I often am asked why I am a member of the American Supply Association. My answer is always the same: Why aren’t you a member of ASA? Most folks don’t realize the extent to which ASA can help a firm remain competitive and relevant.

I am ASA because I want to be a great industry citizen and help build a stronger future. Oh sure, I can choose not to join and let other people pay to fight for a level playing field in Washington, D.C., or for sound codes and standards. Heck, I would benefit whether I was a member or not without having to pay membership dues. But that wouldn’t be right.

I am ASA because I want to build a network of support outside my buying group because I want to learn from my fellow distributors as often as I can. I am an Embassy member where I network with great business owners. But I have built friendships in the other buying groups such as AD, WIT, Omni and Equity, plus ASA’s networking events help me branch out beyond my own network opportunities.

I am ASA because of the extraordinary educational programs offered in ASA University. ASA offers my firm 24/7 access to 225 courses, 27 training tracks that help me onboard my warehouse staff, counter sales, outside sales, showroom managers and the other 23 tracks that can train my team better, faster and more cost-effectively.

I am ASA to get access to the business intelligence offered in the five distinct benchmarking and forecasting reports. I am extremely passionate about getting as much data and data points for me to be able to benchmark how my company and my team are doing vs. my marketplace. ASA makes it easy for me to be able to carry out sound business decisions utilizing the forecasting reports, sales reports, compensation studies, commodity reports and the most important report, the annual Operating Performance Report.

I am ASA because I want access to information that will tell me what is coming down the pike so I can prepare for the issues and challenges my team will be facing. Sometimes, just knowing what problems or what competitive threats we will face can make the difference in my company.

So really, why aren’t you a member of ASA?

Don’t take it from me about the benefits of being an ASA member. Over the coming months, ASA is launching an “I AM ASA” campaign where our members will talk directly to you about why they are members of ASA and the value they get from affiliating with other distributors, manufacturers and manufacturers representatives to build a stronger industry through ASA.

Each month, my fellow members will tell you why they are members of ASA. We all come to ASA for different reasons. And we all get something different out of our experiences. The one thing we all agree upon is we are ASA because… it is our industry association and we need to support it. It is our hope every distributor will become ASA and support a stronger industry.

Joining ASA is easy. It’s cheaper than you think. In fact, the value you will get out of your membership is greater than the fee to join.

I invite you to join us today so together we can say, We Are ASA!