Have you ever wondered just how your woodworking business stacks up against others?

How much do they pay their employees? Which items do they make in house and which are outsourced? What about their hourly shop rates? Is my market area ahead or behind of what is happening in other areas? Which areas of cabinetry and custom woodworking are hot and which ones are not? How much are others spending on marketing, advertising and promotions and what is working for them? How do others see their company’s outlook for 2013 and how well did they really do in 2012?

Here’s your chance to find out!

Last year’s study found distinct winners in types of services and products used as well as offered. It also revealed payroll rates by type of employee based on years of experience, and took the pulse of not only prior year-over-current year sales results, but forecasts for the coming year.

The Cabinet Makers Association (CMA) office has developed a fairly quick but insightful benchmark survey on these topics and more, and we need your participation to fill in the blanks. The survey itself is about 40 multiple-choice questions long and will take about 12-15 minutes to complete. Once the results are tabulated, those who have participated in the survey will be the first to receive the report.

You do not need to be a CMA member to participate. This annual state of the industry study is open to custom cabinet and woodworking shop owners and senior managers who have access to company financial, sales, payroll and purchasing records. While we do require that participants indentify themselves and their companies, all individual answers will be held in strictest confidence. No individual business will be identifiable within the results report. We just want to make sure the results of the study are based on responses from professional woodworking shops. All sizes of shops from 1 to 100 or more employees are welcome to participate.

However, time is of the essence. We want to report the early results as soon as we have a minimum level of participation, and plan to close the survey by mid December. So, please take a moment and follow this link to provide us your answers. That way, we will share what others are telling us about their businesses so you can respond and retool to take advantage of what is working in the market right now.

You can request a copy of last year’s 24 page CMA Benchmark Study report by e-mailing the CMA office at d[email protected]. We look forward to your participation in this respected state of the industry study, and thank you in advance.

Take the survey now.

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