In the glass industry, risk is everywhere: volatile freight lanes, breakage in transit, inaccurate specs, and last-minute jobsite changes. But long-term account health doesn’t come from reacting to risk—it comes from anticipating it.
Proactive risk management is about surfacing fragility before it impacts your customer. This is what separates long-game distributors from short-term vendors.
What it looks like:
Building risk profiles for top accounts: high-volume SKUs, time-sensitive delivery zones, or single-sourced fabrication points.
Establishing early warning indicators in your ERP—flagging reorders, transit delays, or escalating claim trends.
Embedding contingency planning into quarterly account reviews.
Don’t just say, “We’ll fix it if it breaks.” Say, “We’ve already thought about what could break, and here’s what we’re doing about it.”
A distributor in Montreal created a “GlassWatch” dashboard that layered supply availability, route volatility, and product complexity for top accounts. They used it to trigger early intervention—before issues reached the field.
Playing the long game means showing your customer you’re thinking weeks, even months, ahead. That’s real value—and real staying power.
