The respected and lauded former President of the University of Notre Dame Reverend Theodore Hesburgh described leadership as "The very essence of leadership is that you have a vision. It's got to be a vision you clearly and forcefully articulate on every occasion." But in today's world where results count we can't forget Albert Einstein's famous s . . . .

It seems every year the NARMS office gets one or two phone calls from members asking why they should renew their membership because after all their NARMS involvement hasn't directly resulted in any new business. Thank goodness this is not the attitude of 99 per cent of the membership. NARMS was never created 13 years ago to find you business; the . . . .

In 2006, the Board of Directors of NARMS began its initiative to develop accreditation standards for companies in the retail marketing services industry. The Board made this decision in order to provide companies with a set of consensus based industry standards indicative of high quality practices of retail marketing services. As the recognized lea . . . .

Membership numbers in NARMS International exceeded all past levels in late 2007 as the member count rose to 571 member companies. The diverse member roster included some 56 international member companies, with 34 from Canada.

With renewals at press time reflecting several consolidations and sales of member companies and normal attrition . . . .

An early spike in web based activity at www.narms.com is giving NARMS International evidence of exceptional post-holiday job recruitment activity. As you are well aware, NARMS International utilizes a combination of JobBank, The Recruiter and Career Connection as web tools to meet company member and non-member recruitment and individual job seeke . . . .

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 . . . .

Listening and talking to peers, retailers, brokers and manufacturers is the best way to determine the "pulse" of the Event Marketing business. It is encouraging to hear that several of the demonstration/event marketing companies have returned to basics to generate business continuity while others have decided to join forces with larger entities. Wi . . . .

I hope you're already looking forward to the 13th Annual NARMS Conference. It is always exciting to attend the conference, but it is especially exciting to be attending the conference in colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. It will be interesting to turn back the clock to an earlier time in our history of America. Sometimes people romanticize the co . . . .

Welcome to our fourth article in the series "You Can Always Sell More: How To Improve Any Sales Force!"

NARMS International, in partnership with GreatSalesSkills.com is offering this article series to help you improve your sales organization and increase your competitive advantage. Two versions of each article are available. The first is t . . . .

I recently stopped by a supermarket with my daughter after her track practice to buy her a Gatorade. Normally I'd go to a convenience store closer to our house but this mega-sized store (which I do not shop) was near her high school and she was thirsty. When we walked in I had no clue where the sports drink section would be so instead of doing the . . . .

“Greetings! We’re off and running on the new year and I hope you’re planning for business to be GREAT in ’08!

YOUR IFBA is in full swing. We are actively preparing for Top to Top and have many exciting projects on the horizon. It is hard to believe it has already been four years since our association began. I guess there is truth to th . . . .

Happy New Year - I hope that this article finds you well and enjoying a great start to 2008! I can’t believe that the 2008 NARMS spring conference in Williamsburg is right around the corner – if you are like me, it feels like the 2007 conference just passed! Traditionally, the winter edition of the MSO column serves as a precursor to set the stage . . . .

Nearly six out of 10 new businesses fail before their fifth year. If you've launched a business or are thinking about it, the odds of long-term success are against you! How do the survivors successfully identify, attract, and keep good customers? What's their secret?

Whether you're just setting up shop or already have your business off the . . . .

They say if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will leap out right away to escape the obvious danger. But, if you place a frog into a kettle of cool water and then gradually heat the water until it starts boiling, the frog will remain unaware of the imminent danger until it is too late and it will be boiled alive. The frog's survival . . . .

This is a success story. It involves Kathy Aldridge of member company, FSA Merchandising, Inc, of Delafield, WI. It is not a unique story; only too familiar to many NARMS members.

FSA specializes in merchandising services, including resets, new item cut-ins, display building, P.O.P. and distribution audits in the upper Midwest and Grea . . . .

Some people say that every story has a beginning, a middle part and an ending. This is a story about the beginning. The beginning of NARMS, before it was recognizable – before it had an international flavor; before it even was!

The story is rooted in the early 1990's as it took nearly six years before initial discussions bore the fruit . . . .

Government Agencies Want Results, Not Excuses

When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined the presence of dangerous bacteria in food products, the agency ordered that the products be pulled from store shelves immediately.

When RMX received the urgent assignment late on a Friday evening, the company went to work quickly . . . .

There is need for supermarkets and gourmet food retailers to promote and merchandise meals in one place rather than individual ingredients in various places throughout the store. If action is not taken soon, the increasing number of meals-to-go retailers I see so often when traveling our country could take the place of traditional supermarkets in s . . . .

I often include trade show exhibiting into marketing plans only to have the client reply that they have tried exhibiting and it just doesn't work. At this point in the strategic planning, I review with the client how their organization has approached trade-shows in the past. We look at the people sent to the shows in the past, which trade shows the . . . .

Ask a group of retailers about their greatest daily challenges and, invariably, chief among them will be employee turnover and morale. The ripple effect of this “silent sabotage” impacts virtually every area of a business, severely altering the sales and bottom-line results.

Ironically, as retailers spend countless hours servicing externa . . . .