Well, another National Pavement Expo has come and gone, and this year the big topic on everyone's mind in Charlotte, NC, probably to no one's surprise, was the economy: How it was going to affect whatever business they were in and what they can do to maintain their business.
Attendance at NPE was down, which was expected in a slow economy like this. But it was heartening to see contractors of all size companies and from all over the country taking classes on sales and marketing techniques and on different ways to make their businesses more productive.
As far as the National Pavement Contractors Association (NPCA) goes we had a good show. Visitors to our booth could participate in a free drawing for GPS & Tom-Tom units we were giving away, so be sure to check our website forums to see if you have the winning number ticket. (You do need your half of the ticket to claim your gift). Winning numbers will be posted on the top of our forums until the winners contact us and we can ship the items to them.
We were glad to see increased interest in the NPCA because we believe that in this tough economy both residential & commercial customers will be using the NPCA search service more than ever to find quality contractors that offer good value in these times where funds are short.
In talking with our members (and members-to-be) we discovered that communication of NPCA members with one another will be even more important in what looks to be a difficult year. To accommodate this need for increased communication we plan to have additional networking and chat-type services set up on our website so members can communicate and stay on top of what's happening in the different parts of the country and communicate in "real time" with one another. It will probably become more and more helpful to know what different members are doing to deal with different situations that may arise in this fluctuating economy. (We might even have some "live" online webinars to help members cope with 2009, so be on the lookout!)
So for a variety of reasons make it a point to stop by our website often. Check out our forums and sign up for our e-newsletter from the home page if you haven't already so that you can stay in touch with the specials that we will be offering to members to help save them money as well as communicating with your fellow contractors about what's going on in 2009.
One thing you can say about this year is that it's bound to be different. Those pavement maintenance contractors who move quickly to stay on top of everything, while still maintaining quality value and most of all a good profit margin, will be the contractors who thrive - and not just survive.
For more about NPCA and its benefits visit www.PavementPro.com
