As I listened to my good friend and past-president of NSCA, Andy Musci, rant about the value of membership last week, I couldn’t help but write more about it. Andy had asked for the last few research projects and surveys that NSCA has done in order to help determine the priority for the 2012 updates. After going through each one very carefully he went off on something like this…

People who don’t read these reports have absolutely no idea how valuable they are. Referring to the labor standards, compensation, and financial analysis reports, he emphasized that each report more than covers the cost of membership. Combined, they are worth thousands. Like many of our members, he felt a little guilty for not having paid more attention to these reports as the data is so valuable to his business. I’m obviously biased, but I couldn’t agree more.

Now to be fair, I belong to several professional organizations and I am as guilty as anyone of not utilizing many of the benefits included. Most of us probably use a fraction of what’s included in membership with every organization we belong to. My theory on that is taking time and managing the association relationship. As we get busier each year, we tend to forget about the association until an event is occurring.

I guess more than anything is that I want our industry to know that the old adage of “you get out what you put in” is really true. When it comes to benchmarking your business against others who operate in the same industry and can do this without exposure to you individual information, it is of extreme value.

Here are some common excuses for not utilizing the services offered by your professional associations:
· Believing that your company is too large, too small, too young or too mature – is simply nonsense.
· I belong to a buying group and they provide me with the information we need.
· By the time I get done checking email and the business web sites, I can’t absorb anything else.

NSCA provides integrators, consultants and manufacturers a platform to not only discuss and help resolve the issues affecting our businesses, but also the means to better understand them, overcome them and prosper with research, advocacy, and training to help make your life easier.

Get your NSCA log-in information, download these reports and realize the value of information you’re not paying attention to. There will be new reports this year along with a series of new benefits we’re rolling out including a fantastic partnership with Prospera who will help you large, small, young or old businesses to understand labor law and policy, HR issues, reporting, employee handbooks and more. – CW