AFFLINK Summer Summit 2021

Milhench Supply had the pleasure of attending the AFFLINK Summer Summit for 2021, which was held in Nashville, Tennessee. For 4 days, we were able to have great conversations with other companies in our industry, learned about new trends from presentations by guest speakers, and built better relationships with those in our industry. Mike Costello and Heike Milhench went to the summit to represent Milhench Supply Company, and each had valuable takeaways from their trip.

Mike and Heike felt like being able to talk to many people in our industry was an invaluable opportunity to learn and gain a deeper understanding of the nuances in our industry. Much was talked about, and much was learned, and they had new insights that they could bring back and implement. Collaboration is important and helps everyone involved avoid running into the same problems. Common industry challenges can be minimized if companies know what to look out for. Things that have helped one company may help another company solve a similar problem. These kinds of discussions are very valuable to Milhench and the other supply companies that were there.

The presentations that were held were well put together and covered interesting and relevant topics. Some topic examples were hybrid work environments (blend of working from home and coming into the office), Cyber Security, and new trends in sales. Allowing employees to work from home and from the office with a seamless transition is important and the presentation gave some tips on how to do just that. Cyber security was another hot topic and seemed as important as ever. The presentation made it clear that it's important to set up cyber security measures to protect the company from possible threats. With the changing ways people like to shop, hearing new ways and philosophies on sales was interesting and productive. From the presentation, customer expectations continue to shift towards a more consultative approach to selling where it takes more than just a sales pitch, but rather a “consultation” with the customer to adequately handle the problems they are facing. These topics were things that companies are having to think about more and having these experts give their insights was very helpful. Now, with a better understanding of all those subjects, Milhench can work on ways to implement hybrid work environments, ways to protect our customer and Milhench from cyber threats, and new ways of serving our customers.