ASA &amp; InSinkErator: Meeting industry challenges together

Recruitment and Education

Recruiting top talent is a major challenge facing our industry. ASA has met this challenge with the recent launch of its job posting service. This service is building momentum and we look forward to using it to recruit from within the industry. For 2015, ASA is developing materials that can help its members host a career day. These materials can be customized to the “look and feel” of the member company.

The ASA Education Foundation has taken a quantum leap the past few years by developing and delivering relevant, easy to access courses to employees of wholesale channel partners, manufacturers and manufacturers representatives. The five colleges and requisite courses support various jobs from entry level up to managerial positions, especially with the new Masters of Distribution Management degree.

InSinkErator recently purchased 20 courses of the Essentials of How Wholesaler – Distributors Make Money. Our customer service team was required to take the course and pass the test. This course gave many of our inside employees a deeper understanding of how our wholesale customers operate their businesses. Now, ASA will be offering manufacturer-based training to its wholesale members. InSinkErator sees great value in delivering our training modules to thousands of ASA wholesale employees for a nominal fee. We were one of the first manufacturers to sign up for this opportunity.

Leveraging Partnerships for Greater Success

InSinkErator values relationships with our industry partners. We have developed products, support and technology that our customers said they value. We listened to our industry partners and developed the Pro Series for the plumbing professional and wholesalers. This PHCC-branded product line has more features and longer warranties. Recently, we made easier-to-process over-the-counter warranties.

We just developed an exclusive program for our brick-and-mortar showroom customers. For those that have received our training on hot water dispensers and agree to display specific products, InSinkErator offers additional consumer-valued product and services at no extra costs to those showrooms.

Currently, 85% of our wholesaler customers place orders electronically, either through EDI or Web Order Entry. This has helped reduce the amount of errors dramatically. We see technology advancing rapidly in the channel from order processing, real-time shipment tracking, inventory management, product support and training, point of purchase information and more through various media.

How Manufacturers Benefit From ASA

Networking at the national convention is invaluable.We meet with the industry leaders at Network to discuss industry and governmental challenges and opportunities. There is the socializing aspect, but we also get a chance to work with our customers at the various divisional meetings and Education Foundation meetings. InSinkErator is also represented at all of the regional ASA meetings. This gives us a chance to participate at the local level to understand and address local issues and opportunities. For more information on the upcoming Network2015 event in Chicago this fall, visit asa.net/Network2015.

Legislative Fly-In. InSinkErator has been involved with several Legislative Fly-Ins. These are amazing exercises to meet with our House and Senate representatives to present our industry’s concerns and opportunities. Being part of an industry that is actively involved in Washington and government policies is something we value, not just as a company, but as US citizens. We are proud that all of our disposers sold in the USA are manufactured in Wisconsin. Visit asa.net/Advocacy for more details on what ASA has to offer in the area of advocacy.

Industry Calendar.I would be remiss in not mentioning the Industry Calendar on ASA’s website. All meetings, dates and locations are in one easy-to-access area on ASA’s homepage. This is our go-to resource in planning our year’s show activities, travel and human-resource allocation. Visit the calendar at asa.net/Networking/Industry-Calendar.

The annual convention and educational opportunities alone would be enough for InSinkErator to be actively involved with ASA. With the addition of an opportunity to participate in the Young Executives, Women in Industry, legislative agendas, forecasting and industry networking, we are very pleased to be associated with ASA.

The improved ASA has reinvented itself to be much more relevant to our industry and we have significantly benefited from this association. Three straight years of net membership growth is a testament that other industry partners have realized the same benefits.