A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF CETA
Many good things have happened during the past year that are exciting to talk about and I would like to share a few of the most significant with you.
I officially received the gavel in October 2009 from Greg Brodsky to lead CETA for the next 12 months. We also hired a new Executive Director late last year, Ms. Sherry Helms. Sherry has been a breath of fresh air with unsurpassed dedication to promoting and growing CETA. While we may have been well served by others in the past, Sherry is a well balanced blend of sales enthusiasm and business savvy and we are blessed to have her at the wheel.
In addition we have seen the “Bench Marking” program come to fruition, along with increasing participation. Many get the “deer in the head lights” look when we mention bench marking. “Bench Marking” is extremely useful, if not essential, to compare your performance against your peers.
The central issue is where are we going with our individual businesses, how we are going to get there and how is CETA relevant to those questions. Many distributors, if not most of us, started out as a pressure washer salesperson trying to run a business. Distributors are not unique to that category, many of the manufacturers and suppliers have similar backgrounds. The question is do you wish to remain a pressure washer salesperson trying to impersonate a business owner, or a business person who happens to supply Industrial Cleaning Products? CETA is about helping the business person grow their business and prosper.
We are very excited about the agenda for the upcoming year. One of which is the “Flat Rate Billing System”. The single largest mismanaged area of Cleaning Equipment Distributorships is the business end of the service department. We have many who are phenomenal at repairing equipment, but fall short of the profit potential that our service departments should deliver to our bottom lines. Our goal is to introduce our new “Flat Rate Billing System” at Power Clean 2010. We have contracted with a firm that is writing a program for our industry that will offer both ‘Manual Flat Rate Billing Systems” and “Computer Flat Rate Billing Systems”. They have a solid history of delivering a successful Flat Rate Billing System to industries who did not think it was possible to have that type of system made specific to their industry. The productivity and profitability improvements in their wake have been life changing!
We suggest that you start now and make your plans to come and witness the rejuvenated and refocused CETA at Power Clean 2010.
John Purswell Sr.
President 2009-2010
CETA (Cleaning Equipment Trade Association)