Planning For Progress | PPAI Publications

With an eye on securing the future for promotional products businesses, the PPAI Board of Directors is initiating positive change in the present by introducing a new, three-year strategic plan that reflects the Association?s mission to ensure the success of its members and the global industry.

As a living document, the strategic plan must be both clear in its goals and malleable in its evolution. ?The strategic plan is an important document that supports and drives Association performance. Every year we review the plan and we update it; every three years we recreate a new one from the ground up,? says PPAI President and CEO Paul Bellantone, CAE.

The goals of the strategic plan are designed to be articulated and executed by PPAI staff and members at all levels; the board carries the responsibility for building the plan, and does so with the goal of addressing universal needs, while recognizing the unique challenges and desires among members.

?With nearly 10,000 members comprised of various membership categories, sizes and business models, it would be impossible for PPAI to meet the specific needs of each industry company and professional,? says Bellantone. ?It is important that the strategic plan focuses on universal needs and reflects PPAI?s commitment to strengthening the visibility, viability, credibility and community of the industry. It points us to things we need to do for the benefit of all, and I think this plan represents that vision.?

Reaching Out To Facilitate Change

To achieve the new plan, the board did much more than revise the previous version. Board members reached out to the Association?s membership to understand what companies need to be successful and what they need from PPAI to help them succeed. Planning participants relied on member surveys, financial analysis and other information necessary to guide strategic thinking.

Board Chair Steven Meyer, MAS, vice president of sales for Willmar, Minnesota-based supplier Molenaar, LLC (UPIC: MILINE), believes the outreach underscored the value of communication. ?The board is responsible for serving members; ask, then listen?concentrate on member needs. People appreciated the opportunity to say, ?This is important to me.??

Armed with member input, the board sat down with facilitator Steven Foster to draw out the new strategic plan. Foster is managing partner at Foster-Fathom, a Texas-based organization that works with companies to promote the growth of their organizations.

?Strategic planning sounds simple enough; identify where your organization wants to be and detail how to get there,? says Foster. ?The actual process, however, requires heavy lifting on the part of the leadership.?

Foster says leaders must look critically at changes in the organization and ?the current environment. Forecasting the future and establishing realistic goals can be overwhelming. ?It?s a lot of work, and it all begins with mission, vision and values?the ?why? of any organization. This first step tends to create lively and often lengthy discussion, but I?ve found it to be necessary to know the ?why? before trying to map the who, what, when and where.?

Meyer appreciated this approach to the planning process, saying: ?We went into this with a great facilitator and a stimulating resource (Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek). We started with the current plan but added the ?why??why people want to be part of an association. You want people asking questions instead of [just] giving up answers.?

Designing A New Plan

Internal generation of the conversation and participation in the development of a new plan was a key factor in ensuring success, says Foster. ?It sounds pretty basic, but often I?ve come across boards that think staff should do all the strategic work, or have a mindset that just wants to update existing goals with a new spin and approve a refurbished business plan.

?Strategy is fundamentally about change. If an organization is really interested in a transformation of their business, its leaders have to do more than edit an existing plan, they have to design it. That means everyone involved must engage in the strategic planning process.?

Marc Simon, board member and CEO of Sterling, Illinois-based distributor HALO Branded Solutions (UPIC: HBS), came to the table prepared to create a member-centered plan. ?My expectation was that the strategic plan be clearly articulated, relevant to the evolving needs of our industry, mindful of the skills and talents of our diverse membership, capable of being achieved in a fashion that can be objectively measured and focused on extracting the highest and best use of our talented management team and staff,? Simon says. ?I believe the strategic plan we adopted meets these criteria.?

Foster says the end result of a well-run planning session most often results not in a concrete, final version, but rather a ?synthesized action plan which is a summary of the overall strategic discussion that highlights the agreed-upon goals and designated responsibilities? that can be reflected upon and discussed with other interested parties before a final plan is approved.

With a final strategic plan approved and ready to disseminate, Association leaders want members to understand its purpose and recognize the value of fulfilling what has been outlined in the plan. ?A strategic plan for a large trade association memorializes the enduring goals that the association has agreed to pursue,? says Simon.

?Memorializing the plan in a formal written document ? constitutes a written record of what the board has established as the goals against which resources will be invested, and it communicates to the management team and staff the goals that the board expects to achieve. It also communicates to the membership at large these same goals so that industry participants, whether or not members, can weigh in as to the appropriateness of the goals, as to whether management and staff are in fact achieving those goals and as to the relevance of the Association to the business pursuits of the industry participant.?

Simon adds that as the Association?s strategic plan evolves over time, succeeding boards of directors can compare the history of the strategic plan to the evolving nature of the challenges and opportunities that the industry faces. ?This can and should help chart the course for future generations of industry participants.?

Communicating The Value

The strategic plan has value, says Meyer, because it focuses the Association?s efforts. ?In any association, you want to maximize your resources. Paul does an excellent job of that. You can follow the strategic plan from the top of the ladder down to each staff member at PPAI. If it?s not in the strategic plan, then we shouldn?t do it.

?We?re being good stewards of [members?] funds and resources. We have a responsibility to look into the future and leave the Association better than we found it, by providing for future members,? Meyer says.

Going forward, board members and Association staff will communicate and demonstrate the value of the strategic plan through multiple platforms and applications.

?Just as our separate businesses are focused on creating value, it is all about creating member value for our Association as well,? says Simon, who is focused on PPAI extracting contributions of talent and expertise from larger supplier and distributor members, and making the Association more relevant to mid-sized and larger industry participants.

?We have to communicate what we?re doing,? Meyer stresses. ?We assume people realize what?s going on. I think we have to toot our own horn. It?s important for the board to communicate what we?re doing and why, and to be open to listening and communicating that back to PPAI leaders.?

The board furthered efforts to engaging members by sharing the plan with the volunteer community including committee members.

Mark Stiff, MAS, vice president of Bates-Wells Advertising (UPIC: B-WPROMO) and chair of PPAI?s Distributors Committee, says every organization needs a strategic plan for a road map of where the organization is heading and how they are going to get there. He adds that he and fellow Distributors Committee members will be looking at where they fit into the goals and how they can help the organization achieve them.

?I think the biggest role for the Association and its volunteers is to get the word out that the strategic plan exists and every member has the opportunity to influence the direction it takes. All four goals are very important to the Association. I think that Goal No. 2 (Advocate For The Industry) is a place where we as distributors can make the largest impact. By getting involved, it strengthens the distributor?s business as well as helps us to grow as members.?

Bellantone says the town hall meetings that are held to encourage communication and feedback on industry-relevant issues will gradually shift focus to the strategic plan so members can provide input and share their thoughts on the plan?s execution.

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>>The Strategic Plan?A Snapshot

For the next three years, the PPAI Strategic Plan will focus Association efforts on four major goals, with several sub-goals under each, to be accomplished by leadership and staff at all levels across multiple platforms. The strategic plan will be revisited in 2015.

1. Deliver Great Member Value

Deliver products, services, experiences and a community essential for member success.

2.Advocate for The Industry (Position PPAI As The Trusted Industry Authority)

Influence external audiences?educate and build awareness of promotional products? value, power and effectiveness to end buyers, educators and students, media and related industries

3. Engage the Global Marketplace

Cultivate relationships and create alliances with other membership organizations internationally

4. Manage an Efficient, Progressive and Professional Organization

Effectively utilize all resources to advance the goals of the Association

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>>How PPAI is fulfilling the goals

Blake Bozeman, PPAI business development manager

?Business Development here at PPAI has continued to develop new ways to constantly increase the value of our membership,? says Bozeman.??PPAI Ink & Toner has quickly grown to become the second-largest business partner program behind the FedEx Advantage? program.?In the first half of the year, we?ve already received more than 850 orders totaling $86,000 in ink-and-toner sales.?With an average savings of 40-percent off big-box [store] prices, we?ve saved members more than $60,000 so far in this program alone.?The Pantone? program has also climbed to the top of the list this year with just under $80,000 in sales, as well as providing the best discounted rates in years.?

Bozeman says the newest benefit, the PPAI Product Pack?, is a weekly direct-mail benefit for new distributor members that serves as a great opportunity for supplier member sponsors to reach out and establish business connections.

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Anne Lardner-Stone, PPAI director, public affairs

?To further engage the global marketplace, we have translated the PPAI Code of Conduct into Mandarin, Spanish and French Canadian?all versions are available on our website,? says Lardner-Stone. ?In a growing global market, PPAI member companies can communicate to internal staff and external clients their commitment to ethical and responsible business practices.?

?We also continue to advocate for the industry and position PPAI as the trusted industry authority by developing and promoting Promotional Products Week to the membership, and by tying those efforts into our Legislative Education and Advocacy Day (L.E.A.D.). We continue to encourage members to keep legislators mindful of our industry?s issues and concerns and equip PPAI members with the tools they need to advocate for the industry.?

?Our work with the CPSC, the FTC and other regulatory bodies establishes PPAI members as ?good actors,? companies that are aware of the law and desire to work with government to implement laws that balance risk and reason. We are committed to educating our global membership about compliance responsibilities and opportunities. Our outreach at industry events and the annual Product Safety Summit demonstrate this commitment.?

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>>Should member companies develop a strategic plan of their own?

Steven Meyer, MAS, Molenaar, LLC:

For our member companies, a strategic plan is also invaluable. The best companies have a vision, communicate that vision to the entire company and let nothing deter them from achieving the plan. Our Association and industry are filled with creative, entrepreneurial men and women who seek to fulfill a dream. Whether you call it a business plan or a strategic plan, it keeps them true to that dream.

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Marc Simon, HALO Branded Solutions:

It is vitally important that member companies operate pursuant to a formal written plan.

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Mark Stiff, MAS, Bates-Wells Advertising:

I think every member company has its own direction for meeting their goals. As the industry has all different sizes of distributors and suppliers, the plans will be quite different for each; but without a plan, it?s hard to grow and perform efficiently.

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Jen Alexander McCall is an associate editor for PPB.

Source: http://pubs.ppai.org/2012/08/planning-for-progress/

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