Herman Trend Alert: Are Two-Year Colleges Ready to Prepare Tomorrow’s Workforce?
Citizens are asking questions about whether community and technical colleges are prepared to educate and train the next generation of employees located throughout the U.S., these two-year institutions are charged with preparing people for jobs in the communities they serve. While quite a few of these colleges are highly efficient and effective, some fall woefully short of capacity to do the job employers expect.
SKF/CR Awards Performance Mustang Through its Pole Position Program
SKF/Chicago Rawhide recently announced the winner of its Pole Position Grand Prize Give away at a special event in St. Paul, Minn. Don Konsela, Sr., an Arkansaw, Wis., resident, drove home in a 2004 Stage 3 Roush Performance Mustang.
SEMA Sets Fall Dates for Installer Certification Tests
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) will hold its fall test session for Z1-Z4 accessory installation certification on Tuesday, Nov. 9, in more than 700 locations around the United States and Canada, as well as elsewhere outside the United States. All tests begin at 7 p.m. Registration for the tests closes Wednesday, Sept. 22.
Freeman Group Announces Strategy Paper, “Lift the Branding Burden from Your Sales Organization”
Freeman Group, Inc., a business-to-business marketing communications firm specializing in the development of strategic sales support tools, announced the release of a strategy paper entitled, “Lift the Branding Burden from Your Sales Organization.” This paper identifies multiple limitations the concept of branding has forced into the business-to-business selling process. Eight specific methods are also presented for moving a sales organization beyond these branding burdens.
Advanced Bosch Training Focuses on Solving Today’s Automotive Service Challenges
In today’s environment of ever-more-complex and sophisticated automobiles and trucks, training is all-important to the technicians who service and maintain these vehicles. Robert Bosch Corporation, a supplier of automotive systems and components, has placed itself in the forefront of those that supply the advanced technical training needed by the automotive service community.
DST Asks: Is Your Company Part of a Technology Users’ Group
Scientists can’t actually agree on when mankind first discovered fire. Some think as recently as 100,000 years ago, but others claim evidence of campfires as old as 1.6 million years by carbon-dating them. In any case, whenever fire was discovered, everyone is in agreement that the first thing needed was a users’ group to share knowledge and techniques about this new, mysterious technology. Cavemen and their cavewomen traveled far and wide to assemble and discuss fire and trade new ideas and stories about its benefits. Can’t you just imagine the program agenda for that first Users’ Group? Probably workshops with titles like “Cooked Meat: A Whole New Paradigm” and “Heating Your Cave: Why a Chimney is a Good Idea” and “Stay Awake after Dark with a New Source of Light.”
Be Car Care Aware Campaign Goes to Europe
AAIA executives have taken the “Be Car Care Aware” message abroad in the hopes that European aftermarket associations will take on the campaign. Kathleen Schmatz, AAIA president and CEO, and Al Gaspar, AAIA president emeritus, were in Lisbon, Portugal, earlier this month to educate representatives of Europe’s premier aftermarket associations about the “Be Car Care Aware” campaign, the Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair Act and AAIA’s technology industry standards.
DST Asks: How Do You Track Sales Force Activity?
In his movie role as a high-maintenance NFL star in “Jerry Maguire,” Cuba Gooding Jr. won an Oscar and created an enduring pop culture catch phrase with his unique delivery of that memorable line — four words that perfectly sum up the objective of a successful sale. In the final analysis, sales management is all about maximizing the ability of your sales force to “Show me the money!!”
Bosal Launches New Online Exhaust Catalog
Bosal, a leading manufacturer of import exhaust systems and components, has introduced a new online version of its full line catalog. The new electronic catalog covers Bosal’s complete line of one-piece, direct-fit replacement import exhaust systems, mufflers, catalytic converters, pipes and accessories and features more than 3,000 import makes and models. The online catalog provides application data, ordering information and illustrations.
Pickups Plus Appoints New COO
Pickups Plus, a leading retailer and national franchiser in the $38 billion truck and SUV aftermarket accessory industry, has appointed Sean Hayes COO. Hayes who joined Pickups Plus, in April 2003, will lead the integration of the company’s new acquisition, Auto Preservation, into the company’s corporate structure and expansion plans. Hayes will also be in charge of disseminating appropriate information to shareholders and the expansion of the company’s franchising business.