Good morning, and welcome to Las Vegas. As the quiet and shy type, I was wondering if it was OK to start having fun yet. Is anything going on in this town? Go figure, me having to give a speech in Las Vegas. I sure hope I can lighten up and enjoy myself while I'm here.
It's a tremendous honor to stand here as the incoming president of DMIA. The association has not only been instrumental in whatever amount of success my distributorship, Advanced Systems & Forms Inc., has had over the years, but it also has helped me form lasting friendships with members all over the world. For this, I'm truly grateful. I'm looking forward to this opportunity to further serve our industry. I hope to carry the torch as well as my predecessors.
To begin, I would like to thank all of you, my fellow members, for allowing me to serve as your president. With your help, we'll do some good things together this year. Peter Colaianni, CAE, DMIA's executive vice president, and his staff, already have been an immense help. I know that staff will continue to make my job a whole lot easier. We're fortunate to have the best staff of any trade organization in the country. It's reassuring to follow a polished, professional speaker like Peter. You'll all be contemplating his words of wisdom and won't even pay attention to my snafus.
It's important that I thank my partner of 23 years, Jim Beebe, and all of our staff at Advanced for picking up the workload while I'm out of the office. Their assistance truly does make my job seem unlike work at all. And thanks very much to Dave Carapellotti--you are the best CSR in the world. Also, some members of the Midwest Distributors Association are here. I would like to thank them for their friendship and knowledge-sharing over the years.
I'm blessed to be surrounded by some of the sharpest minds in the industry--my fellow DMIA Board of Directors. Not only have they become some of my closest friends, they have become my advisors, too. Believe me: Because of the caring of the board, DMIA's future is in great hands.
In saving the best until last, I would like to give a special thanks to my family. My brother Mark and my sister-in-law Rebecca are here this morning. Nepotism is alive and well at our distributorship. Mark has been with Advanced for more than 23 years and is one of our most successful salespeople. Rebecca oversees operations of their 150-acre blueberry farm. I'm also lucky to have all three of my daughters here today--Kendra, Katie and Alisha. I'm extremely proud of all of their accomplishments, and they're great fishing companions. And then there is my wife of more than 30 years, Sue. She's the mother of three beautiful young women, a full-time educator and has put up with me for all of these years. Not an easy task! Some of our friends swear that Sue's most frequently used words are, "Oh, Phil!" I love you guys. Thanks for being there for me.
I guess now is the time I'm to give you my vision and insight. My job now is to make all of you more successful, healthier, happier and better looking. Right! The only one I might come close to achieving is to make you happier. You see, happiness is something I understand. My pappy always said that ignorance is bliss. I'm a very blissful person.
Two years ago, Gail O'Roke, CDC, DMIA's 2002-03 president and CEO of Hayward, Calif.-based distributorship Independent Business Group, and I walked together to the exhibition hall after the incoming presidential speech given by Mark Trumper, CEO of MaverickLabel.Com. Gail and I agreed that Mark's speech was excellent. We knew it would be nearly impossible to come up with a speech to match the caliber of the one he had given. That was when Gail came up with the idea to copy his speech when it was her turn to be up here. Great idea, but how was that going to help me?
Even though some say I've never had an original idea in my life, the answer was easy. If stealing ideas from one person's speech was a good idea, stealing ideas from seven or eight people would be a great idea! So I asked staff to send me copies of previous DMIA presidential speeches. Plagiarism doesn't in itself make me a bad person. So thanks to all of my predecessors for working so hard to come up with great speeches I could steal. So...let's begin with the stealing from past DMIA presidents.
One of the more cerebral people in our industry is John Loftis, president of distributorship Innovative Business Products Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C. He has tremendous insight into the workings and needs of our industry. John also has a way of conveying these thoughts so the thinking-impaired like myself can understand them. After hearing his speech in 1996, I thought it was so good, I bought the audio tape. I played it for all of our staff. John's theme was "Be the Solution." He told us that we needed to understand our customers' business processes if we were to help them. John also told us that we aren't really in the printing business; we're in the business to make our clients' businesses work better. Pretty blasphemous talk for the time, but how true! John told us we no longer should talk about products; we needed to talk about solutions. That is as true, if not more true, today. Thank you, John, for helping me with my speech.
In 1999, W. Charles Calman, president, Northeast of Roanoke, Va.-based distributorship Source4, talked to us about the team concept. He told us that team building, team selling and team consulting quickly would become the norm. The team concept not only works within our own companies, but also with teams of distributors, manufacturers and suppliers. Chuck explained how technology is the great equalizer and how it can help small companies appear larger. Technology also can help larger organizations be perceived as entrepreneurial in both spirit and practice. His concepts are still valid in today's marketplace. Chuck, you've also added to my speech. Thank you.
Change always has been prevalent in our industry. In 1997, Frank Burgess, former president of Reading, Mass.-based distributorship Yankee Systems Inc., talked about the importance of diversification in a changing market. Frank now runs a candy store in Cape Cod--now that is taking diversification a little farther than I'm willing to go! I am willing, however, to thank Frank for his donation to my speech.
Nora Shellhase, president of Source4, really had to address change when she addressed our association on its 50th anniversary in 1995. That's when we changed our name from NBFA to DMIA. It was a controversial decision. I remember Nora wearing this big, beautiful hat as she talked to us. I thought about wearing a similar hat today. Unfortunately, the big ostrich plume and veil just didn't make it for me. But thank you, Nora, for your insight.
The multitude of opportunities and options that change can bring was one topic Roger P. Jefferson, COB of Source4, presented to us in 1998. He also told us that the theory of holding a customer by cutting prices won't keep you in business. He reminded us that we needed to train our salespeople to truly listen to customers. Successful companies do a lot more listening than talking. Roger, I listened to your thoughts and added them to my speech. Your thoughts are appreciated.
"Participate and Prosper" was the theme of Mark Trumper's excellent speech two years ago in Philadelphia. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I would like to get a little evangelical. I want to again stress the importance of your participation. I also want to ask you to help get other fellow members more involved. Most of us leave meetings like this fired up. We tell ourselves we really are going to get more involved. This year, let it be more than lip service that lasts until the first customer crisis pops up. Don't just talk the talk. You need to walk the walk. Thank you, Mark, for the inspiration you added to my speech.
I grew up in a small town in southern Ohio about 20 miles north of the Kentucky border. Most people in our town were first- or second-generation Kentuckians or Tennesseeans. These were people on their way to auto-factory jobs in Detroit when their cars broke down. The founding fathers of my little town were the ones too poor to make it to Detroit! This is why my old nickname was Philbilly--Phil the hillbilly!
A friend of mine in my hometown, a good ol' boy named Verlin Haynes, just loved to fish. Every day, he would catch his limit when no one else was catching anything. One day, the local game warden went fishing with Verlin. He wanted to find out his secret to success. They were in the middle of the lake when Verlin reached into his tackle box. He pulled out a small stick of dynamite, lit it, tossed it into the lake and proceeded to scoop up the stunned fish. The game warden was beside himself. He waved his arms, jumped up and down in the boat and screamed, "What in the world are you doing? You know that's against the law. I'm going to have to arrest you." After the warden's ranting had gone on for several minutes, Verlin reached into his tackle box. He pulled out another stick of dynamite. He lit it, handed it to the warden and calmly asked, "Are you going to talk, or are you going to fish?"
I need to ask you the same question: Are you going to talk about getting more involved in DMIA, or are you going to do something about it?
Remember the speech from Daniel Siadak, CDC, COO of Source4? The opening line was, "Hi, my name is Dan, and I'm a formaholic." He told us about his love affair with a 12-part unit set that included numerous part-to-part changes (face and back), stripe, pattern and intense carbons, block-outs, special papers and a creative use of perforations that allowed for a patient wristband to be extracted. All of this and mod 10 consecutive numbers. Wow! Well, I'm not above paraphrasing Dan: Hi, my name is Phil, and I'm a funaholic!
Dan challenged us to continually reinvent ourselves to meet customer needs and to deliver value. We need to show our customers the best way to organize and use information. Information, Dan told us, is one of our economy's most important resources. Dan, you are a good man. Thanks for your input to my speech.
Last year, Gail O'Roke told us she was going to duplicate Mark's speech but just insert her name instead of Mark's. In reality, she told us how she went from being a part-time data entry clerk to CEO of her company. She told us the importance of cooperative alliances with other members of our industry and how alliances can result in increased profits for the entire supply chain. Gail then explained how DMIA's Special Interest Groups (SIGs) encourage cooperation among all members of the chain. SIGs allow members with similar interests and expertise to receive the benefits of traditional networking and education through targeted programs, seminars, surveys and communication tools. Like Gail, I would like to encourage all of you to get involved in as many SIGs as you can. Your knowledge gained will easily be worth your time and effort. Thanks, Gail, for what you've added to my speech.
In looking back at the vision past DMIA presidents have shared with us, I would again like to thank all of them for verbalizing their ideas and concepts. I want to thank them for reducing my potential for writer's cramp by allowing me to steal their thoughts. Their thoughts are as true today as they were when they were first spoken.
For the upcoming year, I have chosen "Learn to Enjoy Change" as DMIA's theme. For any of my fellow learning-impaired members, I'm going to break this down a little.
Learn. One of our association's strengths has always been its ability to educate the membership. Sales schools, CSR schools, Print University, DMIA's broadcast email system and the new SIGs are just a few ways DMIA is helping us be more successful. And DMIA will continue to add to and improve their numerous learning programs.
Change. Everyone agrees that our industry has undergone dramatic changes and will continue to do so. With DMIA's assistance and by networking with fellow members, we'll be able to recognize these changes and take advantage of them to help all in our supply chain.
Enjoy. It has been my long held motto that we need to enjoy life, and that this isn't a dress rehearsal. Remember: It takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown.
There's an enormous number of opportunities available to all of us in the next few days. Booth sales are close to 400, and more than 55 are first-time exhibitors. That's fantastic! We also have hundreds of our peers with whom to network and exchange ideas. To repeat an oft-used expression, if you can't get enough ideas to justify this trip, you aren't trying hard enough!
Here's a task that won't take a lot of trying: Turn to your left. Turn to your right. At every table in this room, DMIA members have ideas and experiences that can help your company grow. They've solved challenges similar to the challenges you're currently facing. They have triumphed in areas you want to triumph in. My suggestion is this: Steal from them as much as you can, and encourage them to steal from you. Some might call it stealing. It's really idea-sharing. Just as I've used the great advice of past DMIA presidents, we can all use insight from each other. After all, that's why we're all here.
When you get back to your homes, please think of the vision of the past presidents of DMIA. Also, think of my friend Verlin Haynes. Continue to stay active and participate in DMIA events. Don't just talk about it...do it! Everyone will benefit.
Thank for allowing me to be your president this year. I'm looking forward to it. I know it's going to be a lot of fun.
Phil Schmidt is president of distributorship Advanced Systems & Forms Inc., Livonia, Mich., and president of DMIA.
