The QVM TAC (Traders Advisory Committee) has been reformed
and has the structure to do things. But are there any results yet? Representatives
have been keenly involved in many meetings and given pages of information to management
on things like audience evaluations. But are there any results yet?
It could be argued that these are early days and we know
that there are many levels in the QVM decision making structure. However we
appear to be marking time. We don’t even have a vision or mission statement in
place. We haven’t set any goals, much less decide how to measure results. We
haven’t tackled the real issue which is lack of business for traders and how we
turn that around.
Achieving a turnaround in business will require action by
management. It will also require action by traders. What action? Isn’t it time
we sat down and established achievable goals, what needs to be done to achieve
those goals and how we measure the results?
Your Trader Representatives are familiar with processes that
get nowhere. The TAC was run that way for many years. We understand that the
high level issues we are examining require funding and perhaps Tuesday’s State
Budget will give us the good news we have been waiting for. But if the news isn’t
good we still have to move forward and there are many things that can be
achieved on small promotion budgets and real focus on the key issues.
The answer to the question in our heading is “NO”. Trader
Representatives are not worth what we are not paying them. Fortunately, that is
not due to lack of desire by your representatives. It is just that the process is
not yet focussed on getting results. Are we being impatient? Maybe a little.
But let’s not forget it is traders who are losing financially, not the property
owners or property managers. Traders have every right to expect a result
focussed process.