Business SMART:

Speak Up and Speak Out
 

By: Dennis A. Conforto
A-Z Media Group

This week we have a manufacturer who is also a retailer and a distributor speak out in an article entitled, “Inside CHA”. The author of the article is respected in the industry and has been around for many years. He is expressing his points of view as he has every right to.

I think it’s important that we all hear different points of view. To me it’s all about getting everything out on the table and letting everyone hear everything that has to be said. Sometimes it’s hard to read a point of view you might at first disagree with, but it is still important to see each side of an argument or dilemma. I believe that conflict is best resolved when all the known facts are on the table at the same time for everyone to see so that the best decisions can be made. I believe that reasonable people come to reasonable conclusions only when this occurs.

I have learned from experience that it is harmful when people have secret letters and secret conversations that serve as personal attacks rather than dealing with the facts out in the open. I prefer to be up front and open saying what I have to say for all to hear, not just some.

In speaking out about the issue of the CHA winter show vs. the PMA winter show I have been thrown under the bus a few times. Some have suggested that I have a hidden agenda, others stating that I am no longer objective because The SMART Group membership was transferred to PMA.

What makes a person impartial when it comes to business? Most times an individual has something to gain, and it’s almost always related to money. My opinions about PMA are not based on any personal gain. I believe we will all gain by working with the photo industry that has an incredible amount of potential to assist in the growth and development of the scrapbooking industry. The purpose of transferring The SMART Group membership to PMA was simply to drive costs down and benefits up. I was honest from the very beginning telling everyone that The SMART Group was going to be absorbed by an association at some point in time. I always felt that CHA would be the one since The SMART Group was formed to fill in the educational gaps missing within CHA.

However, the more I learned about PMA the more it became clear to me what the industry needed to do and it needed to be done quickly. I wasn’t bought by PMA as some have suggested. The fact is, I can’t be bought because for me it was not about money. It was about how we can grow from a $2.2 billion industry to the $30 billion industry.

To date, no one has come up with one suggestion that I have seen to move the industry forward to reach its full potential. I have seen nothing that addresses the tiny amount of exposure we have as an industry to get more traffic into stores carrying scrapbooking products.

What I have seen is a lot of protection of the current systems that are not working. I see many who appear to be in denial of the very failures that are appearing all around them. I see fear of change that allows people to sit around hoping for the best.

There are two things I have learned about business. First, when things are broken you must change and change immediately; business never rewards failed systems or policies. Second, change before you need to change. It’s what we can all learn from one of the best companies in the world -- GE. They look into the future and see the world not as it is, but as it should be.

When I look into the future I see the photo industry pushing more and more on digital scrapbook solutions. In a profound way they are creating an alliance with themselves rather than with us. Remember, this is a $90 billion dollar industry that can create new products that are distributed worldwide in months.

When I look into the future I see manufacturers finally working on the category of scrapbooking not just the craft. This would be for the millions of women who don’t have the time for a craft but are in fact instant scrapbookers.

When I look into the future I see manufacturers working on “business-to- business” scrapbook products. This would be for thousands of businesses who are recording their company history but really don’t have the tools available to do it correctly.

Today scrapbooking is mostly about the craft, but it could and should be more. The scrapbooking industry can control all four forms of scrapbooking which is craft, digital, instant and business. If we think “craft only” we will allow others to take over the category that rightfully belongs to our industry. Those that fear the most about change are those that are married to the craft only view of the scrapbooking industry. However I am here to say loudly and clearly that “scrapbooking is bigger than just the craft side of the business.” By expanding the other three markets we expand the craft category as well.

We simply can’t afford to wait to do the right thing to grow our industry. We can’t allow, as I suggested last week, incorrect buying and selling practices at trade shows to force us to fear moving from one trade show to another. We can’t be blinded by the craft-only view of scrapbooking if we want to grow the industry.
As you think about issues like PMA vs. CHA think about what your own motivations might be. Are they based on your view of a craft-only business model? Are they based on the trade show addiction model? Or can you truly be objective and look at the PMA vs. CHA question with an open mind?

Will you take the time to understand the issues and the similarities and compatibility factors between photo retailers and scrapbooking retailers? Will you look carefully at what it means to have a scrapbooking and photo section in every newspaper throughout North America? Will you look at the PMA educational program vs. the CHA educational program? Will you take the time to truly understand what PMA’s ten international trade shows mean to our worldwide efforts? Will you consider what it would mean to be part of a $90 billion industry vs. a $30 billion industry? Will you think about the difference between an association that is primarily a trade show vs. an association that is primarily about its services first and its trade show second? Will you study what it means to have a $100 million scrapbooking/photo TV series paid for by the photo industry?

Again, as the facts are on the table and the emotion is taken out of the equation, it will become clearer to everyone that considering PMA winter and CHA summer is allowing us to be in all the worlds we need to be in at the same time to insure that we don’t just survive but thrive.

So what do you say? If you agree, speak up and speak out. If you disagree then do the same. But whatever you do, have an opinion and express it loud and clear; do it out in the open. Now is not the time to whisper in the hallways. Don’t make this about me, because it’s not about me. This is about how can we double our sales, increase our market share and improve our profits. And that is what being business SMART is all about.