December 2009              return to newsletter contents page

Looking Forward: What AVDA Has in Store for 2010

Many business people are hard at work planning for 2010 and trying to figure out how to position their companies to remain strong and competitive in a challenging environment. Forecasting, budgeting and strategic planning are all part of the process.

A Special Report from Dr. Al Bates and Profit Planning Group (PPG, who conducts AVDA’s annual Profit Report), is essential reading for all distributors and suppliers. Every year, PPG, prepares a comparison analysis across lines of trade in distribution. The results are particularly important this year. There are some valuable insights into what happens to performance when an industry enters a recession. There are some lessons to be learned for future recessions. This is included in this issue of the newsletter under Financial News.

AVDA’s Annual Profit Survey should be an essential part of every animal health distributor’s planning process. The annual Profit Survey gives you benchmarking data that you can’t get anywhere else to help guide your financial planning. All participating distributors receive a copy of the Annual Profit Report and a Profit Improvement Profile comparing your firm with similar businesses. The 2010 Profit Survey will be mailed to all distributor members in January. The fee to participate is $850 per member company. AVDA will once again discount the cost of participating in the survey to new participant member companies.

AVDA’s 2010 Annual Conference is designed for those members who want to embrace Powerful Positioning as the economy continues to improve in 2010. An outstanding line-up of speakers are scheduled to help you give you the tools you need to put you into a position of power by helping you gain a strategic vision for the future and the courage to move decisively.

Don’t forget to include AVDA’s Academy of Training in your 2010 plans. Designed for all levels of employees, from seasoned management to brand new customer service and sales reps, AVDA training is targeted, top quality and a great value. Here’s a calendar of AVDA events offered in 2009. The new 2010 schedule will be posted to the web site soon to help you plan your training budget wisely.

AVDA has worked with members in the past to help educate them on regulatory and legislative issues related to drug pedigree and drug distribution. AVDA will continue these efforts in 2010 by keeping members informed through news updates, Linked-In postings and webinars from the State Monitor Service. Link to State Monitor One Sheet.

There’s much more to come in 2010. Don’t let another year go by without taking full advantage of your AVDA membership. Complete details on these and other programs can be found on your AVDA web site, www.avda.net.