Your People Are The Real Differentiator.
Distributor and dealer association conventions, branch manager meetings, all-hands sessions, sales and service kickoffs, and awards banquets.
In distribution the catalog is not what wins. A competitor can source the same line and quote the same price. What they cannot copy is the person who answers the phone at the counter, the driver who notices something on a customer's yard, and the branch manager who keeps good people. That is a durable advantage and it is entirely buildable. Chris Sund has spent two decades leading exactly that kind of business.
Price gets matched by Friday. The people at your counter never do.
My KC Live, KCTV5 Kansas City →Let your board watch him first.
Convention committees rarely agree on a speaker from a bio. Send a clip to the group and let people judge for themselves. Chris has been on morning television in six markets and in Forbes, Inc., and the Midlands Business Journal, all collected in the media hub.
Five things a branch uses next week.
No inventory strategy, no pricing model, no ERP or logistics content. Your operations people own all of that. This is the layer that decides whether your customers stay with you when somebody quotes them cheaper.
On what the distribution session is about
- The counter and the phone are the product. Customers do not experience your warehouse. They experience whoever picked up, whether that person knew their name, and whether the problem got solved. That is teachable and it costs nothing.
- Drivers and outside reps are your reputation. They are on customer property unsupervised, every day, and they see things nobody else does. Treating that as a service role rather than a delivery role changes what they bring back.
- Why good people leave a branch. Rarely pay alone. Usually a manager who never noticed the effort, and a competitor who called at the right moment.
- Branch and warehouse managers promoted off the floor. Almost all of them were, and almost none were trained to lead. See manager development.
- One move, not a program. Every session closes on a single specific action, sized for people who are back on the counter or in a truck tomorrow.
Eight ways distributors and dealers book him.
Associations usually pair the general session with a breakout. Companies usually pair a branch manager session with a repeatable all-hands.
Association Convention Keynote
General session for a distributor, dealer, or supply association annual convention and expo.Company All-Hands
Counter, warehouse, drivers, inside and outside sales, and office in one room.Branch Manager Meeting
The people running locations you are not standing in. Highest-leverage room in a multi-branch business.Sales Kickoff
Inside and outside sales teams at the start of the year or the season. Kickoff details.Warehouse & Driver Session
The teams customers actually see. Safety-adjacent, service-focused, and usually never spoken to directly.Awards Banquet
Dealer of the year, service awards, and installation dinners. Sized to fit a full program.Take Back Your Time With AI
A live working session. Teams bring the quoting, follow-ups, and admin eating their week. Full details.Conference Breakouts
Repeatable concurrent sessions alongside a general session at an association convention.Built for the businesses between maker and user.
The framework holds across all of them. What changes is who is in the room and what ships tomorrow.
Equipment Dealers
Material handling, construction, agricultural, and industrial equipment dealers and their associations.Building Supply & Lumber
Lumber dealers, building products distributors, and their state and regional associations. See home builders speaking.Industrial & MRO
Industrial supply, fastener, safety, and MRO distributors with counter and outside sales teams.Wholesale & Foodservice
Wholesale and foodservice distributors running customer events for operator clients. See restaurant speaking.Ag & Turf Dealers
Agricultural, turf, and irrigation dealers serving growers and grounds customers. See agriculture speaking.Truck & Fleet Dealers
Heavy truck, trailer, and fleet service dealers. See dealership speaking.Buying Groups & Co-ops
Purchasing cooperatives and buying groups running annual member meetings.Manufacturers & Suppliers
Manufacturers running dealer and distributor meetings for their channel. See manufacturing speaking.Warehouse & Logistics
Distribution centers and third-party logistics operations. See trucking and logistics.Four movements. Ten principles.
Every session runs the same architecture as the book, which is what lets an all-hands and a branch manager session land as one message rather than two.
The Foundation
Ownership and time. What is inside your control when the supply chain, the freight, and the market are not.The Breakthrough
The comfort ceiling and the inner voice. The section a thirty-year counter man goes quiet for.The Standard
Truth over praise, and the hidden gear. What a branch does when somebody finally says the real thing out loud.The Purpose
Finishing, and leaving people better. The close, and why keeping somebody else's business running matters.A copy for every branch in the network.
A keynote gives a room an hour. A copy gives every location the same ten principles and the same language, which is how a message survives past the week the banners come down.
You Are Capable of More: A No-Excuses Guide to Becoming Your Best Self. An Amazon bestseller from Game Changer Publishing, with a foreword by Ben Newman.
Ten chapters across four movements, written plainly and short enough that somebody opening the counter at seven will actually finish it. The free companion toolkit includes a discussion guide sized for a morning branch meeting, a self-assessment, and a thirty day challenge. Nothing is gated behind an email address.
The feedback speaks for itself.
Chris consistently brings knowledge, insight, and practical advice. He led two impactful sessions and left everyone with tools they could use immediately.
Chris is a thoughtful, intentional leader who understands the influence he carries. His message challenged me to think differently about how I lead, serve, and influence others.
Chris was an outstanding speaker and a highlight of our event. He took the time to deeply understand our organization and thoughtfully personalized every moment.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. Each time he finds a unique way to connect on both a personal and professional level, keeping everyone engaged and attentive.
His engaging style draws the audience into the conversation, creating a relaxed atmosphere that encourages learning and reflection. You leave not only inspired but equipped.
Chris consistently brings knowledge, insight, and practical advice. He led two impactful sessions and left everyone with tools they could use immediately.
Chris is a thoughtful, intentional leader who understands the influence he carries. His message challenged me to think differently about how I lead, serve, and influence others.
Chris was an outstanding speaker and a highlight of our event. He took the time to deeply understand our organization and thoughtfully personalized every moment.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. Each time he finds a unique way to connect on both a personal and professional level, keeping everyone engaged and attentive.
His engaging style draws the audience into the conversation, creating a relaxed atmosphere that encourages learning and reflection. You leave not only inspired but equipped.
Events already on your calendar.
He ran a business where service was the product.
Chris Sund is the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More, a keynote speaker, and an executive leader.
As President and COO of Uniti Med, GQR Healthcare, and Nebula, he helped grow Uniti Med 10x in revenue in two years and earn the number three ranking on the Inc. Regionals list among the fastest growing companies in the Midwest, while the organization earned Fortune Best Workplaces recognition and Great Place to Work certification three years running.
He is a father of three, based in Nebraska, a Maxwell Leadership Certified speaker, trainer, and coach, Vice President of the NATHO Board of Directors, and the founder of Amplify Speakers. He has not run a distribution business and will say so from the front. What he knows is competing in a market where everybody offers something similar and the only durable difference is the people, which is the position most distributors are in.
Details your committee will ask for.
Owners and association staff ask these.
He has not run a distributor. Why does that work?
How much does a distribution keynote speaker cost?
Our people are practical and skeptical. Will this land?
Can you speak to warehouse and drivers?
What about our branch managers?
Can he speak at our association convention?
Can he speak at our awards banquet?
Can we get books for every branch?
How do we start?
Other ways organizations book him.
Same framework, built for the specific room you are filling.