January 9, 2003
by Paul Garson

 
January 9, 2003...Cleveland, Ohio........Bob West, Publisher of Irrigation Business & Technology Magazine (IBT), has announced joint sponsorship of an in-depth irrigation market study with Los Angeles headquartered Beckett & Beckett.
 
West explained, "Market metrics for the irrigation whole goods industry, and notably those U.S. distributors that serve residential and commercial irrigation in particular, are quite difficult to obtain. Government commerce offices have very little helpful data upon which effective forecasting or expansion considerations can be based."
 
Distributors can participate online by clicking on beckettadv.com/irrigation_survey
 
The 36-year-old management consulting firm of Beckett & Beckett, with the aid of IBT, has begun inviting distributors throughout the nation to participate in two separate exercises to gather intelligence for a study to be released in April. To encourage the participation of irrigation distributors, participants will receive more in-depth information than the industry-at-large.
 
Issues that are being studied include sales and operational data (that is gathered anonymously so that distributors are assured confidentiality), weather data, construction info, sales trends and forecasting mechanisms.
 
IBT Managing Editor, Steve Smith, added, "A study of this nature will not only help the industry as a whole, but will help distributors, contractors and manufacturers have more accurate data upon which they can make better business decisions. In navigating our industry, we will begin to have reliable information that will offer helpful insights about our collective and individual futures. The Beckett firm has worked in and around our industry for many years; we are looking forward to this symbiotic collaboration with them."
 
For those that wish to participate in the anonymous online survey, please click on beckettadv.com/irrigation_survey prior to January 31, 2003 and enter your responses.