Looking ahead to the ProDealer Industry Summit
This year is turning out to be just a little better for the housing industry than the past few years. As this column is being written, Home Channel News is reporting new-home sales coming in at the highest level in more than two years. Inventory of existing homes is down 20% from last year also. Granted, these past few years have been historically low years, forcing our readers, advertisers and all of their customers (builders and us, the general public) to baseline, streamline and work for real sunshine in our markets.
Yet opportunity surrounds us — that is the nature and blessing of open markets: the chance to move your business INTO the sunlight. That is what Home Channel News and our partner the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) will be doing this Oct. 24 to 26 in Savannah, Ga., at the annual ProDealer Industry Summit.
The ProDealer Industry Summit offers three days of opportunity with leading executives from hundreds of dealers, wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers of building products, all in one place. It is a one-of-a-kind meeting that offers networking settings to share ideas and compare best practices, confide in peers, and decide with partners what steps your company can take to make 2013 and beyond better for your company.
Those positive numbers mentioned above? They are the starting gun for a new contest, a challenge that when met will mean growth and profitability for your organization. There are already parts of the United States market where existing homes are being sold within a week of listing, and signs that our temporary “rental nation” is ready to return to one of the bedrocks of our economy: the ownership and upkeep of a home.
In 2008, Ivy Zelman of Zelman Associates was a speaker at the ProDealer Industry Summit and reviewed with our attendees how we got into this mess, and how long it would take to get us out. (Her forecasts have been leading-edge for years). It’s only fitting that she returns this year to the summit to review her predictions for 2013-14 and offer you the opportunity to talk to her about them.
Dr. George Lucas, author of “The One Minute Negotiator,” will also be at the Savannah Westin for the ProDealer Industry Summit and will be a part of our team put in place to help our industry create its own revival.
But you have to be there too. The opportunity to meet with the best, to network with the most competitive, to share ideas with the most aggressive and the most inclined to succeed in our industry awaits you.
We look forward to being with you in October!