Getting the most ROI out of your TMA membership
A few months back I had the privilege of spending the afternoon with our TMA Board of Directors to take a close, hard look at our Association, and give the staff strategic guidance as they develop the 2010 operating plan. In these volatile times, a key focus was to identify the most important benefits that the TMA offers to its members – why do people join? As we all know, the TMA provides a wide range of important services to mid-market companies, like workforce benefits, training, marketing support, and government advocacy. Taking advantage of these services can free up the business owner to concentrate on their primary task of generating sales, producing products, and building their team.
While this certainly has significant value, there is an even greater resource here at the TMA that we often overlook. That is the deep knowledge base of the membership. For any business problem or challenge that a manufacturer could face, I am confident that someone of the 1,000 plus member companies and their 8,000 to 10,000 employees have already dealt with it and know the answer. And what is even move valuable is that this community is willing to share and help each other, simply for the asking.
In this tough economy we are all looking closely at every expense and investment we make. Investments are not only dollars but also time, and as a business owner myself, I am even more cautious with my investments of time. You can always get more dollars, but today is only lived once. Uniquely regarding TMA, when you invest even an hour you are investing that time directly in yourself and in your business, and often the return is a multiple.
But it is only through spending time with other members that you can access our deep collective knowledge base. There are many ways to do this. The simplest is to attend one of the many business networking events, like Marketing Day or the Annual Business Conference that just drew over 300 people. Go on regional lunch and plant tours, or have breakfast with an elected official at a member’s plant. You can volunteer on one of the dozen active TMA committees or attend seminars or training courses. And for those willing to commit to a small group of other owners, you can join one of a number of peer groups to learn best practices, help solve problems and build a tight network of trusted advisors.
So like many things in life, what you get out of TMA is only limited but how much of yourself you put into it. We are the best part of TMA so don’t keep it to yourself!
Clark Neuhoff, President of The Sextant Company is an active TMA member and works with businesses to define and execute their growth strategies. www.sextant-us.com clark.neuhoff@sextant-us.com, (847) 680-6550
TMA News Bulletin November 15, 2009 – Volume 66, Issue No. 22
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