What’s Your IAMC Elevator Speech?
Kevin Dollhopf
IAMC Chair
IAMC Chair
Within one minute (a typical elevator ride), we need to be able to say who we are, what we do and how we can be a resource to the listener before the attention span is broken.
We spoke last time about the powerful core principles of IAMC. But what are they, and how quickly can they be communicated and understood?
1) IAMC is Industrial: Executives from industrial companies think differently than those from other companies; it’s a unifying theme for IAMC.
2) IAMC is balanced: Actives, Service Providers, Economic Developers — we fight hard to balance membership and attendance at events, and this balance creates value.
3) IAMC is a “no sales” environment: Relationships and connections come first, salesmanship some other time. Just relax.
I work in the consumer packaged goods industry, where the value of a brand is everything, and a brand communicates value. My employer Hanes is known around the world as a leading marketer of everyday basic apparel under strong brands — these brands mean value and create significant customer loyalty.
By the same token, when anyone in the corporate real estate business hears “IAMC,” they should immediately know the value proposition and why they need to belong and stay. We want them to think these principles: industrial, balance and no sales. That’s the IAMC brand.
This is the messaging we’re taking to the IAMC Local and International meetings as we reach out and connect with more and more industry executives. Whether you’re at a Local event in Philadelphia or an IAMC International meeting in Singapore, the brand and value proposition are the same: industrial, balance and no sales.
Just a few weeks ago, we completed yet another successful pair of IAMC events, the first a Local meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, in the US, and the second an International program in Birmingham, UK.
January is an exciting time for IAMC — the board of directors and committee co-chairs will meet to begin development of the IAMC education strategic plan. This will help coordinate all events, including Professional Forum, Local and International programming, other educational efforts, and content for periodical publications and white papers.
We will also launch our new Council organization, which will streamline the work of committees by grouping those with similar functions within five strategic Councils: Education & Research, Events, Leadership, Membership and Operations. The purpose is to simplify IAMC’s governance for more effective and efficient leadership and communication.
The Palm Desert Professional Forum will be fantastic! Please help IAMC deliver a registration of 100-plus corporate real estate executives for the first time ever. That’s one of our main goals for the Professional Forums in 2015. Remember, balance is one of our powerful principles that creates the IAMC brand — so let’s make the brand sizzle.
Kevin DollhopfIAMC Chair
Attention Active Members: Make Plans Now To Attend the Palm Desert Research Roundtable
Sharon Krohn
As an Active member, when the company hires a new CEO, COO or CFO, how should you (or your boss) brief him to ensure he knows your department’s full capabilities and value?
If you’re not sure, plan to attend the Palm Desert Research Roundtable, which will share best practices for accomplishing this.
Research Roundtables are special IAMC programs exclusively for Active (end-user) members offered at each Professional Forum.
The Research Roundtable at the upcoming Palm Desert Forum is scheduled for Sunday, April 26, 2015, from 8:00 a.m., when breakfast is served, to 10:30 a.m. A noon lunch is also provided. Note: You’ll need to arrive Saturday to participate because of the breakfast start time the next morning.
The topic for Palm Desert is “How to explain the value of corporate real estate expertise to new corporate leadership.” This was proposed, among other topics, at the Sept. 2014 Québec City Forum. We sent the entire proposed-topics list to all Active members and asked them to rate the value to them of each. The Palm Desert topic emerged as the top-rated.
Executive Coach Sharon Krohn has been confirmed as a presenter. She works with executives across the management spectrum, and helps her clients draw from their own experience, empowering them to achieve their potential.
The Research Roundtable programming team is led by Denis DeCamp, Akzo Nobel; Bob Franksen, USG Corp.; and Greg Saylor, Kimberly-Clark.
Associate Members Key To Active Members’ Success
While IAMC focuses its programs on the Actives’ needs, their work is accomplished in significant part by the Associates, three-fifths of whom are economic developers and two-fifths of whom are service providers. Associate membership belongs to the company or organization, whereas Active membership belongs to the individual.
There are unique and vital roles Associate members play in IAMC. The quality, service scope and geographic coverage of the Associate members represent important reasons Active members join and stick with IAMC. Through dues, Professional Forum attendance fees and sponsorships, the Associate membership provides a significant majority of IAMC’s revenues. And because they place a very high value on professional networking to market their services, Associate representatives make for enthusiastic committee members.
IAMC’s 230 Economic Developer (ED) members run the gamut of jurisdiction sizes from local town and county units, to multi-county and MSA-coverage organizations, to full states and provinces, to national-scope organizations. ED members work in 44 of the 50 US states, and 37 state-level EDs belong to IAMC. This is important because Active members tell us they often begin site searches at the state ED level.
Don’t mess with Texas! With 52 Economic Developer members, Texas surpasses by a factor of four the next ranking state. Eight of the United States’ 10 largest states are represented in the top-10 states ranked by number of IAMC Economic Developer members.
Turning to the 170 Associate-member Service Providers (SPs), we see something of a surprise in that the most common service category is delivering electric power. That’s important, but most would likely guess the top category would be real estate brokerage, which comes in a close second. They are followed by site selection consulting, real estate development and construction services.
While the Service Provider companies tend to have a national or global service scope, the states of Illinois, Texas and Georgia are home to over a quarter of SP-designated representatives. This is IAMC lexicon for the lead person for each Service Provider.
IAMC’s roughly 400 Associate members represent a competitive advantage for the organization. Their geographic coverage extends over the entire US, and for the large Service Providers is global. The Active members can find virtually any service they might need within the Associate membership.
— Joel Parker
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