Long Range Planning

Key performance and success factors

Whatever the size of your company, planning for growth is critical to your success. If your company is large, you are directing a number of assets and long range planning is critical. If your company is a small one, you probably are very involved in the day-to-day operations and have a good feel for where things are going. Regardless of the size of your company, you are strategically planning, evaluating and directing its growth.

I'm not sure that the plan is as important as actually sitting down and talking about your business, and thinking through where you are going, what you are doing. The plan will be changed as business changes. But the process of sitting down and planning your strategy is important for all businesses, whether you go through a formal process with an outside consultant, or sit down with your spouse and talk about where the business is going in the next five years.

PEI maintains a long range plan in order to ensure that the association is meeting the needs of its members. We have initiatives, goals and objectives, and we have a formal review process. Each March, the Long Range Planning Committee, which is comprised of the association's president, vice president, treasurer, three immediate past presidents, meet for two full days. Together with the association's executive vice president and administrative director, we review the initiatives established for the past year, along with membership surveys returned to us. We look at what we do well, and what we need to do better. We read every comment from members and spend a considerable amount of time discussing our mission and how we are achieving it. Then we plan for the upcoming year.

Our mission statement guides all decisions. Our mission is to be the leading authority and source of information for the petroleum handling equipment industry. PEI is committed to promoting the value of distributor services and improving the business relationships and practices of its members.

To achieve this mission, five Key Performance and Success Factors are reviewed. Below are some of the results for the past year.

Membership Satisfaction - The degree to which PEI members are satisfied with both the scope and quality of services is very high, as 94 percent of the membership say we are achieving our mission.

Financial Stability and Strength - Measured in terms of annual operating results, degree of compliance with cash reserve requirements and traditional financial ratios appropriate for industry trade associations, PEI is on strong financial footing.

Image, Recognition, Reputation - PEI is recognized as the leading authority and source of information in our industry. Our Recommended Practices have become the industry benchmark. We currently are working on four RPs, and soon will publish RP 600, a document covering the installation, inspection, testing and maintenance of overfill protection devices used with aboveground storage tanks.

Convention - Our surveys indicate that a small number of members still do not like our trade show merger with NACS. However, in 2006, booth rentals were up, along with the number of visitors. The merger of the two shows has been a financial success for PEI, allowing us the means to provide more services to membership. This year, PEI at the NACS Show will be held November 7-9 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, and we will continue to brand PEI as the leading source of information in the petroleum equipment industry.

Membership Involvement - Members generously volunteer time and talents to move the association forward. Along with the Board of Directors and the various committees responsible for our Recommended Practices, members participate in the association's growth by serving on the Safety, Education, Exhibitor and Convention Advisory, and the Young Executives Committees.

I want to thank Bob Renkes, Connie Dooley and all the PEI staff for making sure our long-range planning initiatives are met each year. Their intense devotion to the association and its mission helps to make our long range planning process thorough and worthwhile.

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The PEI Journal • Second Quarter 2007 • Volume 1, No. 2 • Contents are Copyright © Data Key Communications, Inc.
All rights reserved. • Nothing may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission of the publisher.