In my first letter of the year as ASA president, I established my theme for 2015 as an invitation to Jump in Now to take advantage of the many benefits offered by your industry’s growing and thriving trade association.
We all have heard many times the famous quote “You get out what you put in.” The same holds true for an ASA membership. Active, participating ASA members know exactly what I mean. The more benefits you are able to take part in, the more value you receive for your membership dues dollar. One of the key offerings at the top of that membership benefits list is ASA’s Operating Performance Report (OPR).
Do you know your company’s strengths and weaknesses? How do you identify opportunities for operational improvement? ASA’s OPR is the perfect tool to help you answer these questions. The report represents the most complete, accurate and up-to-date comparative financial performance information published anywhere in the PHCP and PVF industry. For more than 30 years, the annual study has served as an easy-to-understand, actionable tool for industry firms to evaluate their company’s operating results in order to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses and identify improvement opportunities. However, you can’t take advantage of this valuable information unless you jump in and participate.
Understanding financial ratios and the impact of this type of analysis could mean the difference between simply operating your business or excelling in the PHCP and PVF industry. The OPR will help you monitor such key performance areas as:
· Return on equity
· Gross margin on net sales
· Payroll expenses to gross margin
· Gross margin
· Cost of goods sold to industry
· Gross margin per employee
Details of survey results in this report are broken down into a variety of business segments and demographics for the PHCP and PVF industry. Within each segment, data is shown for all participating firms, as well as by sales volume size. A special analysis that focuses on high profit firms is included. The report also includes 20-year trend data for each business segment. There simply is no better study of its kind available. It is a must for wholesalers committed to improving their operations and for suppliers looking to refine their marketing to the industry.
On Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 1:30 p.m. (Eastern), Tom Noon of Industry Insights, the management consulting firm that manages ASA’s OPR, will be providing a free webinar “Don’t Leave Profit on the Table – Using the ASA Operating Performance Report.” During the webinar, Noon will review highlights, answer questions and offer suggestions on how to get the most from this year’s study results.
To participate in the webinar, please visit http://www.asa.net and follow the links from the homepage. In addition, feel free to contact ASA Executive Director Chris Murin at cmurin@asa.net or 630/467-0000, ext. 204 for further details on the webinar as well as ASA’s additional business intelligence offerings, including the Industry Intelligence Report, the Monthly Pulse Report and the monthly ASA Advisor forecasting report put together specifically for ASA members by industry analyst Alan Beaulieu.
Thanks for jumping in!
