OK - time's up! And what a sprint to the finish line it has been! The rate of participation in this year's survey was quite respectable - just a very few percentage points below last year. Given that this "green" survey was a new vehicle with which a number of dealers really wrestled, it's a very good showing, and I thank all dealers and integrators who rose to the challenge and took the opportunity to give detailed feedback to their vendors. Please note that, even though there is still a "Survey 2009" button up, the survey form itself has been taken off - since we are now past the deadline, you can no longer download a form.

Instead, clicking on the "Survey 2009" button will now bring up the list of companies - in alphabetical order, by group - that cleared our minimum 15 dealer evaluation hurdle and will, therefore, be included in the results issues.

The first of those 8 results issues will be published no later than December 15, with successive issues following very quickly. All subscribers and all dealers who participated in the survey will receive these issues promptly. Vendors who cleared our minimum number of dealer evaluations hurdle and who are, therefore, included in the rankings - but are not yet subscribers - may order a subscription by clicking on the button in the toolbar above and, by becoming subscribers, also gain access to this data.

More soon.

Sincerely,

Gisela Schoell, Editor

Last updated on December 4, 2008

INSIDE TRACK SURVEY POLICIES

By making the survey available on the Internet, we will have many more dealers participate for the first time - which is highly desirable. However, to safeguard the high standards of this survey, please abide by the following longstanding policies:

(1) For your grades to be valid, you must grade a vendor on at least 8/16 parameters. Grading on fewer parameters will disallow your entire string of grades, because it suggests that you are not familiar enough with a particular vendor to be able to grade him.

(2) Strings of "0" across the board are automatically disallowed, since this is not a rational response (even the worst vendor isn't that bad!)

(3) If you choose to grade only a single vendor, your grades must be well-considered and differentiated. A string of 4.5's across the board when you grade only a single vendor amounts to "stuffing the ballot box" and is disallowed.