Membership Drive Results Please NFDA

John Wolz

A fall membership drive including a money-back guarantee increased the National Fastener Distributors Association to a record 255 member companies.
�The good news is that in spite of the consolidations that have been taking place over the last four or five years our membership for this year is the highest in the organization�s 33-year history,� NFDA president Jim Ruetz declared.\
�I think the biggest draw to our increased membership was and remains our programs and the setting we create to allow �knowledge sharing� at our meetings,� Ruetz remarked.
�We are doing a better job of getting the word out about the value the NFDA brings to its membership,� Ruetz said of the association development committee chaired by Randy Revercomb of W�rth-Revcar.
Membership was at 209 in 1995, 222 in 1996, 238 in 1997 and 246 in both 1998 and 1999. Despite nine member companies being involved in consolidations, membership in 2000 was at 245 before the start of the recruitment campaign.
NFDA offered incentives for joining during 2000. Included in the incentives was a money-back guarantee on the initiation fee if new members are not satisfied after attending two NFDA meetings.
Ruetz said the NFDA spring meeting April 25-29, 2001, in Naples, FL, will offer �an unprecedented level of executive training programs.�
Included are in-depth discussions of e-commerce (B2B), sales compensation strategies, personnel reviews and human resources management, activity-based costing/management techniques and supply chain issues. There also will be an executive best-practices roundtable and a spiritual & motivational program by the God Squad. The team is composed of Rev. Monsignor Thomas J. Hartman and Rabbi Marc A. Gellman.
Details of the NFDA meeting will be announced later. For information contact executive vice president Dave Merrifield. Tel: 216 579-1571. Fax 216 579-1531. E-mail: nfda@nfda-fastener.org Web: nfda-fastener.org