LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Alliance Parts Warehouse (APW), the member-owned warehouse for Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance (Alliance), displayed its southern hospitality in the first-ever "Rock the House" convention. Manufacturers and shareholder members met Jan. 30 through Feb. 2 in Little Rock, Ark., to discuss APW and its capabilities.
The shareholders of Alliance were well represented from across North America. The goal of the convention was to help the buyers and sales/marketing personnel at Alliance shareholder locations understand the potential and resources available to them through APW.
“The board of Alliance agreed there was a need for the people who buy for our shareholder locations to be educated on APW. With no other informational resource, it was decided to create an event to bring people together face-to-face and showcase the possibilities,” said Dean Toole, vice president and general manager of APW.
Almost 300 people attended "Rock the House," with the main goal to learn about APW, what it is, what it does and how it operates. Through the review of products, policies and procedures, APW has deemed the event a success and said it accomplished the goals set out for the event.
The festivities kicked off on Sunday with an APW product fair and open house at the warehouse. Monday was a full day of activities including a general session on APW 101, with staff members presenting talks on product/marketing overview, promotions and marketing, packaging, customer relations and warehouse management. Another product fair featuring 70 vendors was followed by product line presentations by 11 different vendors where they hosted small groups to review and showcase marketing and sales ideas and product benefits.
The evening concluded with an awards banquet at the Clinton Presidential Center, recognizing outstanding APW vendors. The following vendors received the premier awards based on select criteria and voted on by Alliance shareholders. Recipients were:
• Outstanding Marketing Support: Old World Industries
• Outstanding Manpower Support: ACi
• Outstanding Parts Master Vendor: Hayden Automotive
• Outstanding Customer Service: Anchor Industries
• Outstanding Changeover Support: GB Remanufacturing
• Vendor of the Year: MotoRad
The educational focus of "Rock the House" continued through Tuesday with buyer’s seminars, sales and marketing seminars and a guided tour of the APW warehouse. A final banquet concluded the "Rock the House" convention and sent attendees home to implement their newly gained knowledge to more effectively assist their warehouses in purchasing and selling APW products.
