One thing that every successful business leader needs is clarity about what the future is bringing, especially when it comes to the economic climate that we are competing in and how our company is performing.

We need to know if the economy is expanding or contracting? What are commodity prices doing? What are other firms paying their employees? These are all critical data points that we need so we can maintain a competitive stance in the market.

If we have the ability to better understand what the future has installed for us, the better we can make those sound decisions to be successful.

As I travel the country speaking to distributors, I’m shocked how many leaders are unaware of all the reports we have at their disposal. Too many are working way too hard to try and piece together a clear picture of what’s happening when all they needed to do was access all the ASA tools they had at their disposal.

I’m even more shocked when I talk to a distributor that is not a member of ASA and not supporting and taking advantage of all the great things the association is doing to build their success and future.

Every day each of us is challenged to react to an endless stream of economic reports and countless data points that demand our attention. If you are like me, between running and trying to grow my business, I find it daunting looking at myriad reports hitting me daily.

Which report is accurate? Which report is dependable? Do I have the attention and confidence to make sound decisions on that information, and will I react positively on that information to shepherd my firm toward a successful future.

My firm depends on me to do that. My employees depend on me to do it. And my family depends on me doing it. Why go it alone? I don’t!

ASA has a suite of great business intelligence offerings that have been designed and developed to help you better understand the future and to support the business decisions you need to make to keep your businesses competitive and profitable.

From our annual Operating Performance Report that gives us a snapshot of how our company is performing vs. our competition, the Annual Cross Industry Compensation and Benefits Report that shares how nearly 900 distribution firms are compensating their employees, to the monthly economic reports from Armada Corporate Intelligence and ASA Chief Economist Dr. Chris Kuehl providing us the insight on timely topics plus the trends in critical factors such as geographic housing numbers, industrial markets as well as the commodities that impact our numbers.

I personally find all these critical reports to be timely, accurate and actionable, and if you haven’t accessed these reports, you’re missing a valuable member benefit.

Few reports give us a clearer insight to the state of our industry and where the industry is headed than ASA’s business intelligence reports.

If you are not engaging with ASA business intelligence, start now. It will be indispensable to the prosperity of your business. And if you are not a member of ASA, our business intelligence reports are well worth the price of membership alone.

For more information or to begin accessing these reports, contact ASA Manager of Data and Market Intelligence Bri Baresel at bbaresel@asa.net to seize the moment.