Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/120608
Step Up and Prime the Pump EDITOR'S NOTES Nancy Estes, MBA, CAE Executive Director/Editor 4 T here's an old story about a traveler who hiked for many miles across the desert mountains. His water supply was gone, and he knew that if he didn't find water soon, he would surely die. In the distance, he noticed an abandoned cabin and hoped to find some water there. Once he made it to the cabin, he discovered an old well. Then he noticed a tin can tied to the pump, with a note inside. The note said: "Dear stranger: This water pump is in working condition, but the pump needs to be primed in order for the water to come out. Under the white rock, I buried a jar of water, out of the sun. There's enough water in the jar to prime the pump, but not if you drink any first. When you are finished, please fill the jar and put it back as you found it for the next stranger who comes this way." I love this story. I have used a pump like this one in rural Texas. It is accurate. When air seeps into the system, there is a loss of pressure. Most pumps use water, to create the pressure and suction needed to pull up more water from below the ground. At IDA, we have been contacting potential members and inactive members, for two reasons. We want to learn how to improve IDA and the service to the members. Secondly, IDA wants as many representative companies as possible to come to conventions, submit articles for the magazine and participate. Some common responses from these communications include: (1) We are barely remaining open and do not have the time or money; (2) IDA did not generate business for us; and (3) the conventions are for big companies. While listening on a recent call, I remembered the pump analogy. My response to the member whose business was slow began with, "Have you primed your company for success?" The last action a company owner should take when times are rough is to seclude themselves at home. There is no better way to spend your limited funds than attending an IDA convention. It is purely a networking event. Where else can you visit one-on-one with a hundred industry veterans who have answers to your questions, introductions to new business contacts and creative ideas to catapult your business out of a slump? Yes, the trip to convention costs; but in ONE trip you can gain knowledge and contacts for the complete construction industry (engine, hydraulics, undercarriage, accessories). The convention location always changes, giving you a wonderful traveling opportunity to learn the perspectives of other cultures. Listen to testimonies from companies like yours, on the IDA website. (www. idaparts.org). In the words of our IDA President, Mr. Roger Teran of TractoAmerica de Panama, "If you are in this industry, I do not see why you would not be a member of this Association." Often new members want to cancel membership because they had "not seen a lot of new busi- ness from IDA in the first year." I told them, " You know what? IDA is not a Magic Bullet!" The Independent Distributor's Association provides the rich environment for you to prime it-pump it-work it. The mental and physical wealth that can be derived from interacting with this group is unbelievable! From Tilly's Crawler Parts/Australia to Dahbashi Engineering/Dubai, UAE; from ERMA- RTMO/Italy to CEP International/ China; from: Hakizaki Trading/ Japan to Lufer Industria Mecanica/ Brazil; from Tractor and Grader Supplies/Rep. of South Africa to Cadeco/Mexico - hundreds of IDA member companies around the world available to you, at the IDA convention. I asked the gentleman if he had advertised, or submitted a free article, or been on the cover of the Universal magazine (free) and shook as many hands as possible at the IDA convention. When he indicated he had only paid his membership fee, it opened up a lengthy discussion. I said, "What have you done to prime the pump?" I described two of IDA's great long time members, Mr. James Pharr of James Pharr Machinery/ Louisiana and Mr. Rick Sylvester of North American Components/ Illinois. Over the year's they have been strong recruiters for IDA and I have heard a great many stories of how they network with people from all over. That is what a trade association is about - people connecting; talking, having fun, building business relationships and friendships. The third scenario was surprising and disconcerting. IDA UNIVERSAL March-April 2013