Trade groups, management firms must re-earn fees

The industry trade association that has been your business voice on regulatory issues, a fount of information and ideas, and a source of valuable member connections and friendships may be in trouble: Association dues and travel are among the discretionary expenses many businesses are cutting.

"Associations are not unlike commercial entities," says Michele Anderson, senior director at The Center for Association Resources, Schaumburg. "They must re-earn dues dollars every year, just like a contractor hopes to re-earn a contract renewal."

In like manner, association management companies such as The Center must re-earn their fees from the trade groups they manage.

"We're being looked at to prove our worth," says CEO Rob Patterson, "just like our clients are being asked by members to prove their worth."

Trade associations and professional societies are a big business locally; there are roughly 1,500 trade groups that call Chicagoland home. Many outsource everyday management to companies like The Center - and like Barrington-based Technology Business Partners Inc.

"We recognized two years ago that we had to increase our value to members," says Roy Robinson, chairman of the now Barrington-based Closure & Container Manufacturers Association and vice president of business development for Portola Packaging Inc., Batavia. "Strategically, we needed to broaden our scope (and) attract more member companies."

For CCMA, the response involved a just-announced switch in management companies to TBPI and the related move of the association's headquarters from Virginia to Barrington. CCMA's reasons for the change say much about the role association management companies play in the industry.

"Most of our members are in the Midwest," Robinson says, "so we wanted access to someone here who had the business savvy that could help us grow the association."

Someone is Candace Renwall, CEO of TBPI.

"Businesses need trade associations more than ever," says Renwall. Member companies "need to rise above competitive issues and reach out to their peers and colleagues."

Technology, especially technology that delivers education that once required attendance at meetings and seminars, may be the key.

Renwall, for example, is looking at revamping the CCMA web site "to make content and structure easier for members to use."

She's also exploring "new delivery channels (for) video and audio conferences. It takes time (for members) to understand technology and how to apply it, but associations need to make IT services part of the deliverable," Renwall says.

Patterson notes that The Center has launched an e-learning service that allows real-time attendance at seminars from home or office. There's also the possibility that the largely medical, legal and scientific organizations The Center manages may be able to adapt some materials for consumer use - on WebMD, for example - and create royalty income.

Questions, comments to Jim Kendall, JKendall@121MarketingResources.com. © 2009 121 Marketing Resources, Inc.