An ALLPRO® Publication VOL. 22, ISSUE 4 JULY / AUGUST 2012
by:Scott Morath It’s official, July is here, which means we’ve passed the halfway point of yet another year. From this moment forward the rest of the year is going to rocket by at warp speed. Before you know it you’ll be toasting a successful 2012 and slurring the words to “Auld Lang Syne,” as the night sky is lit with fireworks. Still, in the here and now it’s only the beginning of July and there’s a lot of work to do before we start planning for the holidays. For ALLPRO, that means ramping up preparations for the Fall Stockholder meeting in October. This year’s meeting will be held at the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale, Arizona, which is just outside of Phoenix. The format will be a little different than last year’s meeting in that we will not be hosting exhibits. Instead, this meeting will focus on a mix of member information/breakout sessions and workshops. The purpose of this article is to give you a brief overview of what we have planned for the fall. The first series of workshops on tap for the fall meeting will cover Point of Sale software. Each of our three POS suppliers; EPICOR (Activant), CBC Computer Systems, and SBC Solutions (Autologue) will hold individual workshops where they will discuss topics relevant to their respective software systems. These will be held concurrently and members can attend the POS session of their choice. Following the POS sessions we will host two very important sessions:
vs. buying through distribution and also present effective selling tactics on ALLPRO branded products to generate greater profit dollars. Afterwards we'll host the stockholder general session and town hall meeting. This segment will provide members an opportunity to openly discuss organizational or industry topics with board and committee members, the ALLPRO staff and the group as a whole. That should keep everyone gainfully involved the first day of the meeting. The second day will pick up with a recap and continuation of Pender Newkirk’s Loss Prevention session from the 2010 stockholder meeting. Many of you felt there wasn’t enough time for this session then, so we are not only revisiting it at this meeting but PNC will expand on their previous session. Following the PNC presentation we will hear from several members who will offer insights and advice on diversifying your business model. Specifically, we have a number of members who’ve expanded their product offerings to include industrial/high performance coatings, hardware, window treatments and commercial wallcovering, and flooring. The Loss Prevention and diversifying your business sessions will be presented to the group en masse, which should allow for a wealth of valuable input and interaction from the membership. Aside from the full schedule of breakouts we will also host a Next Generation reception just prior to the opening reception. We received quite a bit of interest in continuing to offer a reception just for the under 45 crowd, so this should provide another great opportunity for the up-and-comers to meet and network with one another.
• Valuing Your Business – presented by accounting firm Pender Newkirk & Company, this session will focus on determining the value of your company and also discuss the planning steps necessary in transferring ownership.
• Effectively Managing your Purchasing and Selling – presented by Gleco Paint, this session will focus on purchasing tactics that balance direct purchasing
Obviously, we’re still in the process of finalizing the registration forms and other materials, which should be available on the ALLPRO website in the coming weeks. The above is meant to give you a sneak peak at what the fall meeting will hold, so you can begin to plan accordingly. You can expect an official announcement complete with agenda and registration materials from us sometime during mid-July.