The annual CMC event is the value cornerstone in your CMA membership. When you participate in CMC, you automatically become a member of CMA for a full year.
Along with the benefits of participating in CMC, you will receive the CMA e-newsletter. Along with information about the upcoming CMC event, the newsletter is a resource for success stories and a way to continue the profound networking benefits of the CMC throughout the year. CMA also sends out periodic Bulletins with useful information.
One of the major benefits to CMA membership is the free listing and link to your company’s web site, available from the CMA home page www.cma-cmc.org.
Prospects and buyers from around the U.S. know the CMA web site is an excellent resource because the distributor and manufacturer rep firms that belong to CMA are among the industry’s leading companies. Manufacturers use the listings to prospect for representation in specific regions, as well as, showcase their products and services.
CMA member firms can be listed on the CMA-CMC website with company name (linked to your company’s website), mailing address, phone number, fax number and an email address. Promotional opportunities using the CMA member data base are also available.
Networking is one of the most important reasons for attending CMC every year. We have the Rap Room set aside for just that purpose. There will be new manufacturers there showing their products, as well as, industry organizations for you to visit with. There will be coffee, tea & water along with snacks for you to enjoy. Lots of tables will be available for you to sit down and visit with others. Join us at our Rap Room networking party each day from 7 AM to 7 PM.
CMC for a Manufacturer’s Representative
You have already taken the first step in making this a successful conference for your company by signing up. What else can you expect from the conference? The simple answer is…whatever you put into it!
Here are a few guidelines:
- Use the conference as a training tool. Get to know your principal’s product and marketing position to better assist you with selling in the field. Obviously, attend as many training sessions as CMC is designed so that there are as few conflicts as possible. Many of your principals may have duplicate sessions to accommodate your schedule. For many of them, this is their premier event annually to train and educate their reps.
- Introduce yourself to your distribution All of the major wireless distributors attend the conference. Learn who your local sales representatives are and discuss how you can work together. CMA introduced the concept of the “Triangle of Success”, which embraces the concept of manufacturers, distributors and reps working together. Many distributors do schedule training sessions at CMC so plan on attending those sessions. If not, seek out your local distributor to forge a closer working relationship with them and your manufacturers.
- Network with your fellow representatives. Find out what’s working in their territories. What products are hot and what is not. Uncover mutually beneficial business This is the chance to even swap a few war stories!
- Participate in one-on-one sessions with your manufacturers. This is a great time to discuss issues and opportunities in your As valuable as these are, encourage your manufacturers to schedule these meetings during non-training time. There is typically plenty of time before and after a training day to hold these meetings.
- Enjoy all of the benefits of the conference. Attend the opening session, participate in general training sessions, play in the golf tournament, and attend the cocktail reception and the closing awards The last day at CMC, there is a special luncheon meeting for each participating group and you’ll find the one for manufacturer’s reps to be most helpful.
Ask a board member if you have any questions or concerns. Participate fully in CMC and you’ll reap the benefits in your sales results for the year ahead.
CMC for Manufacturers
The Communications Marketing Conference is held once a year for four days. The venue changes each year, adding to the enjoyment of the attendees and adding opportunities for additional participation from every area of the country. It is an extremely cost-effective conference to keep up to date and to assimilate a vision for the future of the industry.
CMC offers manufacturers the opportunity to meet with their representatives, distributors, and peers to train, network and plan for the future. As manufacturers, you are allowed up to four dedicated hours for training purposes with your representatives and distributors and essential three days overall for interacting with the other groups participating. CMC can be as intensive as you wish to make it and there are several other avenues available for participating, including special training sessions, industry leader speakers, access to your training session room, a golf outing.
For new manufacturers, there is even a Rap Room opportunity, at a very economical price, so that you can set up a table with literature and have the opportunity to make your requirements known to all participants.
If you are interested in adding representatives or distributors, there are provisions made for announcing this and ample opportunities for interviewing your prospects. The Rap Room is specifically set up, as mentioned above, for new manufacturers to have a presence and, in the same room, there are tables set up for impromptu meetings. Besides the Rap Room, the venue chosen for CMC specifically has ample places for spontaneous meetings.
If you wish to present awards to representatives or distributors for excellent performance, you can do this at your training session and you also have the opportunity to announce these awards at the closing banquet before the full group.
There is no other conference offering such an overall, comprehensive, meeting to accomplish all of the above in less than a week and at an extremely attractive price.
CMC for Distributors
Distribution provides added value to customers by offering multiple product lines to meet the total project needs of every customer. It is a challenge for distributors to maintain good relationships with all the manufacturers and also know how their sales channel operates.
The CMC event offers distributors a focused environment to meet multiple manufacturers and interface with the direct sales channel representatives that affect our business. The CMC does not have the distractions of booth duty and customer visits, so you can have meaningful discussions with many manufacturers.
Because the conference is geared towards training and networking, it provides an environment where it is easy to talk about new ideas and success stories, as well as exchange ideas that can influence strategies and marketing for the new selling year ahead.
There is a relationship between direct sales channels and distribution. The direct sales channel has more hands-on time with products because they interface with customers, so they can be a valuable resource to develop or refine opportunities. The distributors, because of how they do business with their customers, have expertise in the procurement process and financing for these customers. Point of sale commissions allow for the co-existence of alternative sales channels but it does not prevent competition. The CMC is a time for all channels to air the pluses and minuses of their relationship to better understand each other and improve their performance.
Young people entering the wireless industry can find no better venue to learn, build beneficial relationships and have direct access to experienced professionals in this market.