2008's Incentive Manufacturers and Representatives Alliance (IMRA) 38th annual marketing conference kicked off with several well-received events and speakers, offering members of the industry a range of ideas and opportunities to enhance their business.
On Sunday, March 30th, the 180-plus attendees had the chance to come together for a Welcome Reception on the large patio of San Diego's Rancho Bernardo Inn, where the conference is being held. Overlooking the Inn's lush putting green, incentive manufacturers’ reps, resellers and suppliers reconnected with—or were introduced to other members—as they exchanged ideas and enjoyed appetizers and a selection of wines chosen by the Inn's resident sommeliers.
This mixer capped off a full day of networking events that also included a well-attended golf tournament on the Inn's Championship Golf Course during the afternoon and a Newcomers Reception in the evening prior to the Welcome Reception.
The following morning attendees were treated to two very different keynote speakers. The first, Greg Slavonic, a retired and decorated rear admiral of the U.S. Navy, and brother of IMRA Board of Directors President Gary Slavonic, spoke on the topics of character, leadership and role models. Drawing from his experiences in three wars and the examples of leaders he crossed paths with—including Generals Colin Powell, Peter Pace and David Petraeus—Slavonic discussed the importance of facing challenges head on, responding to others with honesty and directness and maintaining a sense of humor. Slavonic demonstrated this last point toward the end of his address. Describing how he was given the honor of throwing out the first pitch at a Red Sox game and managed to do it while standing on the mound, not the relatively easier grass. He paused and explained that someone in the audience happened to be in Wrigley Stadium that day and could serve as eyewitness to the story.
"Mike Landry—how was the pitch?" Slavonic called out to Tumi's director of special markets, seated toward the back of the room.
"High and tight Admiral!" Landry replied, to applause and laughter.
Following Slavonic's expansive talk, Bob Langdon, corporate consultant and author of Managing Your Business for Profit, led a nuts-and-bolts discussion about improving profits, focusing customer service and how to set a company apart from its competition. Langdon explained that too much of a salesperson's time is often spent with "high-contact, low-spend" clients instead of deepening relations with more loyal customers. In the case of unsatisfied customers, he suggested asking them what would make them happy instead of presenting a solution. "Sometimes just asking them what would make them happy makes them happy," Langdon explained.
Gary Slavonic presented both speakers with Bose QuietComfort 2 noise-reducing headphones as a thank-you from Incentive Concepts. The gift giving didn’t stop there. Between the speakers Jon Hanson, president and CEO of The RepLink System presented IMRA with a gift of $11,700 from his company.
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