IT PAYS TO BELONG!
In every business group there are economic reasons to belong. Some of the benefits below are economic. The true
strength of ICE, however, may have little to do with the immediate balance sheet. The power of ICE comes from
channeling new thinking about your relationship with your business. Whether it must be driven by you or guided by your
decisions. How it impacts your life and your future. Perhaps the biggest benefits do not involve cash directly, but wealth
overall. ICE will change your professional life profoundly.
• Member sharing. Online confidential sharing using a • Insurance. Local insurance carriers assess risks very
Forum format and periodic on-line questionnaires. ICE horizontally. On a national scale, risks by business vary
Member Conference Calls every Tuesday morning, let significantly. A vertical perspective allows a national
everyone share issues and possible resolutions. company to assess risks specifically for scrapbook retailers
and charge accordingly. This saves money.
• Communication.
$
No-nonsense straight-to-the-point news
bulletins about situations and opportunities. These are • Credit Card Processing. Seemingly a little thing, this
summarized in the ICE Member Newsletter. one item alone can cover the entire cost of membership.
Almost every credit card scheme today has carefully
• Meeting. Attendance at the annual Members’ Growth hidden costs that can be eliminated.
Conference (MGC) during CR’09, and subsequent years,
is expected of all members. This is where relationships • Centralized Buying. Once ICE achieves mass, members
are built, alliances formed and information demonstrated will be able to buy substantially everything on line from
rather than disseminated. Meetings of ICE members will the wide range of participating suppliers using a single
also occur at national CHA events starting in January 2010. website. Inventory control and operating statistics are
by-products of this system. Not only that, but ICE will
• Participation. Joining means far more that simply writing a aggregate these orders, collect from members and pay
check. Involvement is critical. Fortunately, involvement is suppliers with a single check.
interesting – and growthful and varied and informative.
• National Branding. As ICE grows its membership, the
• Buying Power. While ICE has not been formed specifically ultimate effect will be to create a consumer impression,
as a buying group, per se, suppliers will respect the too. While nothing like a franchise, ICE membership will
aggregate ability of a cooperating group to place larger become a distinguishing characteristic with the tools
orders and price accordingly. ICE Supplying Partners have available to make it work for you.
agreed to offer ICE member discounts as part of their
membership. • Group Benefits. Also available to members is a cadre`
of benefits typical of any business association such as
• Supplier Communication. As part of the on-line system rental car and travel discounts, special rates from shipping
that includes the Forum, members will be able to access companies and other couponing-type programs available
key information about Supplying Partners to ICE. One- to groups.
click access to Supplier addresses, phone numbers,
websites, e-mail contacts and on-line catalogs is part of • Scrapper Magazine. ICE members will have exclusive
the communication system. Open questions to suppliers rights of distribution of a free-to-the-customer magazine
on the Forum are also part of the overall scheme. in their stores. Filled with consumer-oriented editorial
and advertising, the magazine will be a popular give-
• CDOS. “Collection and Dissemination of Operating away item. Optionally, members may include a custom
Statistics”. Members will confidentially share operating four-page section in which they may put their own
statistics monthly. These numbers are aggregated and each stories, specials, local advertising, class announcements
individual member will receive a report allowing him or and photographs. The cost of the extra signature to ICE
her to compare results with the group. When the group is members will be nominal and templates will be provided
large enough, regional subsets will be produced. to members for ease of production.
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