By John Blodgett, MacKay & Company
It is actually the middle of October as I write this column and there hasn’t been a whiff of winter weather yet in Chicago, although it does seem like the Cubs have hibernated.
So why bring up the holidays?
Because they will soon be upon us and soon after that is the Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) in Las Vegas from Jan. 22-25, 2018. This is the preeminent conference on the heavy-duty aftermarket in North America. It is run by a combination of associations whose primary focus is the heavy-duty aftermarket.
If you are a distributor of heavy-duty aftermarket parts and/or service and haven’t attended this conference in the past, I highly recommend you consider it this year. It is an excellent way to network with other distributors, get one-on-one time with suppliers and enjoy interesting and educational presentations.
If you are a supplier, it is likely the best bang for the buck to get in front of the people who are on the front lines of the independent aftermarket.
The primary reason I am writing this column now is to start you thinking about what you want out of this conference. It seems that everyone is extremely busy these days, mainly because business is good, but if you don’t start outlining your goals for HDAW you risk leaving Las Vegas wishing you had spent more time preparing for this conference.
