Like most other regions of the country, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee benefited from steady residential construction but were saddled with troublesome unemployment rates and high office vacancy rates in metropolitan areas.

But the construction or expansion of auto plants in the region bode well for the future. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Nissan plans to make an additional $500 million investment in a $930 million assembly plant that's already under construction in Madison County, Mississippi. The plant will employ 5,300 people when finished.

Alabama already has auto plants that have created jobs for 27,000 direct employees and an estimated 48,000 indirect jobs. In addition, the state recently got the good news that Honda will double production capacity for its Odyssey minivans and add 2,000 jobs to its plant in Lincoln, Ala.

For step-by-step instructions on crunching the numbers to come up with a sensible business plan, see page 19.

Learn how to take the sales estimates and employment numbers for the region and metropolitan areas that your distributorship serves and tailor them to help you forecast your company's own sales potential.

You can:

• Determine your company's sales potential for various customer groups.
• Find new customer markets.
• Compare markets for potential expansion.
• Determine if your sales are at the optimum level.
• Gauge business prospects and conditions in end-user markets.

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© 2007 Penton Media, Inc.