MANA Membership Benefits Highlighted

MANA members are quick to compliment our association on the quality of our magazine, the free legal advice they receive from rep-savvy attorneys, our monthly newsletter, the ways that MANA helps them secure new lines, and the many other benefits of MANA membership. This issue of Agency Sales magazine focuses on those benefits.

Many of the benefits MANA members enjoy today have evolved over the years; for example, the evolution from a printed MANA directory to our online searchable directory. But one of the benefits has changed dramatically: MANA’s role in making information about the rep system of selling available to reps, principals, and the general public. In the past, information about the rep industry was very sparse, so the MANA-created content was one of the very few resources for rep-related information. Today the situation is very different. Anyone with a computer and an opinion about reps can create blogs, newsletters, and websites about our industry. This changed the landscape dramatically. Instead of searching for one of the few available sources of information about reps, now someone who wants to learn about reps faces overwhelming amounts of information. And MANA has adapted to become not only a creator of content, but also a curator of the vast amount of data available online, which we distill and bring to MANA members each month in Agency Sales magazine and our iToolbox newsletter.

But in speaking with reps, I have discovered that one of the things they value most highly about MANA is not easily described on the benefits of membership menu we share with prospective and current members: It’s the opportunity to express and demonstrate their pride in the companies and relationships they have built and the industry in which they work. MANA members, whether they are reps or principals, are almost universally entrepreneurs. And as entrepreneurs they have justifiable pride in the businesses and relationships they have created. Belonging to an association of like-minded individuals provides our members the opportunity to interact with fellow entrepreneurs and be members of something greater than themselves. MANA membership, members tell me, is about more than just enjoying the aggregated products and services MANA offers, it is also a way to say: “I am proud of my company and of relationships I have built, and I want to share that pride with my peers, colleagues and customers.”

When I ran for election to the MANA Board of Directors, I gave these four key reasons for doing so: Education, Networking, Legislation, Support and give-back to the rep industry. I’m now serving my second three-year term on the MANA Board, and I still believe those reasons listed are valid. MANA continues to put quality educational opportunities on the table via Agency Sales magazine, iToolbox newsletter, webinars, teleforums and special reports. Networking with other reps and manufacturers is a key component in our business. MANA makes a lot of effort to help reps and manufacturers connect.

It’s inevitable that a MANA member will carefully weigh the value of membership in their association. As they perform that exercise, the answers to several common questions influence their opinions of association membership and participation. Is membership worth the annual dues? What’s MANA’s value add? Can I succeed (as well) without being a member? What are my fellow reps doing? What are they thinking? Only the individual rep can honestly answer those and other questions, but if the experiences of long-time MANA members are any measure of the true value of association membership, prospective members would do well to consider …