The 2010 AVDA Academy of Training offers unique opportunities

AVDA is dedicated to providing cost-effective training and education to our members via the AVDA Academy of Training. In addition to in-person training like the University of Industrial Distribution (UID) and the AVDA Annual Conference, AVDA also offers cost-effective Webinars throughout the year like the upcoming Results Focused Online Marketing Webinar series by Bob DeStefano of SVM E-Business Solutions.

In this three-part Webinar series, DeStefano will make online marketing understandable and provide you with a practical roadmap for transforming your Web site into your most powerful marketing tool. You will learn how to harness the power of a customer-focused Web site, search engine marketing and e-mail marketing into an integrated marketing system that will continually generate new business, strengthen relationships with customers and maximize the results from your marketing investments.

The first 90-minute Webinar, on March 9 at 1:00 p.m., will explore How to Make Your Web Site a Lead Generation Machine. Other Webinars will focus on the Seven Steps to Search Engine Marketing Success on April 13 at 1:00 p.m., and How to Be Successful with Email Marketing on May 11, at 1:00 p.m. Each Webinar is 90 minutes long and is $149 per site for AVDA members and $249 per site for non-members.

Bob DeStefano is an online marketing strategist and professional speaker with over 15 years experience helping B-to-B companies produce business-building results. Since the birth of the commercial Web in the early 1990s, DeStefano has been helping business leaders create successful online marketing strategies. Learn more about DeStefano and SVM at www.svmsolutions.com.

AVDA members are also being offered a unique opportunity this spring to participate in an in-person training program sponsored by the Pet Industry Distributors Association (PIDA). Pricing for Profit for Pet Industry Distributors, by Dr. Albert Bates of Profit Planning Group, will be held May 10-11 at the Hyatt Regency DFW in Dallas, Texas. This one-day program will focus on three key areas – developing a company-wide pricing perspective, assisting the salesperson in the front-line battle with regard to pricing, and developing meaningful ways to base pricing decisions on cost to serve different customers. AVDA members may register to attend the program for $549 per person. Additional information about the program will be posted on the AVDA Web site, www.avda.net, and mailed to AVDA members.

Bates is founder and Chairman of the Profit Planning Group, a research and executive education firm headquartered in Boulder, Colo. The firm works exclusively in the area of corporate financial planning. Bates makes approximately 100 presentations each year on topics such as Improving the Bottom Line, Getting Serious About Profit, Doing More with Less, and Pricing for Profit. He also provides strategic direction for the firm’s investigation into profitability research for over 70 different trade associations. He has written extensively in both the professional and trade press, including the Harvard Business Review, the California Management Review and Business Horizons. He also writes the quarterly Profit Improvement Reports for the firm’s trade association clients, including AVDA and PIDA.

For more information about these events or to join AVDA, call (443) 640-1040, e-mail at AVDA@ksgroup.org, or visit www.AVDA.net.