RM Online - Long-range plan helps the A.R.A. shape its agenda

I would like to start by thanking Pam McKenney for all of her hard work this past year, as president. The year 1997 was a great year for the American Rental Association. The officers and directors were busy with many new projects. When you see Pam, stop and thank her for all the time she has contributed to help make the A.R.A. better for all of us.

One of the projects we started this past year was a new long-range plan for the association. We have seen our industry change very rapidly over the past 18 months and we are trying to make certain that the association keeps up with the changes that are taking place. We need to thank all the people who have contributed their time and given their input for this new plan. Thanks to Judy Whalen and Bill Lowell of Whalen Associates for conducting the meetings and surveys.

Focus group meetings were held throughout the year around the country. Four focus groups met in New Orleans at last year's convention, two groups met in Washington, D.C., at the A.R.A. Legislative Caucus and four others met in different areas of the country at other times.

We did five mini summits with members, to help us work on various issues, including perception/image of the A.R.A. and communication, competition for the association and the industry, the trade show and other sources of revenue, membership definition, training and other membership services.

We conducted a membership survey, a supplier survey and a nonmember survey. We took in volumes of great information. Now for the hard part - dissecting all the information and putting it back together in a way that translates for us what is really happening in the industry and helps us figure out where this industry is going, and what the association needs to be doing for its membership.

The long-range planning committee worked hard on the issues surrounding us. This new plan should improve communication in the association. I think communication has gotten better the past couple of years, and it should continue to get even more so. We will learn better skills, how to track programs for success and failure, how to communicate our message and make sure it is understood. The communication issue will always be a factor in every organization, just as it is in our own businesses.

There is a very big concern about competition throughout the industry. There are competing associations and for-profit businesses out there that are looking to service our members. The association has to be prepared for that competition just as rental stores have to be ready to deal with their competition. The competition issue covers a very broad spectrum, from the international association to the state and local association level, along with the member stores that are having to compete with big corporate entities like the "big box" stores.

The A.R.A. will continue to strive to be a very good association for the members and offer products and services to help the members to compete, but the A.R.A. can't make competition go away - it can, however, offer products to help us compete.

Membership. Who are the future members of the A.R.A.? That question was posed with great concern. We want to maintain a strong membership base but with all of the mergers and acquisitions, will we see our membership erode? I don't think we will as long as we have people willing to contribute their time and energy in the future as we have in the past.

We may have to adjust membership to accommodate today's society and the future. People are more mobile today, there are consolidations and mergers happening, both large and small, and new entities are coming into the industry.

We will have to adjust and make the transition with membership or this association will not continue to grow. That may require individual membership status.

For example, should we consider a retired member status that would allow a person who sold a business to stay involved in some important manner? People are a very valuable source of information. I think membership definition will continue to be monitored over an indefinite period of time.

The findings on the issue of training and other membership services hit home hard. The educational seminars at the conventions are great and the tents and events program is going well, but we need to build stronger and better training programs. The tool tech programs that began last year will be good for both managers and employees.

A.R.A. has invested money and time to bring Kragie/Newell, the A.R.A.'s national advertising agency, on board to help members with advertising and marketing. I've been disappointed in the results so far. Either we have not communicated adequately or we missed the head of the nail. The Kragie/Newell people are professionals in advertising but still, even with their help, we can't seem to put out what the membership really wants - but we will continue to try.

These are some of the issues that the long-range planning committee addressed.

Thank you to all of the people who have contributed. We will continue to try to make this a better association for all of us.