NEMRA 2023. 1862 and Climbing

1862. That’s a huge number.

It’s the current (as of January 18) registration for the NEMRA Annual Conference. 1862 people (probably more) will descend upon Las Vegas on January 30^th and occupy the Virgin Hotel (and some spillover hotels) till Thursday, February 3^rd.

But the NEMRA “conference” season actually started last week as 65 manufacturers held virtual sales meetings / conferences with their agent networks.

In this age of digital communications, the two formats highlight that

• Digital enables more people to be engaged in communications. A huge benefit is that manufacturers are able to communicate their message to more people within an agency. Further, they can do it quickly and with the same message being delivered (consistency!).
• Face-to-face is important and people want to engage, renew, and plan.

Last week I was talking to Jim Johnson, president of NEMRA, regarding some of the initiatives Channel Marketing Group supports NEMRA on and we talked about the conference. Here’s some interesting tidbits:

• As mentioned, 65 virtual meetings were scheduled and held over 4 days. This is 25% more than in 2021, which was the first year the format was used. In 2021, over 7,000 connections were logged in (so, over 7,000 independent manufacturer agents participated!)
• Of the 1862 people registered for Las Vegas, 45% are manufacturer personnel and 55% are manufacturer reps.
  • In 2019, when there were more manufacturer rep agencies and more manufacturers, NEMRA had over 1900 people attend its conference.
• 83% of NEMRA member agencies will be represented at the conference.
• 79% of NEMRA manufacturer members will be represented at the conference.
• NEMRA initiated a new booth format last year. These are modular booths. Typically, 10×10 hard sided booths. This year NEMRA offered booths in different sizes and manufacturers could personalize their booths. 120 booths were available … all sold out!

And the NEMRA Annual Conference is more than just manufacturer / manufacturer rep meetings. Other activities occurring during the 3 days include:

• Opening session with an “state of business” update, NEMMY awards, ceremony, inclusive of recognition of Rick Angel for his service to the industry and a networking reception.
• A keynote presentation by Kurt Warner of St. Louis Rams fame.
• 3 days of one-on-one meetings
• A silent auction with proceeds to benefit the Gary Sinise Foundation’s R.I.S.E. initiative.
• And this year’s conference has over 23 manufacturer sponsors (including the silent auction)!

The turnout is also a testament to value that the association brings its membership, and the industry, given that, over the past four years, NEMRA’s membership (reps and manufacturers) is down 20% due to acquisitions. This means companies are sending more people because they see more value in getting together with people who help “them” drive “their” business.

Over the past few years NEMRA has:

• Introduced an Emerging Leaders program which was oversubscribed and necessitated doubling the group’s size.
• Promoting the Rep of the Future model and the role that reps play in the channel, which has been increasing. Perhaps it is no coincidence that more manufacturers than every go to market primarily with an independent manufacturer rep network, sometimes augmented by direct personal in more of a technical / engineering specification role targeted at larger opportunities.
  • And it you are not familiar with the Rep of the Future initiative:
    • Reach out to NEMRA for a copy. It is free for NEMRA reps and NEMRA manufacturers. There is a fee for others.
    • If you are a rep or a manufacturer and want to understand the key elements of each of the 5 pillars, you can download information here or contact me.
• Launched a robust Learning Management System (LMS) called NEMRA University, which is built on the Blue Volt platform. There are over 800 “skills-based” programs on the platform. One of the biggest benefits for the industry is that manufacturers who have built content to support their distributors can authorize Blue Volt to make the content available to their agents via the NEMRA platform. All they need to do it advise Blue Volt! And access to the platform is very affordable for every agent and representative (less than $10 / month!)
• And NEMRA has launched other initiatives to add value to its members (regardless of size as some of the programs offer discounts on services reps use daily) and to manufacturers.

While NEMRA is, essentially, a sales conference where the manufacturers will provide additional insights from their virtual meeting and then discuss the agent’s plan, this is the one industry conference where I suggest to the manufacturer that their key sales operations / marketing person who supports their reps should, ideally, attend. It helps put a 3D face to a name to further build relationships as these individuals are the backbone of a sales management team … “deliver” for the reps and are the internal champion who make the “day to day” things happen (yes, sales management matters, but that’s a different role.)

NEMRA 2023 promises to be an action packed 3 ½ days. Channel Marketing Group will be there with a suite of services for manufacturer reps including:

• RepShare – understanding your local market share, and understanding it by product category
• RepCare – solicit customer satisfaction insights from distributors
• And strategy and marketing support

I’ll also be talking about the NEMRA Rep of the Future report and model and how this benefits reps and manufacturers as well as the NEMRA POS initiative (and how manufacturers can join and support.)

For manufacturers we’ll be discussing:

• Rep360^o – gathering deeper insights from your reps
• Identifying market share by rep territory
• Supporting your Rep of the Future
• And more

Stop by the Channel Marketing Group or reach out to me to book some time to connect in Vegas.

I’m looking forward to another great NEMRA conference … and there is still time to register!