The Soft Pitch

A record crowd and a record 36 Valley-area businesses competed in Avnet’s 7th Annual 16-Inch B2B (Business-to-Business) Softball Desert Classic tournament on Saturday, November 14 in Tempe, AZ. The 16-inch softball classic is one of Avnet’s key annual community outreach programs, attracted more approx. 1000 players and fans.

Men’s champion again for 5th year was Dirks Moving and Storage over Open Lane and Avnet’s warehouse team also going for 5 in a row failed as Infusionsoft upset them in the bottom of 7th with 2 runs in best game of the day.  The first-place co-ed team and men’s team won a Phoenix Coyote suite tickets; second-place teams won a $25 gift certificate for every team member to Don and Charlie’s, a local Scottsdale restaurant.

The big highlight was the XTRA Sports 910 beat the valley CEO’s 7-3. Lead by pitcher Gene Holmquist from Ensynch, Brad Casper from the Dial Corporation their MVP, Avnet’s Ed Smith, Ecoedge Barbara Johnson, Vince Adam and Bob Anderson our valued suppliers and Stephen Dow from Emerson, and ss Chuck Vermillion from OneNeck, among others competed, but failed to beat XTRA’s Bickley and MJ’s stars including Howler from the Coyotes. The CEO’s were coached by Avnet’s Vallee and Smith from SCF AZ.

The event benefit Spark of Hope, a Tempe-based organization that focuses on providing assistance directly to disabled children and their families who are not supported by traditional charitable programs.

It’s about fun, networking, employee morale and helping needy children — a grand slam. I’m so proud the game of 16″ softball is making a difference in the valley. I want to thank our sponsors and team behind the scenes lead by Lisa DeBride and Spark Design. Our brand is enhanced in so many a positive ways as we do these programs…one; as business improves some of these folks will become employees.

“There are not a lot of events that can bring so many local businesses together, especially one that benefits one charity,” said Ensynch President and CEO, Gene Holmquist. “It’s an opportunity for our coworkers to give back while also having the chance to meet other Valley professionals.”

The championship games and CEO vs 910 will be broadcast on Avnet’s web based video network, Avnet OnDemand , December 7 at

Hensley donated beverages, Vienna Chicago hot dogs were served and a children’s area included face painting, animal balloons and other events.
Tournament sponsors were: SCF Arizona, Ensynch and Computer Associates and the presenting sponsor is Spark Design. Also lending support: The Phoenix Sports Commission, PrismaGraphic, XTRA Sports 910AM, Brodeur Partners, Vienna Beef and BMA

When your from Chicago THE neighboorhood beer is Old Style…many folks have made toasts and given congrats with this beer here…so while in Chicago for the recent NEDA annual event the disty, semi, passive manufacturers and even the media attendees were smiling and relaxed compared to last year and raised an Old Style to relieve the pressure. Hopefully we will also add champagne to that toast one day.

The optimism was lead by the speakers including a Northern Trust economist and forecasters like iSupply and Bishop Reports…all predicted 2010 as being a gradual double digit % climb back to life as we remembered.  Kudos to our industry for screwing up as bad in 2001…forecasting and supply chain lessons were learned. 4 out of 10 years were not very good this decade…let’s see if we can avoid that many ruts in the 2nd decade of 21st century.

I felt it was productive program but the it’s the enthusiasm was contagious. Sure there are demand creation issues, counterfeiters, green issues, gross margin pressure…and everyone said they would not take unprofitable business and play nice…yeah whatever on that one.

Dr Zandman from Vishay was a well deserved lifetime achievement winner with a past that you could never image…escaping at a young age from being executed by the Nazis by hiding under someones home for 18 months in “grave as he called it with 7 others”.  He had everyone spellbound with his remarks.

And Avnet’s Phil Gallagher was also honored for his NEDA efforts. He is one of the good guys.

All in all good to see so many nice hard working folks smiling…alot of work ahead but but NEDA members will grind it out.

It used to be that that quote “Good things come in small packages” made me think of the ruby bracelet my husband bought me for our 10^th wedding anniversary. Nowadays I veer off to thoughts of an iPod Shuffle the size of lapel pin or my newest toy, a Flip Mino HD.  I decided to give it a try and jump into video blogging after I heard Brad Whitworth from Cisco talk about how the ease of use convinced a top Cisco executive to blog for employees and customers using it.

 My first try? Definitely shaky cam style. I used it to interview the judges for the Avnet Marketing and Communications Awards.  I haven’t heard of other companies doing this – but Avnet has been holding an internal awards competition for its marketing professionals for more than 10 years now.  It recognizes the best of our marketing efforts, but also encourages Avnet marketers to try new things and benchmark themselves against their colleagues globally.

 (Hold on there Avnet employees – I’m not giving away any secrets here of who won.  You’ll have to wait for the awards ceremony to learn that!)

I realize Michelle Gorel and are two of the folks here who are leading the charge into social media, with blogs, twitter, video, forums and avnetondemand.com, etc but the foundation of Avnet’s growth success is based on branding and advertising.

Advertising in trade publications still works…all these digital tactics are good but I do not believe they enhance Avnet’s brand or seek out new buyers who do not know about our values, lines, solutions and services. Print drives people to our web offerings. IF more publications fail how will we market our company in the future…spam emails or just yell from the street corners?

In fact I will give a public apology now, Avnet along with our main competitor had a tremendous negative impact on the publishing eco-system. In the past decade as we both acquired companies, we also eliminated advertisers….thus sealing the fate of many excellent publications that served our industry.

The pendulum seems to have shifted too far to digital when ads, seminars and personality are still relevant. Our 2nd X-Fest global seminar series which just kicked off is a stellar effort with Xilinix and other component suppliers to educate our customers. This old marketing tactic is still around and kicking….I remember the great open house programs Hamilton Avnet did in the 80’s. 

Again, Avnet will push the envelope with digital efforts like our AvnetOnDemand.com but our marketing approach is to also to get in trenches with our customers and suppliers with relevant training like X-Fest and some good old advertising. Stay tuned.

Several years ago, I was reading a self-help book, I really can’t remember which one –either from the guru of positive thinking Tony Robbins or from king of the one-line success quips Zig Ziglar or maybe even someone else.  It doesn’t really matter as the lesson was simply around “the most important words in the English language.” Since then, I’ve read many different versions of the same sort of list, but one of the things that strikes me is the list almost always includes “Thank You,” and so I’ve come up with my own list of the most powerful words, and it starts with “Thank You.” Those are short, simple words with a potent punch.  Sharing appreciation by saying “Thank You” makes you step out of yourself even if just for a second and acknowledge to the world that you’re not an island and others are an important part of what happens every day.  These words are so important they can make or break a marriage, because if no one appreciates you, why bother with doing the dishes after dinner or even making dinner to begin with? A sincere Thank You can let a child know how special that hand-made birthday card was to you. Or can let a friend know you appreciate them listening to your latest rant about car repairs. Or let a customer that you appreciate their business.

I was tickled last year when Avnet decided to participate globally in Customer Service Week and adopted the theme of “Just Say Thank You.”  It worked so well, we kept it this year for Customer Service Week again.  So we here at Avnet are celebrating Customer Service Week by doing our best to reach out to thousands of customers this week with a simple little message – “Thank You.”  There are videos from Rick Hamada, Avnet Chief Operating Officer, from Patrick Zammit , the president of our components group in Europe, e-card messages, internal training programs, customer appreciation events with moon cakes and balloons, and a whole lot of thanking going on internally and externally.  The point is to just say “Thank You” to our customers and suppliers for doing business with us.  We want all of you to know, that we appreciate you choosing Avnet. 

So here I am, chiming in to say “Thank You” for reading this blog.  Al and I appreciate your comments, questions and the few minutes you spend with us reading our random musing on baseball and all things Avnet.

Michelle

PS – The other most important words in the English language? Here’s my list: Please, Sorry, and Help.  Do you have a list of the most powerful words?