T&B's Signature Service program made a name for itself in the electrical business because of the innovative package of enticements it offered electrical distributors to purchase more of its products and commit to more of the company's product lines.

The Dividends and Signature Circle elements of the 1998 Signature Service offered by the Memphis, Tenn.-based company are extensions of this philosophy. Neil Parker, president of the Electrical Components Group for Thomas & Betts says that today's distributors face a challenging world of industry consolidation, blurred distribution channels and the ever-evolving opportunities of electronic commerce. To help meet these challenges, the Dividends program rewards distributors for streamlining and automating their order-handling processes with shared cost savings. With Dividends, distributors earn points (and credit) for business transaction activities that actually save them money. For example, the more orders a distributor submits in standard carton packaging, the more points he can earn. Points start accruing if 70% or more orders are made for standard packaging. With each incremental percentage increase of orders made in standard packaging, the number of points-and the reward increases. Distributors also earn points for entering 50% or more of their orders via EDI and additional points if they submit orders via T&B's Distributor/Manufacturer Integration (DMI) program.

The Signature Circle program is for Signature Service distributors willing to commit further to the T&B package and agree upon a business-growth plan. The Signature Circle benefits include a distributor market-specific customer satisfaction survey, increased sales support, competitive into-stock pricing guarantees, price acceptance at order entry and ship and debit acceptance.

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