PRESIDENT’S REPORT – JANUARY 2016

AEPMA president Vasili Tsoutouras wraps up 2015 and looks ahead to 2016.

With the season in full flight and Christmas approaching, the final touches on our association’s year is coming to an end. This year has been full of achievements and positive steps towards meeting our goal – being the voice of the industry. The challenges of the next year excite me, with many promised initiatives due for delivery and a major international conference to top it all off. The key to our success is hard working, dedicated people who are all focused on delivering on our common goal.

People are the heart and soul of who we are and what we do. Patrick Legey is one of the people in our industry that helps the wheels turn round. Patrick is a worker and a leader through actions. This year he stepped down from his board position as the New South Wales director to concentrate on his business and family. But as always, his final words to me were, “If you need me to do anything just ask.”

Whenever you get the chance thank him for his efforts please do so, he deserves all the praise we can give.

Finding more ‘Patricks’ is of the utmost importance for the continued success and growth of our industry. If you feel like you would like to contribute and give back to the industry that gives us all so much, put your hand up – the rewards far outweigh the effort.

The nominations for Pest Manager of the Year officially opened on December 3. The award continues to grow and I have no doubt that this year’s award will be the biggest ever. The winner will be announced on the biggest stage of all, at the FAOPMA gala dinner. I am looking forward to the judging process once again, learning about progressive pest management companies and people, it truly is an inspiring process. If you believe you are the best at what you do or know someone who is, nominate, you will get more out of the process than you put in.

As the voice of the industry we understand that being available to governments and public for assistance is crucial. We have had a massive growth in contact from governments and particularly the general consumer, whether it’s for advice on how they should choose a pest manager, to complex complaints where our dispute resolution policy and procedures are used to help navigate and resolve issues.

Now more than ever, the catch cry – “Can’t afford not to be a member” – means so much, with AEPMA promoting our activities to the benefit of members. The internet and social media have given us the ability, as an association with limited resources, to compete with some of our bigger brothers and become more prominent and widely known. The last analytics on our advertising prove that we can be mighty in our own way – we had close to 200,000 impressions, with more than 4000 interactions, all for less than $370.

Being innovative, flexible and willing to change is the key in this new world. As an association we are most certainly getting much better at this and we must continue to forge ahead with both open eyes and mind.

I look forward to reporting our progress in the next issue on all of the happenings at AEPMA.

Until next time, I wish you all the best and trust all is going well within your business.

Vasili Tsoutouras,
AEPMA President

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