When you are having lunch with more than 1,000 of your “closest friends,” you get a sense of the strength and the enormous potential of IMARK Group.
IMARK just concluded a very successful Showcase meeting in Chicago. On behalf of the IMARK Board of Directors, I’d like to thank our members in attendance, as well as the suppliers and service providers who worked so hard in Chicago.
The manufacturers and service suppliers really outdid themselves. There was an abundance of innovative products and business tools throughout the Showcase arena, staffed with knowledgeable representatives eager to help us differentiate our businesses to improve our customer value proposition.
To give you a sense of what went on in Chicago, I’d like to share some vital statistics from the meeting:
- Nearly 1,400 attendees from 270 IMARK member companies and 115 manufacturers and service companies were present.
- More than 4,300 one-on-one meetings between member and supplier executives were held in a day-and-a-half.
- More than 500 member and supplier execs participated in networking groups to share best practices and potential solutions to common business challenges.
- More than 300 member employees attended seminars and workshops on topics such as merchandising, negotiating skills, selling skills, e-commerce and the effective selling of energy-efficient lighting and controls in the existing facility market.
One of the great things about Showcase is the new faces we see every year. I talked to one first-timer who was very eager to attend the 2018 Showcase and who told me, “I had no idea what I was missing.”
Among the attendees were five visitors from Gemcell, the “IMARK of Australia” and a fellow member-owner of IMELCO. One of the visitors attended my I-Net meeting and participated while capturing a dozen pages of notes. I was curious to know what he thought and after the meeting we had an opportunity to chat. He enjoyed the format of the meeting and was impressed by how candid we were and our willingness to share best practices. He handed me his business card and asked if he could reach out to any of our I-Net members should he have follow-up questions. I believe we all know the answer to that question.
Two members of our I-Net group are working on international business opportunities with our Australian visitor. Additionally, sharing best practices globally may unlock insights gained by others outside of our national experience.
IMELCO continues to provide positive financial contributions to our group. It is also increasingly clear that this larger “family” of distribution companies can offer other advantages.
Some of the other popular topics I either participated in or overheard at this year’s Showcase included strategic planning, the effective use of data to support fact-based decision making and the ongoing challenges of engaging the newer associates who are learning how to serve our customers. This last topic will be the foundation for my final article as chair of the IMARK Board of Directors.
Until then...Onward!