Eight Members of Council were present and approximately 30 dealer associates represented by attendance.
Annual Meeting Minutes - Secretary read Annual Meeting Minutes for 1997 and Vito Marrone moved to approve. Motion passed.
President's Report - Maureen Gaynor presented Vito Marrone with a plaque honoring his contribution to the Association and thanked him for serving as the NADA President for three years. Maureen then reviewed the Association's Mission Statement and Goals. She discussed the increasing workload for Council and that in order to prevent Council member "burn out" the necessity to outsource Association administrative duties. RCR Associates, who specialize in this area and also have the NEC Users Group as a client, were selected.
Treasurer's Report - Art Weinrach presented the Treasurer's report. Ben Stiegle moved to accept budget. Motion passed.
Committee Reports
Steve Autor reviewed progress over past 2 years regardingefforts toward more training, e.g.: evolution to Master Tech Training Program; support from NEC and Victor Foia's department. Steve encouraged members to participate and to get technicians into the MT program while it is still no charge. NADA and NEC will be monitoring results over 1998. Noted that there is a North American wide shortage of technicians and that British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Vancouver thanks to NEC's corporate partnership is able to graduate NEC certified technologists. This program is being initiated at other technical and community colleges such as DeVry and North Lake.More details at Advantage.
Ron Brennan reported on the Key System Survey results. Generally good feedback, but broad-based answered skew results. He asked Members to be specific. The next survey will be divided into three sections: CSR; Technicians; Sales so that we can target each area for feedback. Surveys are an ideal form of communication with NEC. Currently a survey roundtable is being planned. This will cover price configurations on competitive systems; top 10 features; top 10 weaknesses. How does NEC lose to Lucent, Nortel, Vodavi, Nitsuko, Iwatsu, Toshiba, Panasonic? Since NEC is market driven Member participation in this exercise is vital to a positive outcome. Members from the Floor asked that NEC be surveyed on quantity of dealers and also questioned the impact of Ingram Micro on markets.
Mike Ellis reported that limited response was received from 2400 questionnaire. Mike asked Member input on questions for a future survey. NEC is looking at actual market share by city and measuring performance against their goals for market share. What is the source of NEC's statistics? Unable to answer this question. Dealers should be prepared to justify themselves.
Request from the Floor--Member concerned that NEC decisions and local level are taken in disregard of existing dealers. Heated discussion ensued. Members complained tht NEC Dealer Managers are unable to provide service because they are too busy recruiting new dealers. Finally it was agreed that self-education is our best defense. We need to do research and discuss situation with our local competitors. Dealers want help in increase sales rather than increasing dealer base--Council will conduct a survey on this topic and communicate results
Ken Newell introduced himself as new Committee Chairman and strongly encouraged Members to send him their input. He is committed to working with NEC and has the advantage of working in close proximity to NEC's offices.
Maureen Gaynor presented on behalf of Tim Madden. A professional marketing company has been contracted to develop a brochure to assist us in marketing our Association cohesiveness and multi-location strengths.
Maureen Gaynor presented on behalf of Tim Madden. Members and other interconnects are expressing discontent with existing software systems (eg Phonebizz). We are lookingfor a good software developer to possibly customize an open system to integrate with various accounting software systems. We can use the mass purchasing power of NADA to commission an affordable solution.
Vito Marrone reported. Issue regarding InProtect is that dealers want to buy Inprotect under their dealer name (not the client's name) and NEC still wants to send direct letter to the client. NADA is trying to change this.
Vito Marrone reported long term discussions with NEC on this issue. Referred everyone to read letter to Tom Burger published in CROSSTALK Newsletter 1stQuarter 1998 issue. Discussions with Tom Burger are pending.
Suzanne Sherrod, new Editor, thanked Maureen Gaynor, past Editor, for a job well-done. Suzanne encouraged all to participate in sending articles and newsworthy items for publication.
Steve Autor reviewed nadealer.com and the newest addition of the Used Equipment area. Once again encouraged everyone to use the Web to share information and contain costs through not re-inventing the wheel. Suggested that dealers pay their techs $25 per each "how to" document on software installs. Saves time, money and covers important steps omitted from manufacturer manuals. NTAC knowledge base is proving powerful. NTAC will email status on open tickets to dealers (Victor Foia said that NEC will announce how to get these status reports). Reports will be sent to a specific email address to ensureconfidentiality.
Ken Newell is Chairman of this new committee formed so that NADA can research and potentially buy peripheral equipment (e.g. cable, BIX hardware, voicemail, call accounting software, insurance, vehicles, headsets) at volume discounts. Floor response: Commodity products are fluctuating constantly. Floor voiced concern that effort here may outweigh the benefit. Floor requested that we focus on NEC marketing and what we can do to increase our visibility.
New Business
Sean Campbell moved to adopt Bylaws Amendments. Motion passed.
Discussion
The following issues were tabled from the floor:
NEC Strategy and Proliferation of New Dealers - Members asked Council to
Adjournment - Steve Autor moved to adjournment meeting. Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. and members proceeded to Dinner Reception hosted by NEC.