ISSA/BSCAI Alliance—It’s a Great Idea

Before we delve into the ISSA/BSCAI alliance and why it is a great idea; let us first explore why alliances in generally are a great idea. The quick answer is; leveraging what you have, along with others, to get more than your fair share. In my first book, The Art of Partnering, I defined alliances as two or more entities coming together to synergistically solve their problems. In leveraging your core competencies with others, the below benefits will be yours. ISSA President, Bob Stahurski, says, “ISSA and BSCAI members alike are now welcome at one another’s show. This will facilitate better supply chain relationships by allowing distributors and contractors to better learn each others’ language.”

Alliances require work—so you might be thinking, “What’s in it for me?”

Benefits to companies and organizations from alliance development:

1. Cost savings
2. Leveraging resources
3. Increased capabilities
4. Increased speed to market
5. Creating economies of scale
6. Innovations
7. Improved communication

The conduits through which the benefits are delivered:

1. Supply chain efficiencies
2. Effective procurement
3. Distribution
4. Research and development
5. Sales and marketing
6. Co-Branding products and events
7. Cross-promotions
8. Effectively blocking giant competitors from entering new markets or gobbling up competitors.
9. Risk sharing

Will the ISSA/BSCAI alliance help individual members to receive the above benefits? Perhaps some of the benefits will come directly and perhaps some indirectly? One thing is for sure, when two alliance powerhouses (Smith Bucklin and ISSA) come together to develop synergies, the members will better learn how to employ alliance relationship for themselves.

The ISSA/BSCAI Alliance—a Great Idea

Finally the timing was right, the players were right, and all involved had the desire to build trust in exploring a mutually-beneficial relationship. “For an alliance to be successful, first there must be mutual trust, the relationship has to be good for both, and while the value might not be 50-50, the relationship cannot hurt either party,” stated John Garfinkel, ISSA Executive Director.

BSCAI Executive Director, Maurice “Moe” Desmarais, mentioned, “Now that BSCAI is managed by Smith Bucklin, the amount of resources and alliance knowledge available to BSCAI and its partners is vast.” As an example, Smith Bucklin has a Distributors Practice Group which is comprised on nine distributor associations managed by Smith Bucklin where the sharing of best practices has become common place. Smith Bucklin is also involved with the Association Education Alliance. Alliance is in the DNA of Smith Bucklin.

ISSA has also demonstrated alliance successes and capabilities in its DNA. Case in point, John Garfinkel mentioned the relationship ISSA enjoys with Amsterdam RAI in producing the ISSA/INTERCLEAN shows in the USA & Europe. ISSA, back as far as 1997, developed this alliance to keep Reed Elsevier, the largest trade show company in the world, out of the USA—an alliance to beat Goliath. The two organizations made the industry more open, became global, and enjoy revenue sharing. ISSA also works with more than 75 associations, alliances, and government agencies around the world to represent the cleaning industry.

The down and dirty is that this alliance will make both associations more relevant with their core membership and industry leaders at large. Through the activity of associations partnering, increased diverse groups are enabled to come together to explore and develop industry innovations, to learn, and to grow.

Challenges Overcome in Building the Alliance

• Each association needed to maintain their own unique individuality while coming together for the betterment of both memberships; putting doubts and suspicions aside.
• Association staffs had to map the competencies of each association then overlay to find weaknesses and strengths to determine which would be best suited for various activities.
• There is a natural inclination, of Boards of Directors, to micromanage the alliance development process. Bob Stahurski, ISSA President, commends both boards for focusing on the strategic and allowing the staff from each association to work together to hammer out the details of the alliance.
• Association Executive Directors not feeling exposed and threatened can be a huge stumbling block in the process of associations exploring alliance relationships; fortunately this was not the case with either.

Alliance Direct Member Benefit

I find that with most associations, the following statement rings true: Association board members and volunteer leaders get more value from their association membership than to rank and file members, only because of their accelerated participation and knowledge of programs and services. With this in mind, it is crucial for ISSA and BSCAI members alike, to know what some of the member benefits are that is a direct result from the alliance. Ernie Clark, BSCAI President says, “Now members have access to what both organizations offer.”

1. Six regional workshops are now planned for the spring of 2009 with an emphasis on green standards. Having regional workshops makes attendance much easier and less costly.
2. OSHA compliance safety programs through the joint collation with an emphasis on reducing injuries. One association sharing resources with the other.
3. ISSA and BSCAI will participate by hosting a booth at one another’s expos making member recruitment and information dissemination more effective.
4. Better access to end users for manufacturers for research, focus groups, and meaningful discourse—and vice versa.
5. Increase in association(s) strength through idea sharing, best practices, minimizing staff overlap and certification workload. More bang for your membership dollar.
6. More attendees at each expo, benefiting manufacturers, distributors, and contractors alike. Larger shows deliver more benefit to all that attend. More education, better education, and access to industry partners.
7. Access to additional education, best practices, and other proprietary information of both associations for accelerated business development.
8. Certifications; both for the company and the person that are offered by both associations are in the process of examination for overlap certifications.
9. Potential joint membership cost benefits; ultimately not paying double dues.
10. More powerful voice for affecting legislation through lobbying and advocacy.
11. For ISSA members, there will be more buyers at the shows, thereby decreasing selling costs.

“This alliance has been long in coming,” stated Maurice “Moe” Desmarais, “through a meeting of the minds and cooperation, this alliance will be successful and will assist both organizations in offering services that have, in the past, been considered beyond the mission of each organization.”

Alliances for ISSA and BSCAI Members to Consider for Themselves

Alliances offer great benefit in serving national customers. Bob Stahurski is very pleased with the results of his alliance, ChemBlend International (www.chemblendllc.com), developed with nine non-competing manufacturers. ChemBlend International provides seamless and uniform nationwide private branding for US and Canadian janitorial, food service, institutional, industrial and consumer chemical markets. Bob states, “In janitorial and food service where freight is a substantial factor, our organization can cost effectively serve national customers on a regional basis.”

Kevin Shurn, president at Superior Maintenance Co., Elizabethtown , KY, and a long time BSCAI member has been part of The National Service Alliance, LLC (NSA), for over a decade (www.nansa.org).

This alliance, of which BSCAI’s incoming president, Stan Dubin’s organization, Harvard Maintenance, Inc., is a managing partner. NSA is a building service organization committed to servicing national corporations with high-quality, cost-effective facility solutions while maintaining "hands-on" management. Operating since 1996, the NSA was formed by strong quality and service oriented regional service providers aligned for the purpose of providing their services to national corporations through a single source. Today there are approximately 40 building service contracting companies involved, up from just over 20 companies in 2000.

The Art and Science of Alliance Development

The science of alliance development and implementation is the below listed seven steps:

1. Monitor
2. Educate
3. Select Alliance Type and Structure
4. Organize
5. Agreement
6. Implementation
7. Maintenance

In order for you to build alliances that will profit your company, employ the above steps in all alliance development. During these seven steps, various departments and staff should be involved. And, while you will notice below that I suggest an overlap, this overlap of personnel involvement is necessary to assure alliance success.

1-4 is the “Find It” phase (research & acquisition)

3-6 is the “Get It” phase (corporate business development)

4-7 is the “Create Value” phase (alliance management)

The art of alliance development and implementation is the behaviors exhibited by all those involved in the alliance:

1. Bridge building; focus on getting things done as opposed to obsessing on being right.
2. Continually make Relationship Bank Deposits because when things go wrong, and they will, it’s the positive Relationship Bank Deposits that you’ll draw upon for assistance and understanding.
3. Quality communication to overcome challenges. Some of the natural alliance development and implementation road blocks are: Trust, Hidden Agendas, Unrealistic Expectations, Poor Communication, and Culture Clashes.

John Garfinkel suggests, “This alliance will bring customers’ various needs forward; manufacturers and distributors will learn better how to serve.” Ernie Clark summed it up well, “With new days come new challenges; which will hopefully bring new mind sets.”