Plans for 2009 summary

Tentative plans for 2009 find the IFBA member group staging a “stand alone” event in a return to downtown Chicago. Among the early plans for Top to Top next year is the staging of a “First Timer Orientation” session; prior to the opening night reception. Also, efforts will be made to provide a pre-conference flier on “How to Get the Most Out of Your IFBA Top to Top Experience”. This offering, in tandem with an “IFBA Mentor” program; should allow for more helpful communication ahead of the actual conference and insure maximum efficiency plus the comfort of a “welcome mat” for those in first time attendance. 

Clearly, the IFBA Division of NARMS International enjoys a nice momentum that it wants to nurture; growing future memberships along with developing a greater depth of understanding in the marketplace of the benefits of working with independent brokers. 

The margins generated with the successful conference may help IFBA extend its advertising/branding campaign that launched again this year in regular ad execution in Supermarket News. To date, the IFBA mandatory, self-funded ad/branding campaign has focused on “Knowledge”, “Performance” and “Trust” as focal elements. 

Many thanks to our 2008 sponsors and advertisers for their generous support of this year’s Top to Top event. We continue to look to sponsorship involvement to complement IFBA registration fees for our conference program costs.

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B2B Is What It’s All About

Fundamental to the success of the annual Top to Top event are the scheduled B2B meetings which again kept brokers and manufacturers alike quite busy during this year’s event. Several companies reported over 20 scheduled meetings with another 30% of companies hosting a dozen or more. 

New in 2008 and proving to be extremely popular, was the food snack and networking area adjacent to registration that we came to call our “IFBA Lounge” area. This allowed meeting participants to speed through breakfast and lunch times without the cost/time normally committed in hotel restaurants; yet at a comfortable pace with additional networking an added value. 

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Speakers’ and Program Highlights

Top to Top attendees were treated to an excellent presentation by Phil Smith, EVP and Procurement Officer for Unified Grocers, Los Angeles, CA. Integrated into Phil’s presentation was an interactive component; allowing session attendees the chance to participate via handheld device in several related survey questions dovetailing with his remarks on use of independent brokers and perceptions of them. Its clear Phil rated high with attendees, with many references as “best ever” in survey responses and on-site comments. 

The final speaker during the IFBA Business & Education Session was Dave Leedy, a professional inspirational speaker from Springboro, OH. Leedy took attendees on a roller coaster ride of emotions; inspiring and challenging listeners to be mindful of the potential of their impact on all people and business around them every day of their lives. Leedy’s moving anecdotal stories made the program experience truly memorable. 

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IFBA Rave Reviews for Top to Top

I trust your summer plans are underway and your business is fabulous. Since returning from Las Vegas, we have been very busy evaluating the conference for improvements and working on plans for next year’s event. Here is a snap shot of what has been going on recently with “Your” IFBA: 

IFBA attendance at Top to Top in 2008: “BEST EVER” 
            
54 manufacturer companies representing 108 individuals 
56 member companies with over 140 paying individuals 

Our increased attendance plus new sponsorship and advertising generated nearly 50% jump in conference income from 2007. LAS VEGAS was a Huge Success for your Association! 

Although the B2B meetings are the core purpose and success of the Top to Top Conference, it was the combination of formal presentation and impromptu discussions between broker companies and manufacturer principals that made this event a good one! 

Our MAC Committee and Manufacturing Sub-Committee delivered a HOME RUN with two separate sessions and a joint session focused on quality improvements. Outcomes included advocating better score carding processes to evaluate brokers and suppliers and working together to develop better measurement tools and reward systems. 

An IFBA “lounge” was added in 2008; proved to be popular and time beneficial. A Cyber Café is being explored for next year allowing access to workstations and a Wi Fi network for email. We look to expand and improve the meeting space offerings for these B2B sessions in 2009! 

Phil Smith, EVP and Procurement Officer for Unified Grocers, Los Angeles, CA, drew rave reviews for his presentation to our meeting.  Of special interest was an interactive component, allowing audience participation in several survey questions within his presentation; utilizing handheld devices. Additional educational session was provided by motivational speaker Dave Leedy. 

Plans for 2009 are to NOT follow FMI to Dallas where they have scheduled educational meetings without a trade show.  Returning to Chicago; IFBA will conduct a standalone meeting, sandwiched in between National Restaurant Association event and All Candy & Snacks Expo.  

We’re zeroing in on mid-week dates of Tuesday, May 19 – Thursday, May 21 in Chicago, IL with specific location to be announced shortly. 

Meanwhile, we look to continue with our IFBA Advertising/Branding campaign with selective placements in Supermarket News, focusing on “Knowledge”, “Performance” and “Trust” as the Key drivers for our independent broker offerings. 

We continue to recruit new IFBA members and will be producing a revised membership brochure, making continued use of directory map of current members that spans North America. 

If your phone is not ringing now it will be soon. The recent trends and consolidations in the industry suggest more and more CPG companies are looking for alternatives in the marketplace. You are the Alternative! Take advantage of the ever changing landscape and position your company now for a great future. 

Until next time, Good Luck and have a Great Summer! 

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Polk Majestic Offers Travel Services

Denver-based, Polk Majestic Travel Group is the newest in the list of service providers for NARMS members. A full-service, independent travel agency, Polk Majestic offers comprehensive travel programs with dedicated travel agents that can also offer assistance with on-line bookings, an easy on-line booking tool, behind-the-scenes magic that can make travel planning easier and bottom line savings are all reasons to explore for potential benefits. 

Offering exceptional customer service and utilizing the best in class technology tools to meet today’s modern travel challenges, Polk Majestic stands ready to assist member companies with travel challenges. 

Polk Majestic now joins Avis; Budget Truck Rental; TeamHaven; DHL Express; Greater Insurance Service Corp.; Holmes Murphy & Associates; Information Resources, Inc. (IRI); Komtel, Inc.; Ready Talk; Staples Business Advantage; Synergy Systems; USIS and Working Partners as key NARMS Service Providers. For more information, check out NARMS Member Program link at www.narms.com. 

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NARMS Recruiter Adds Text/Voice Services

An added feature to The Recruiter should be operational by early July that will offer text/voice services to position offerings. Partnering with One Call Now™, the NARMS Recruiter allows for the more timely notification and quicker response traffic from reps. 

Here’s how it works. NARMS members with Expanded Listings search the Recruiter and check to send field position offerings in their normal way into rep home pages and as a digest e-mail daily. If they want to contact them faster, they check to send the message that gets translated as a text-to-speech to a phone number the rep has chosen. NARMS sends One Call Now the message to translate and the list of reps that gets the message. One Call Now then picks up the two files and their phones start calling the reps with the job at a cost of 12 cents for each call to the member. 

Prior to all this transpiring, the field rep will have opted into the program with selected settings on their profile. This service allows for more timely reception of service-needed calls and quicker response from reps to commit or take a pass on prospective job offers. We envision calls being received and responded to while out on current jobs instead of waiting to return to computer at home base to check for recent posting messages. 

Members pay for the calls by pre-loading an account through their member page at www.narms.com. Each call is a credit and they can send as many calls as they have credits. This makes tracking easy on all accounts and restrains from any micro-payments to a credit card at every Recruiter transaction. 

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NARMS News

Changes to NARMS By-Laws 

By action of the NARMS Board of Directors in December, 2007, the NARMS By-Laws were amended, allowing for the extension of a director’s term beyond the former two (2) year terms during any service as Board Vice Chair or Board Chair, with such service restricted to a maximum of two (1) year terms in each position on the board. The action does not change the number (11) of board members but does change the role of nominating committee in such a way as to include the nomination of a slate of officers in their charge. 

Accreditation 

Actions of the NARMS Board of Directors resulted in: 

• Amending the bylaws to establish the Independent Accreditation Committee granting authority to the NARMS Chairman to appoint the first NARMS Independent Accreditation Committee (NIAC) to be comprised for at least seven non-NARMS Board members who meet the qualifications outlined in the Draft Policy Manual for NIAC. Appointments to include the offices of Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary. Additionally the NIAC is to include the category of Public Member. 

• Approval of the governance structure of the NARMS Independent Accreditation Committee (NIAC) granting authority over all accreditation decisions and policies as outlined in the Draft Policy Manual for NIAC 

• An Appeals Committee to consider Appeals of Adverse Decisions comprised of members of the Cadre of Reviewers as outlined in The Draft Policy Manual 

More information about progress with the Accreditation program is available in the preceding article by Chris Niero on pages 8-9. 

Call of the annual business meeting 

The annual business meeting of NARMS has been called for Tuesday afternoon, April 15, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. at the annual Spring Conference in Williamsburg, VA. The gathered membership will hear comments from NARMS Chair Chuck Latham, a financial report from Treasurer Tom Caddell and State of the Association from NARMS President/CEO Dan Borschke. The membership will vote on Directors (see next news item) and will recognize retiring directors: Chuck Latham, Don Cox and Chip O’Hare. 
Board of Director Nominations 
Recent action by the Nominating Committee has resulted in the nominations of the following persons to service on the NARMS Board of Directors and the accompanying slate of officers. 

Re-nominated to additional two-year terms were Don Koller of Lawrence Merchandising Services and Tom Caddell of AMG-Central. Also nominated (to initial two-year terms) were Jim Hall of Riteway Sales & Marketing; Steve Horowitz of Co-Sales Southern California and Steve Donzelli of Chuck Latham Associates. 

Nominees as the slate of officers for the 2008-09 time period effective at the April 15th NARMS Annual Meeting include: Chair: Don Koller, Lawrence Merchandising Services; Vice-Chair: Mary Jo Bastuba, Nintendo of America; Secretary: Ed Martin, The Ready Set Companies; and Treasurer: Ethan Charas, Stratmar Retail Services. 

All these nominations will be placed before the membership at the annual meeting in Williamsburg with non-attendees given the option of forwarding their proxy to the NARMS office. 

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NARMS News

NARMS Looks to Be Noticed! NARMS International has entered a one-year agreement at the Northwest Arkansas Airport for a scrolling graphic display near the baggage claim area as yet one more exposure effort of our retail support service trade association. The obvious traffic that airport realizes due to the concentration of major manufacturer companies and their respective service vendors who maintain offices in the Bentonville area create this unique opportunity to promote our membership organization to influential manufacturers as well as one special retailer group.

Thanks to Spring Conference Sponsors

A giant THANK YOU is in order to our NARMS Spring Conference sponsors of all sizes. We had set goals for $80,000 for the 2007 Spring Conference and to date we’ve exceeded all expectation; with $87,100 committed to support this year’s program in Tucson.

Many thanks go to The Beam Team; Kit Moss Productions; Storecast Merchandising Corporation; Information Resources, Inc. (IRI); KCBS; Madison Avenue Retail Brands; Johnson O’Hare Company; Riteway Sales & Marketing; Arnett Brokerage Company; Idea Net; Ready Set Companies, LLC; Prism Retail Services; Alliance Marketing Group, LLC; Multi-Merchandising Action Professionals (MAP); Canadian Merchandising & Assembly Services; Decision Tree Resources; Lawrence Merchandising Services; Chuck Latham Associates, Inc.; Nintendo; Holmes Murphy & Associates; South49 Solutions; Professional Services; Crossmark; Notable Impressions; American Installation Company: Southwest Fixture Installers, Inc.; Summit Installations, LLC; Atlantic Fixture Installations, Inc.; Nationwide Fixture Installations, Inc; CRC, Inc.; K2 Inc.; Projectmates for Retail/Systemates, Inc.; StarWorks Marketing Communications; Unique Solutions; and Staff Easy by PDSI Software.

Many important sessions await those planning to attend the 2007 NARMS Spring Conference in Tucson on April 14-17. Keynoters Michael Bergdahl, Stan Slap, Kevin Coupe and Jim Pancero will head up general sessions with the much anticipated release of the MSO - ROI study findings helping kick off the conference. Also of special interest this year will be twin offerings of “The Value of Accreditation” session, exploring the concept of setting up an accreditation system for member and industry companies.

Wrapping up this year’s conference will be a high profile in-store marketing panel with representatives from PepsiCo, Hewlett Packard, Sony Consumer Products, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Nintendo of America and The Home Depot. The closing dinner and entertainment will play on a “Black & White” Cabaret theme with attendees to wear black and white attire of their choice with costume prizes!

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NARMS News

New Voluntary Insurance Benefits Coming Soon

As a member of NARMS you and/or your family are now eligible for new member benefits that are available nationwide.

The primary cause for the decline in employers’ providing health insurance to their employees is the rising health care costs. This has led some employers to stop offering coverage and many others to shift a higher portion of the cost to employees, thus making it more difficult for low and moderate income workers to afford insurance for themselves and their families

Our health is something we take for granted – until there is a problem. Our new voluntary limited benefit medical insurance indemnity benefit can help pay basic medical expenses related to illnesses or accidents to help you get the medical attention you need – when you need it.

When you, your spouse, or your eligible dependent children need medical care or emergency treatment for a covered accident, this product will provide indemnity coverage. Benefits may be paid directly to the provider of the service or to you. You have the ability to choose your own health care provider or use one of our preferred providers for extra savings.

Watch for upcoming email blasts that will give you more information on this new member benefit and give you an opportunity to enroll via phone, paper application or through an online link at www.narms.com.

TeamHaven is NARMS Preferred

Composite Data Solutions (CDS), a NARMS Associate member, has been designated as the NARMS Preferred Provider for Web-Based Reporting Systems for Europe and Asia. The TeamHaven product is a powerful and versatile application suitable for all types of field reporting activity, including field sales, merchandising, mystery shopping, demonstration days, audits and all field activity.

The selection process in late 2006 was part of ongoing efforts in finding a barrier free system for our small and mid-size service providers who are not yet using the web to be more accountable to their clients and who seek more internal efficiencies with information. Composite Data Solutions maintains offices in the United Kingdom, Japan, the Balkans, Netherlands and a U.S. office in Aliso Viejo, CA. More information about TeamHaven’s solution can be secured at www.compositedata.com or from CDS Chairman and lead contact, Steve Grimes, at steve.grimes@compositedata.com.

In our last issue, we noted that Computer Resource Center, LLC (www.crcsecure.com) had achieved NARMS Preferred Provider status for the North American market.

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Don’t Miss Out on the Big One!

Plans for GlobalShop 2007 are nearly completed with “Building Your Brand. One Piece at a Time” locked in as the theme for the show slated for March 7-9 at Sands Expo at the Venetian, Las Vegas, NV. The show is produced by VNU Expositions; combining six shows into one venue, including Store Fixture Show, Visual Merchandising Show, At-Retail Marketplace, Store Design & Operations, Digital Store and Retail Marketing Services.

NARMS again will sponsor a breakout educational session in 2007. “Ideas to Leverage Retailing Success” will anchor educational show offerings on Friday, March 9 with presentation and discussion slated for 10:30 a.m. to noon on that day. Panel members will include John Runyon, Associated Grocers; Ed Martin, Ready Set Companies; Jim Louder, Campbell Sales Co.; Ann Marie Campbell, The Home Depot; Mary Jo Bastuba, Nintendo of America and Kit Moss of Kit Moss Productions. Mark Hunter will again moderate the NARMS retail breakout session.

As one of the GlobalShop co-sponsor groups, NARMS will have exhibit space in the Retail Marketing Services area of the exposition floor. In addition to the NARMS booth, this area will feature exhibitors that offer: audits/surveys; fulfillment/distribution; installations/roll-outs; in-store marketing; merchandising services; product sampling/demonstration; sales promotion/training; set ups/remodels/resets; and temporary labor.

Additional show information can be found at www.globalshop.org.

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