Have you ever wondered how your business stacks up against others? How much are they paying 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 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 business’ 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 CMA 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 and takes around 10-12 minutes to complete. Once the results are tabulated, those who have participated will be the first to receive the report.

You do not need to be a CMA member to participate. This annual study of the state of the industry 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 each participant indentify themselves or their businesses, all individual answers will be held in strictest confidence. No individual business will be identifiable within the results report. That way we can ensure the results of the study are from professional shops. All sizes of shops from one to 100 or more employees are more than welcome to participate.

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 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 emailing the CMA office at director@cabinetmakers.org to get a copy. We look forward to your participation in this respected state of the industry study, and thank you in advance. Take the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NPVSTQC.