Great Sessions
  SATURDAY'S SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER
President Obama's Healthcare Law
Dr. Robert F. Graboyes
Senior Healthcare Advisor - NFIB

Healthcare Law's Impact on Small Business

Dr. Graboyes, our favorite expert on healthcare, will lead our 11 a.m. session on a topic that is sure to touch every Member's business in the coming year.  He will be joined by our HR attorney Joe Schmitt, and our Risk Management Consultant, Tom Franzen. 

This session will deal with the federal regulations coming out of Washington as the new Health Insurance Reform Law goes into place. Rules change based on the number of employees and what level of coverage is currently offered to employees.  This one session could save you the cost of attending the entire Fall Convention.

Dr. Robert Graboyes
Graboyes is Senior Healthcare Advisor at National Federation of Independent Business in Washington, DC. In this role, he analyzes federal and state healthcare legislation from the perspective of small business.

Bob teaches health economics in master's and doctoral programs at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia, and George Mason University. Previously, he was Chase Manhattan Bank's economist for sub-Saharan Africa, economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, and associate professor at the University of Richmond.

Bob has a Ph.D. in Economics from Columbia University, master's degrees from the College of William and Mary, Columbia University and Virginia Commonwealth University, and a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia. His recent writings can be found at NFIB.com/DrBob.

Tom Franzen - CIG, ARM
Few, if any in the insurance industry, have the understanding our
member Tom Franzen has.  We have enjoyed his service as our risk management consultant for over a dozen years.

Tom's agency works daily with a wide variety of small businesses and insurance companies.  His unique perspective allows him to provide insight into the insurance industry and how local agents and brokers are responding to changes.

Joe Schmitt - Labor and Employment Law
You can't deal with healthcare insurance issues without reaching into labor and employment law and we are always pleased to have our HR Super Lawyer on our program. Schmitt knows our members well, in addition to writing the employee manual and check list we offer members, he is also the attorney we provide to members for 30-minutes of free legal advice on any HR issues.  Schmitt is also a regular contributor to our Association newsletter and is with the firm of Nilan Johnson Lewis in Minneapolis. 

 

SATURDAY MORNING SPEAKER

Don Reynolds:
Tectonic Change. . . the New Normal!

A Real World Economist and an award-winning speaker, Reynolds was chairman of pension & trust funds, responsible for over $120 Billion  Dollars.  He understands the need for decision makers to have a clear vision of future trends in order to make successful long-term decisions and has a track record of making successful predictions.
We are now looking at transformational change. The corporate mantra for this year has been "If we can just hold on, one of these days things will get back to normal." Forget about getting back to normal - this is the new normal.

More regulation, a weaker consumer, more protectionism, volatility, sudden shifts of perception, higher rates of unemployment, years before housing prices get back to old highs, more government debt, more taxes, a little deflation, then a lot more inflation and an end to US global economic domination.

So instead of just trying to hold on, accept things have changed and develop new strategies. It means narrowing your product focus, accelerating innovation. Making business more nimble to move quickly. It is about building a corporate culture, spending more time and effort in making employees more comfortable in the work environment to get greater productivity.

     

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THURSDAY'S JOINT SESSION
Our first speaker will be during a joint breakfast on Thursday morning, with our friends attending the EMDA Conference.

Scott Deming:
 Creating Customers for Life

  • When Did Customer Service Die?

  • Does Anyone Remember the Funeral?


Customer Service didn't die a sudden, unexpected death. It has been dying a slow, very painful death for a very long time. Why? Simply put, people stopped caring. Service today is typical and transactional. People look at customers as an opportunity for a sale, rather than an opportunity for a meaningful relationship that will turn that customer into a loyal evangelist for life. Customer service is dying because people simply stopped looking at other people as fellow human beings.

There's still time to shock customer service back to life. And there's one person who is bent on making that happen!

Scott Deming is on a mission - to bring emotion, sincerity, caring and humanity back into customer service. Deming is determined to impact as many people and organizations as possible with a simple message and a tried and true process - to teach executives, management and staff that everyone is in this together. And finally, Deming is taking his nearly thirty years of advertising and marketing experience and showing proof positive that advertising is simply awareness. RELATIONSHIPS RULE and building a BRAND through emotional, one-of-a-kind experiences, not just great advertising, is the key to SUSTAINABLE personal and professional success.

Register now for the Convention and show up early for the opening breakfast to get a great seat!
 
Friday Afternoon Dealer Panel
Association President John McCoy will bring together a new group of successful dealers to discuss current business conditions and help manufacturers gain insite into the world of farm equipment dealers.

This format, used at our Spring Clinic in Kansas City, was the most requested by attendees for this Fall Convention.  Guests on the panel will be announced in our newsletter and on this page during July and August.

 
FEMA Service Corp. Inc. and Our Risk Management Committee sponsor:
Dear World: 
I hate my job and the company I work for. . .
my boss is a jerk and the equipment we manufacture is crap.  Please visit my blog, facebook page and follow me on Twitter. NotSoHappyCamper.com 

ps Just posted some new clips from work on youtube.

Joseph Schmitt - HR Super Lawyer

Everyone knows you don't pick fights with people who buy ink by the barrel, but what do you do when everyone with access to a computer can share their thoughts and hate with the entire globe? 

Joe Schmitt, who has for years been where our members turn for free* advice on HR matters, will address the not so unreal situation mentioned above with clear advice on how to best protect yourself and your company.

* The Association provides 30-minutes with Joe Schmitt on HR matters for member companies in good standing.
 

Making Your Company
Easy to Deal With

Dennis Whitehead

Dennis Whitehead has a long track record of building and developing retail dealer networks with both Fortune 500 companies, and most recently with Kinze Manufacturing as that company's Marketing Manager for nearly seventeen years before his retirement in 2008.

Whitehead will build on the challenge we heard loud and clear from our Dealer Panel in Kansas City: “If you want us dealers to stock and sell your specialty products, make your company easy to do business with." 

With many dealers' major lines pushing for “purity”, keeping your equipment on those lots could boil down to just how solid the relationship is between the dealer and manufacturer.

The ease with which dealers can do business with your company begins with their first
impression and is reinforced in every facet of your relationship – every conversation, every  inquiry and every transaction.  Whitehead's message will highlight many of the ways you can  position your company as the dealer's preferred supplier of your type of products.  One  important facet of making a company easy to do business with is how new equipment warranty is handled.  Whitehead will address this issue as well as the joint industry effort to develop a web-based warranty system. 

System Developers and Manufacturers currently using the system will be available after the session to explain how it works and to answer questions.

 

How Tractor Unit Forecasts
Affect Shortline Forecasts

Charles Glass

During this session you will learn:
  • How tractor patterns are established
  • How tractor patterns can establish shortline forecasts
  • How to use our forecasts as a sales planning tool
  • Why you can have confidence in the numbers

Glass Management Group, has developed several matrixes that are designed to forecast agricultural tractor sales for the U.S. and Canadian tractor markets.   Glass has maintained a historical database of U.S. tractor shipments that ranges from 1969 to the very latest reports.

His formula will generate forecasts for not only shipments to dealers but also changes in dealer inventory levels and their resultant retail sales. It is the retail sales numbers that mark the health of the current market and indicate the direction it is likely to move in the next six to twelve months.  

Since tractor sales are the prime indicator for the health of the agricultural equipment markets in general, attendees will benefit from knowing the current market directions. 

Most of the agricultural equipment sold today has a direct relationship to tractor sales, these tractor forecasts are very beneficial in aiding manufacturers in determining their next year's sales forecast. This presentation is designed to help members fine tune manufacturer's forecasting models.
   

Other Sessions To Be Announced:

  • Working with and Setting Standards

  • CE Mark - What Manufacturers Need to Know
  

 		   Tillage Product
Council Speaker: Tim Hill

Tim Hill is the Sales and Marketing Manager for Nucor Steel in Crawfordsville, IN. Nucor is North Americas largest steel producer and the country's largest recycler of scrap metal products.

Hill began his steel career twenty years ago as an Inside Sales Rep for Northwestern Steel & Wire in Sterling, IL. He has been with Nucor for fourteen years in various commercial roles and in his current role for the last seven years.
 
 
2010 Fall Convention
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