AMTEX may see launch of new dealer trade council
Following the AMTEX trade show slated for Nov. 12–13 in Miami, another trade council may be added to the list that two-way radio dealers can choose from to represent them.
The AMTEX trade show’s sponsor, the non-profit American Mobile Telecommunications Association, has invited dealers to participate in the formation of an independent radio dealers council during AMTEX. A for-profit business, the Gettysburg, PA-based Licensing Assistance Office, backs the move.
George Daigneault, LAO’s president, said that he was motivated by an opinion column written by radio dealer Bob Urian, chief operating officer of Specialized Communications Consultants, Tempe, AZ. Urian’s opinion column, “Radio Dealers Don’t Communicate” in the February 2001 Mobile Radio Technology, kindled Daigneault’s interest in helping to start a dealer association.
Daigneault worked in Motorola’s Washington office for 23 years until 1990, when he founded the Licensing Assistance Office. LAO works with dealers on a daily basis. He said that one of his functions at Motorola was to meet with the company’s regional managers to speak to them about FCC rules and regulations. Many of them became dealers when Motorola later minimized its sales force.
“That’s how I know dealers. They understand business consumer needs. Neither the FCC nor the associations truly appreciate their contribution to the wireless industry, principally because the radio dealers do not have a united base within one association that truly represents them. They understand what the consumer wants more than anyone else. I’m not sure that’s heard as much as it should be,” Daigneault said.
Dealers currently are represented by many associations: PCIA’s Mobile Wireless Communications Alliance, ITA’s Council of Independent Communications Suppliers, Small Business in Telecommunications, and USMSS, to name a few. AMTA’s president, Alan Shark, said that he was flattered to be asked to provide a possible home for the new dealers’ association.
“The call for a new organization or ‘home’ is coming from people who are feeling frustrated and who want a vehicle that gives them what they need. Some say that there already are other dealer associations, but it’s a difference between perception and reality. They see what isn’t being done. And I’ve heard some people talk about other groups that may be more dominated by Motorola than they would like,” Shark said.
Shark said that AMTA was the first non-profit organization that put manufacturers on its board of directors with a full vote and a voice in policy. He explained that most groups place manufacturers on their roster as associate members, saying, in effect, “We will take your big dollars, but we need to protect the purity of our people.”
Shark said that the AMTA board is three-quarters operators, and that the association has had all of the leading manufacturers on its board. He said that having both operators and dealers on the board “has been a very worthwhile experience where all parties can communicate their needs.”
Shark said that, in view of AMTA’s more than 15 years of experience, “any new council that is created will not be anti-manufacturers; instead, this group will be pro-dealers. Some dealers have articulated that they want to be able to sit and chat among themselves about common problems without fear of retribution in a forum that isn’t available elsewhere. Our membership includes some who have sold their frequencies and who have remained dealers.”
What’s new is the emphasis, Shark explained.
“Dealers need vision more than a voice,” Shark continued. “I’ll help with what the vision is. Collectively, dealers they can do more. Every successful industry has a collection of individuals who otherwise might not relate to another who get together to set forth some common themes and business practices that unite them and help them in their business. That’s what we’re looking for.”
Daigneault added: “Dealers don’t have a voice because they’re not strong enough in each association. Not that the other associations aren’t doing a good job, but they have their own agendas. That causes a problem because the dealers’ agenda isn’t primary.”
Daigneault declined to state what the new association’s agenda should be, deferring to results of its organizational meeting during AMTEX. But he said that AMTA provides an ideal framework because it represents commercial activities. He pointed out that AMTA represents SMR operators, and since it has qualified as an FCC frequency coordinator, he said that AMTA “can truly assist the two-way radio dealers.” Daigneault’s company, Licensing Assistance Office, helps dealers and their customers to apply for two-way radio licenses.
Daigneault said that ITA’s principal agenda is in getting frequencies for end-users in agribusiness, fuel-oil delivery, heavy construction and other industries, “and rightly so.” But he said that as a result, its primary agenda sometimes conflicts with that of its Council of Independent Communications Suppliers dealer group, mostly composed of “commercial private carriers.”
He said that PCIA has done little for dealers for many years, but he said that it used to be effective before merging with the National Association of Business and Educational Radio. “Since NABER became PCIA, I sense a lack of interest” in dealers, Daigneault said.
About the new dealer group’s chance for success, Daigneault said, “Who knows? Call me after the 13th. We’ve put out a lot of advertising, and I’ve talked with a lot of dealers. What I do know is that this very special group should be adequately represented and have its own agenda.”
