Well it's been a few weeks since we all met up in Phoenix for the 2016 MAFSI conference, and it just about took us that long to recover. Not only does this industry like to have fun, it likes to have fun four nights in a row. With extra legroom in the exit row, the flight home was restful, for sure.

That being said, we found a lot of common themes, interesting points of discussion, and some fantastic speakers at MAFSI 2016. We could go on and on about some of those things, but for the sake of expediency, here are our top five takeaways.

TMC's TOP FIVE MAFSI 2016 TAKEAWAYS:

1) Change isn't just in our future. It's already happened.

The Delorean parked out front on Tuesday was the proof. From branding to demographics, there is a new way to generate sales leads that utilizes both technological capabilities and remarkable content. We used to say this is the wave of the future, but based on the numbers of companies both talking about and utilizing these methods, the change is already here.

"Content that educates, sells.

Content that sells, doesn't."

2) A lot of these changes are being driven by Generation Y.

As we learned from Simple Math by Ken Gronbach, population growth and decline will dictate economies worldwide, and thanks to an abundance of Gen Y'ers, the foodservice industry is in good shape. How do we capitalize on that, though? We shift our marketing and sales focus to match consumption patterns of this new population. As noted by Gronbach, they do not prefer Wal-Mart. And the day after he gave us that little tidbit from his crystal ball, more than 300 Wal-Mart locations were closed.

3) A lot of these changes are being driven by the reps.

There's no doubt rep firms are embracing the use of content at a greater rate than the manufacturers. This is evident by the difficulties involved in finding high quality content produced by manufacturers that reps can leverage to generate and nurture leads. At the end of the day, everyone benefits from remarkable content, and it makes more sense for those resources to come from factories. Digital content produced for a rep firm in Florida does not stop influencing at the Florida-Georgia line. Everyone benefits from evergreen content.

4) No more distracted driving for TMC.

We took the pledge and made the commitment. The thought of setting a bad example for our kids is just too much to stomach. So from now on, we're putting our phones in the center console when we're in the car.

5) There's still a long way to go.

There are a lot of solutions out there to help make the foodservice equipment sales channel easier to navigate. Some help us generate leads; some help us manage those leads. As an industry, we all need to keep our eyes on the prize and make sure our solutions are working together to fill the funnel and nurture people through to the sale. The recipe for success has changed. Are we all changing with it?

Discover the new ingredients to foodservice equipment sales, as well as some of our secret family recipes.