By the time you read this letter, ASA’s Annual Convention,NetworkASA 2012, will be taking place in Orlando and plans will already be in the works for next year’s event, to be held Oct. 2-5, 2013 at the Renaissance Washington D.C. Downtown. For those who were able to attend NetworkASA 2012, I’d like to begin this month’s letter by personally thanking each of you for your participation. I trust you will come away from the event with an abundance of resources, a refreshed industry outlook and hopefully many opportunities to visit with old and new friends.
As I have mentioned throughout the course of this year in my Letters From ASA President, our fine association has re-emerged as one of relevance and growth. We have, in turn, been able to provide our members with many opportunities to grow as well. We all know that this growth is not possible without participation. This encompasses all of theNetworking, Benchmarking, Advocacy, Educationand nowForecastingopportunities ASA has to offer.
One of ASA’s most valuable member benefits, as a matter of fact, depends heavily on participation. That benefit is ASA’sMonthly Pulse Report. ASA has produced this monthly report documenting trends in sales, inventory and employment in the PHCP and PVF industry on a national level since January 2009. It is the only report of its kind in existence. By sharing company data, and in turn using the information that is provided as a result, members are better equipped to make both short- and long-term business decisions. If you do not participate, you are most certainly missing out. Simply stated, the best benchmark currently available to the ASA membership is theMonthly Pulse Report.
Each month, ASA invites all its member wholesaler-distributors to participate in the report by completing a confidential survey on sales, inventory levels, three months average DSOs and year-to-date profit before taxes. Typically, the participation deadline is the eighth business day of the month, and the resulting report is usually available within four business days. Specifically, the report provides a breakdown of the data across different sales volumes, industry segments, regions and specific state and metropolitan market areas.
As ASA President, I’d like to encourage your involvement by requesting that any company that is currently not submitting its data for theMonthly Pulse Reportconsider doing so for the rest of 2012 and into 2013. As a benefit provided to ASA through membership dues, it costs absolutely nothing. The resulting report is availableFREEto all ASA members who submit their data. With a 15-minute investment each month, you can compare your company to others based on key items such as sales, gross margin, inventory and head count.
Bottom line: The quality of this already great member benefit could become even better with moreparticipation. You will be contributing to the strength of your business as well as that of the entire industry. For questions on theMonthly Pulse Reportor any of ASA’s benchmarking reports, please feel free to contactChris Murinat ASA at 630/ 467-0000, ext. 204 or atcmurin@asa.net
Scott Weaver
APR Supply Co.
