to digitize their operations. KYKLO operates as a one stop online solution with an SEO optimized “plug and play” web-store with best in class product content, including descriptions, pictures and relevant data, customizable with logos and widgets. Headquartered in Buffalo, New York and Bangkok, Thailand, the technology startup is working to transform offline businesses and bring them online by offering distributors the tools they need for customers to quickly and easily find their products. For more information, please visit https://www.kyklo-usa.com . About Felicis Ventures Founded in 2006, Felicis Ventures is a venture capital firm that has backed 31 companies valued at $1B or more. Felicis invests in iconic companies reinventing core markets (Opendoor, Flexport), as well as those creating frontier technologies (Ginkgo Bioworks, Recursion Pharmaceuticals). More than 80 Felicis portfolio companies have been acquired or gone public, including Adyen (IPO), Guardant Health (IPO), Fitbit (IPO), Shopify (IPO), Meraki (acquired by Cisco), Twitch (acquired by Amazon) and Ring (acquired by Amazon). To learn more, please visit www.felicis.com . About IA Ventures IA Ventures is a seed stage venture capital firm investing in software businesses ahead of product-market fit. We are a tight-knit, all-partner team in New York that works directly with founders every step of the way. Since its founding in 2010, IA has been a seed investor in more than 100 category-defining companies including Datadog, The Trade Desk, TransferWise, Flatiron Health, Better Mortgage, Komodo Health, DataRobot, DigitalOcean, Ironclad, and Recorded Future.

Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc., a leader in the Americas industrial automation market has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with distributor digitalization experts KYKLO to provide close support for their Americas distributor channel. Under the agreement, Vernon Hills, Illinois based Mitsubishi Electric Automation will promote KYKLO digital services to its distribution channel. According to Sloan Zupan, Mitsubishi Electric Automation’s Director of Corporate Marketing,  “The buyer’s journey has changed. Instead of gathering information from salespeople, more customers are doing research over the internet before making a call to a sales rep from either the distributor or manufacturer.” It is Mitsubishi Electric Automation’s goal to equip their distributors with the technology that allows them to provide the right information to existing customers and to be found by customers yet unknown to either Mitsubishi Electric Automation or the distributor. In every market there are potential customers who have yet to discover the power of the brand backed up with highly qualified distributors. Mr. Zupan puts it this way:  “With KYKLO, the distributor becomes more effective and time invested can be channeled to the activities which require a person, things like strengthening customer relationships, looking at a complex application or assisting with configuration and programming.” There are other benefits for both manufacturer and distributor alike. Zupan shared his belief that distributors using KYKLO become more effective by arming their team with important information surrounding customer interest in new technology and trends in the market. Here is what he said:  “As customers search for product information and discover new technologies to fill their application needs, the distributor will better understand customers and aggregate the information to determine trends in the market.” Mitsubishi Electric Automation distributors are encouraged to apply the full digitalization from KYKLO. KYKLO provides a tool which allows distributors to launch a webstore quickly and efficiently for both customer and internal use. KYKLO maintains the product data for Mitsubishi Electric Automation offerings and automatically places it into the webstore of authorized distributors. Further, the system handles Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and the necessary algorithms to quickly place the right information onto the customer’s computer or mobile device screen. Mr. Zupan believes now is the right time to act:  “We are amidst a global pandemic. Salespeople are limited in the types of customer engagements available. Never has there been a greater need for a platform like KYKLO. Not only can customers find the local distributor, local salespeople can email links to collections of products, again with all the right information, and back up that email with a short phone call or text.” About KYKLO: Headquartered in Bangkok Thailand and Buffalo, New York, KYKLO provides a state-of-the-technology solution to distributors via a cloud-based eCommerce platform. Unlike traditional suppliers who provide an unpopulated webshop and require the distributor to supply product data, KYKLO provides rich product data for nearly 2.5 Million SKUs. Besides, KYKLO’s system is easy to integrate with all ERP (Business System) Systems. Every KYKLO client receives in depth guidance and ongoing coaching tied to engaging customers with their ecommerce platform. Additionally, they provide best practices for using the system for generating quotes and assisting inside salespeople in product selection. About Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. Headquartered in Vernon Hills, Ill., Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc., offers a wide range of factory automation  products ,  solutions , services and  support  services for the industrial and commercial sectors. A U.S. affiliate company of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Automation represents more than 75 years’ experience in the automation industry. A broad product portfolio includes programmable automation controllers ( PAC ), programmable logic controllers ( PLC ), human machine interfaces ( HMI ), variable frequency drives ( VFD ),  servo amplifiers and motors ,  control software , computerized numerical controllers ( CNC ),  motion controllers ,  robots ,  low-voltage power distribution products , and  industrial sewing machines . The company takes its solutions on the road with the 53-foot long  Solutions in Motion  mobile showroom that appears at tradeshows, training seminars and other events across North America. Additional information about =Mitsubishi Electric Automation is available at  us.MitsubishiElectric.com/fa/en . In addition to factory automation, Mitsubishi Electric US group companies’ principal businesses include semiconductor devices, automotive electrical components, elevators and escalators, heating and cooling products, electric utility products, and large-scale video displays for stadiums and arenas. Mitsubishi Electric US group companies have 38 locations throughout North America with approximately 4,000 employees.

KYKLO and Festo, a global leader in the pneumatic and electrical automation industry, have jointly developed a plan to drive improved customer service through Festo’s North American distributor channel. The agreement calls for KYKLO to provide enhanced offerings to Festo’s extensive network of knowledge-based technical distributors. This effort will give customers served by these distributors access to tens of thousands of Festo products via KYKLO’s ecommerce platform. KYKLO will optimize customer communications by enabling better data sharing between customers and their local distributor. New and featured Festo products will receive priority consideration on the distributor’s eCommerce system. Using this feature, a new product will automatically appear in the Festo section of the distributor’s website early in its introduction phase. Additionally, entrance to the online Festo product configurator will feature special messaging from the company. Festo recognizes the growing importance of getting detailed product information into the hands of customers. According to Mark Snyder, Channel Director of Festo USA: “I have visited the webstores of our distributors who have employed the KYKLO system and I am amazed at the quality and depth of their product data.” Customer behavior and the way potential buyers discover new products has made a dramatic shift over the past few years. Rather than rely on the salespeople to provide product data and technical details, buyers research via the internet. This means new potential customers are sometimes not clearly visible to the distributors. Again quoting Mr. Snyder: “We have seen a recent trend where Distributors with digital presence are growing faster than distributors without. I believe this is at least in part due to their ability to attract and sell to customers who would normally not be visible through traditional sales methods.” Prior to KYKLO most technology focused, and application skilled distributors could not support an effective web-shop. While the costs associated with building a platform have decreased in price, the cost of creating product data, constantly updating new products, and maintaining high search engine optimization (SEO) were outside their reach. Further, buyers contrast the quality of their experience against mega sized companies rather than a competitor across town. KYKLO levels the playing field. In Snyder’s view:  “… every distributor must be looking at ways to make themselves “Amazon Proof”. They need an easy to use webstore which is optimized for internet searches as well as their traditional technical support and customer backup.” Manufacturers like Festo believe developing new applications and the resulting market creation are key to market share growth and long-term success. They also see customers taking an omni-channel approach to purchasing the products they need. Once more quoting Festo: “eCommerce is going to someday be a must have for every distributor. Someday, probably by 2025, customers and suppliers both will weigh this point heavily in their selection of distributors. We want our distributors to be there.”  With this important thought in mind, the plan allows distributors to apply a portion of their 2021 co-op marketing dollars to the KYKLO investment. When asked, why is digitalization part of the Festo channel program, Mr. Snyder stated the following:  “It’s about customers. Every recession brings changes to their world and the way they do business. Customers have accelerated their switch to this method of buying and we need to encourage our distributors to be there. We are changing our ways too. Festo as a corporation is increasing the overall online experience for customers by putting all the engineering resources into one place. Customers want that.” When distributors use KYKLO it enhances service to existing customers and provides an avenue to yet to be discovered and under-served markets. Existing customers are given another, and possibly more attractive, option for doing business with the distributor. New customers both find the products they need and become valuable leads for the distributor. When technology-focused distributors move front and center for customers looking for Festo products, the customer gets better application support, technical assistance, along with ease of doing business. Experience indicates this drives sales and market share growth for distributor and manufacturer alike; that is important. About KYKLO: Headquartered in Buffalo, New York and Bangkok Thailand, KYKLO provides a state-of-the-technology solution to distributors via a cloud-based digital commerce platform. Unlike traditional suppliers who provide an unpopulated webstore and require the distributor to supply product data, KYKLO provides rich product data for nearly 2 Million SKUs already optimized for SEO, search and filtering. Besides, KYKLO’s system is easy to integrate with all ERP (Business System) Systems. Every KYKLO client receives in depth guidance and ongoing coaching tied to engaging customers with their ecommerce platform. Additionally, they provide best practices for using the system for generating quotes and assisting inside salespeople in product selection.

Pausing from a series of excitingly busy days (weeks, months and, even years), we realized KYKLO is another year older. We have reached a milestone; five years of KYKLO. We could insert any number of old cliches: Time passes quickly when you’re having a good time… It seems like only yesterday… Tempus fugit, Time flies… In the wink of an eye, it was gone… Back in 2015, when Remi and Fabien had the idea to help distributors digitize their business, they had no idea as to how the plan would take them from Bangkok to Buffalo, New York and all parts in between. Along the way, the company has grown, expanded and attracted the attention of thought leaders in the world of eCommerce. Better yet, KYKLO has built personal and professional friendships with scores of new folks around the globe. And, more importantly, our offering has become increasingly resilient. KYKLO has expanded the number of manufacturers/suppliers we support – Currently 97 companies. We have grown the number of SKUs in our product library to over 2,5000,000. The number of SKUs added still pushes well over 12,000 per week. Our North American office is currently staffed; 6 people. KYKLO’s vision of the future remains the same. Distributors must digitize their selling process to better serve customers and our mission to provide the tools to make it happen quickly and without a large supporting staff has become even more important. In candid conversations with distributors and their supply-partners we continue to hear things like this, “In the not too distant future, eCommerce will be as essential as salespeople, support staff and inventory.” Some have even put a date-stamp on the “not to distant future” adding, “By 2025, we will not have any channel partners who don’t provide their customers with a web-based product selection tool.” A few of our clients have even said, “We only wish our KYKLO effort had started a year sooner.” We are excited that everyone in the whole supply chain is excited by the prospects of eCommerce and Distributor Digitalizaton. The best news of the year is that supply partners are moving to assist their distributors in developing a web-based business model. KYKLO has signed several corporate agreements with major client supply partners. These agreements will allow KYKLO to provide even better content, provide enhanced digital marketing for the manufacturer, and pave the way for the costs of distributor digitalization to be shared back with the manufacturers. We will be pushing out an announcement on these groundbreaking agreements in the next few weeks but wanted to share this today. Our hearty thanks… We are proud of what we have done over the past five years. But rest assured, none of this would have been possible without your support, help and encouragement. Returning to our earlier comment, KYKLO has been blessed with friends, great friends, over the past handful of years. We hope you will join us in contemplating this accomplishment. And, we hope you will join us in celebrating future breakthroughs in the future.

It’s the end of a tough day. Lately it seems like every day sets a new worlds record for issues. Your head barely touches the pillow before you drift off into deep slumber. In what seems like 10 minutes, your tumultuous dreams include an eerie sound from outer space. The sound grows louder; to the point of annoyance. You crawl out of your comfortable coma to discover the alarm chirping and the sheet wrapped strangely around your head. Ah, the start of another day. Shuffling to the kitchen, you load up with a steaming cup of coffee and settle in for a fresh dose of caffeine. Silently sipping your coffee, you begin to plan your day. There’s a lot going on, coronavirus or no. In fact, the current situation is driving your team crazy. Customers who normally purchase hundreds of items at a time are gathering increasingly more product data. They are checking stock and inquiring about all levels of what we might call in pre-COVID days, minutia. Then it dawns on you—a couple of your people are out on vacation. August lies smack dab in the middle of prime vacation season. According to experts nearly 70 percent of the workforce takes vacation during the months of July and August. While the coronavirus pandemic impacts where people go on vacation, it doesn’t seem to affect the numbers of people not working. If yesterday was hectic, today will be a heart attack stress test. It’s not even 7:00 AM and your day is already headed in the wrong direction. We at KYKLO are former automation people. Most of our clients sell or are deeply involved in automation. This brings us to one of the selling points used for advanced automation and robotics. Robots are getting better with time. They don’t get tired, they don’t find new jobs. And, the real kicker is, Robots never go on vacation. Reports from the field point to lots of time consumed taking care of simple stuff. Customers really are checking through product data with greater intensity than in pre-Corona days. Experts tell us some COVID-based habits will linger with us long after the virus dissipates. Distributors who offload some of their work to automation, like KYKLO, will be better positioned to cope with the demands of the future. Data served, questions answered, and orders received automatically. Minutia will be handled, freeing your team to do what they do best – provide real solutions. Thinking further about lingering aftereffects of our pandemic, many companies indicate they may never return from their “work from home” policies. There will be more of our customers working from home, and working around schedules which involve kids, spouses and other distractions. Simply stated, a good many of our customers will have flexible schedules. Some will start early, we heard from one person who has adapted to a 5:00 AM start time. Others will work late, extending their workday till 7-8:00 in the evening or later. KYKLO is a 24x7 solution to customer’s needs for information, checking stock and placing orders. Regardless of your team’s work schedule, you will still be there for your customer. Now is the time to get your customers into your KYKLO webstore. We can help you plan a strategy for integrating this sales tool into your salespeople bag of tricks. If you don’t have a great e-commerce system, give us a call. We’ll tell you why so many of your counterparts around the country have selected KYKLO. reach out to us at  contact@kyklo-usa.com

Are you doing mid-year reviews? As we roll into mid-summer, many distributors are in the process of doing mid-year reviews with their teams. Under even the best of circumstances, distribution experts recommend periodic reviews of team performance. In these tumultuous times, the practice is even more important. Our friend Frank Hurtte, speaking in  IMARK Today , proposed 20 questions distributor leaders should ask their salesforce. He went on to say this: Why ask your sellers questions? I believe sales managers must understand their teams. Not all the answers will be the same. Each member of your team has their own individual strengths, weaknesses, and outlook on business. Customer mix makes a difference. Yet we must ask to understand. The COVID situation has impacted our industry. If you haven’t done a mid-year review with your team, I suggest you do so. I recommend you use some of these questions in your review conversations. The concept of questions got us thinking, we believe KYKLO users should ask some questions of their own. Here are five questions you might toss out to your team during a mid-year review of your own: How have you put the KYKLO system that powers our website to work in your selling efforts? The system can produce online quotes which feature extensive product data and specifications. In addition, many of the product pages provide suggestions for add-on sales. Sometimes it’s hard to remember to suggest that bracket for a customer’s sensor application. Do you use the KYKLO system to help find product information faster? Here’s a truism, many of our manufacturers provide literally hundreds of permutations of the same product. Have you practiced drilling into the right product for the application but simply selecting the features your customer needs for their installation? Have you taken the time to direct customers to the web-store? Getting customers into the web-store isn’t a matter of build it and they will come, although many will find their way. Experts tell us it is 5-10x easier to sell more to an existing customer than find and convert a new account. The same applies to the web-store. The best prospect for the web-store is an existing customer. They know and trust us. They need to know orders can be placed in whatever manner proves easier at the time. Sometimes, they want to review all the variations of a product at their leisure. Our KYKLO solution offers that option. Which of your customers do you rarely call on who should be pushed to your web-store? These customers might be too small to warrant lots of attention. Some say the cost of doing business with this type of customer is prohibitively expensive. Helping them develop the habit of shopping electronically brings in low-cost sales dollars. In the long run, we’ll still be there for them when they have an issue. Understanding nothing replaces the in-person work you do to assist your customers, what do you see as the biggest benefit of directing customers to your web-store? This question primes the pump for salespeople to understand the web-store is just another selling tool. Knowledge-based distributors will still provide expert guidance, develop complex solutions, and aid their customers in improving their operations. Not using the web-store in today’s market environment is akin to not giving customers product catalogs back in the 90s. Even high-tech solution-centric distributors provide plain old parts. And sometimes getting the right part at the right time is a solution. Ask questions and understand your team’s skills The KYKLO system isn’t just world class software or one of the largest libraries of product content on the planet, it’s a solution. Sometimes, training is part of your solution. It’s part of ours, too. If your team’s answers to these questions doesn’t ring true, give us a call. We have training and we can help. reach out to us at  contact@kyklo-usa.com

Open for business… What a feeling. After nearly four months, and what seemed like an eternity, New York is finally opening some doors. While the march to normalcy isn’t moving forward as most of us would like, we are starting to feel the progress. With this in mind, now might be a good time to brief you on KYKLO’s immediate future. After several months of searching and reviewing nine cities across the country, KYKLO has selected Buffalo, New York to host their North American headquarters. Why Buffalo? First, the location topped the list on quality of life; things like safety, affordability, education, attractiveness and ease of doing business. In addition, after geo-pinning hundreds of the distributors across the country, we discovered Buffalo offered easy connections to large concentrations of our kind of distributors. Buffalo is centrally located to many US-based distributors; close proximity to Cleveland, Detroit, Columbus, Indianapolis, Manhattan, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Further, it provides easy access to the Canadian market as well, it’s an easy drive to Toronto, which happens to be North America’s fastest growing city. We liked Buffalo because the people mirror our client base. It’s a Mid-Western, blue collar industrial city with a culture naturally blending with our way of doing business. We totally appreciate the motivation and work ethic. If you haven’t noticed, we’re not trying to become the next Silicon Valley phenomenon or the darling of the Manhattan financial world. Instead, we are striving to be a tool for the hardworking folks of independent distribution. Who will be housed in the North American Headquarters? KYKLO is recruiting for the following positions in Buffalo: Sales staff (inside and outside) Account Managers/Project Managers Technical Support/Consultants Marketing New KYKLO employees will have Industry Experience. Our core strength comes from our staff engineers. The majority have worked for a distributor or vendor in the lines of trade we support. This allows us to both know our customers and understand the needs of our customer’s customers. Simply stated, we know how the industry works. We intend to follow that model as we ramp up our North American team. KYKLO will be specifically targeting people who have worked inside the B2B space; especially those with experience in small to mid-sized companies. Why the focus on employees in this strategic size range? We have discovered the people at our clients are forced to “wear many hats” and handle problems on their own often without extensive resources. Day after day, our kind of people go head-to-head with large corporations and come out on top because they have learned to be nimble on their feet and resourceful in their thinking. When our founders envisioned the company back in 2015, their goal was to provide a tool that would level the playing field for the independent distributors. These are the folks who serve as the battle-hardened backbone of our industry. The Mega distributors and their allies have millions of dollars and hundreds of people to throw onto eCommerce initiatives and are determined to use this tool to put independent distributors in peril. We’ve achieved the goal of making things fair. Now we’re working on skewing the table in our client’s favor. Strategic growth required more people. KYKLO is poised for growth this means: more products, new technologies covered and lots of new client distributors. Our strategy is to anticipate the future. It’s impossible to snap your fingers and instantly catch-up to our client’s customer needs. We’ve got to develop now for future needs. Our strategic plan goes like the old add campaign, We’re engineering tomorrow – today. Because you are probably wondering. Fun Facts About Buffalo According to National Geographic, Buffalo is the #3 City in the World for Food and we’re not just talking about Buffalo Wings. Smart-asset, a website devoted to helping people make good financial decisions, listed Buffalo as a Top 10 City for Career Opportunities. Realtor.com named Buffalo as the Numero Uno Millennial Homebuyer Market in America. Entrepreneur.com says Buffalo is the #2 most booming start-up ecosystem in the US. Travel and Leisure named Buffalo the #1 “Friendliest City” in America. Forbes claims Buffalo is the 10th happiest city to work in. They also named the unhappiest, but we are sworn to secrecy. Citrix research indicates Buffalo is the 11th best place for women executives. We think that’s really cool.

Like you, we’ve been on the phone a lot lately. The conversation usually goes something like this: Me: Thanks for taking my call. How have you been? Corona-crud free; I hope. Client: Doing well. No virus, but sure getting tired of the same old quarantine routine. Me: No kidding! Aside from sheltering in place, what have you been up to? Client: Well, you know a lot of my work continues regardless of the situation. We are redoing parts of our office to allow better social distancing. And, at home, my wife has been supervising my efforts to redo the basement. How about you? Me: Well, let me think. Sheltering in place, doing lots of video conferences and have a few things happening with the team. So, what’s going on with the KYKLO team? For some reason, and I cannot say precisely why, I never get around to saying exactly what we’ve been doing. Perhaps, it’s because it happens regularly. Maybe we take our promise of continued progress for granted. But allow me to give you the full report. KYKLO has created approximately 1.1 Million new SKUs since the first of the year. A goodly number of them were created since the onset of the pandemic (which hit Thailand a full month ahead of North America). We’ve enriched and improved product content in the following product lines. ABB Jokab Safety Products ABB Contactors Banner Sensors Festo Pneumatic Air Prep. Mitsubishi Contactors Mitsubishi PLCs MSA Gas Detectors Siemens SCALANCE Siemens SITOP SMC Actuators SMC Pneumatic Valves Patlite Lights Wago Automation and Connectivity Wago Relays We added easy to use product selectors to the following: Mitsubishi contactors, Schneider Electric contactors and Turck sensors. Brian Beaulieu made the comment, that during these times customers are looking to avoid risk. A product selector minimizes the novice customer’s risk in selecting the right product for the application. On top of all that, KYKLO has also created “standard content” which is not as nicely enriched as the content typically provided. This is based on manufacturer’s price lists and is designed in a way that enables customers to do a simple catalog number search on products which have not yet been fully developed. If KYKLO doesn’t have the content fully developed, customers can still find their way to products. We feel this avoids “buyer drop off” on items yet to be fully developed. As of right now, we have developed standard content for nearly 30 new brands. The enriched versions will follow, but customers will be happy to find price and short descriptions for products they are already familiar with and buy. A parting thought. Now is a great time to onboard all your customer on your solution. We are available and would like to hear from you. Just shoot us a message or give us a call. We are 100 percent Corona-free and ready to help.

In a murky ocean of talking head doom and gloom, ITR's, Brian Beaulieu shown like a light. AHTD meetings are always a great time for valuable networking sandwiched between world class presentations. Under normal circumstances, we would be sipping a coffee, tea, beer or wine at one of those networking events and talking about the points of Brian’s thought-provoking session. Corona-inspired social distancing prohibits face-to-face exchange, so consider this the opener of a great virtual conversation. This isn’t Forever Most of us wear a brave face, muster up our best optimism and cast a positive impression to our teams. Contrary to outward appearances, we have our doubts. Pundits call for more weeks, months and in one instance a year long continuation of business purgatory, where torment and suffering continue. One friend described his reoccurring dream of swimming, salmon style, in a river of red ink. Forever. It’s reassuring to hear; this won’t go on forever. And, perhaps like the Covid-19 plague, these economic conditions will get only those who were already weakened by other conditions. We will survive. Even better news came in Beaulieu’s thoughts on an accelerating automation market. Somehow, he probably couldn’t feel the joyful exhilaration emanating from the hundreds watching. Be Prepared Inventory in place, check. People ready to provide expert service, check. But, simply standing by waiting for the “light switch” to turn on isn’t a plan. Will we have the tools? Do we even know what the tools might be? Will we have adapted to how our customers now want to be served after weeks of remote work and not getting in person sales visits? During question and answer period, some kind soul asked this: “We hear plenty of reports tied to acceleration of online business in the retail sector. Do you believe this will spill over to AHTD products?” If you anticipate issues with specific products, you can be proactive in either reserving some of your stock for their future needs, expediting orders or helping in the process of converting to some other product. Brian’s answer (and I have his permission to quote): “We think that people are learning to do more things online. It [the trend] has accelerated us towards being comfortable with an e-environment, whether e-commerce or not. The trend was already there. This [the pandemic] has just hastened the trend a little bit along the way. In terms of our business, AHTD or other, if we don’t have an effective e-platform we’re not ready for the future. That’s a point startlingly clear.” Experience during our sheltering in place, reduces the perceived risk of using a webstore and quickens customer migration to e-commerce. Reducing Risk In at least the near-term future, AHTD customers will be risk adverse. Thinking about the previous question and answer comments, the risk of actively shopping online has been mitigated by those dozens of purchases many customers have made over the past six weeks or so. People, who rarely purchased anything of import via the web, were forced to make purchases. And they discovered things worked marvelously. We believe digital solutions, or e-platforms as Mr. Beaulieu called it, remove other areas of risk. Social distance issues in the early stages of a comeback. How will we re-engage with careful customers who don’t want you to visit them in the early stages of recovery? Mimicking your in-person experience in digital ways while delivering value. Enable your inside and outside sales team interactions with end-customers via digital using co-browsing, live chat and web-conferencing tools to show products, help customer select parts and create their solution bill of material, just like they would if sitting in the same room. Better product information than normally available via other sources. The KYKLO system provides more than a color glossy of the product. Our content library is an easy to read hybrid of catalog and product data sheets. Risks associated with supply outages. Your system can show current inventory of products which alleviates fears of ordering something with a long lead time. Meeting customers when they are working: many people are home-schooling their kids and therefore must adapt their work schedules around their children’s activities. Hastily ordering the wrong product because of office hours confines, allows for better and risk-free transitions. We believe our systems provides another level of risk avoidance. This one to our clients. A World-Class ecommerce system gives distributors a method of serving customers that can’t get sick, doesn’t take off time, and is available 24/7, 365 days a year. Your customers get the kind of information they need to make informed decisions whenever, wherever they need it. We think this eliminates a lot of risk for our customers.