the Cost of Professional Memberships and Organizations

This is the amount that we pay for our annual membership in our industry's top professional association. This association is for both distributors and suppliers in the industry, and it offers many tiers of membership. We opt for the basic distributor membership, which gives us an industry-specific identification number, exclusive supplier guides, access to regional and national conventions, discounts on catalogs and marketing materials specific to the industry, research capabilities, and website access.

There are several associations in our industry, but we belong to the largest and oldest. It seems that the services of each association are similar, so sometimes it might just come down to cost. And even though, at times, it seems that we could secure the provided services on our own, it is actually a necessity to join the association to be able to conduct business easily in the industry on a national level. And, up to this point, we have been moderately satisfied with what we have gotten from our membership. We would surely be worse off without it.

It can be an expensive investment to join a professional association, especially for small businesses, but it has been critical for us. The best service you can do for yourself when deciding what association to join is research, research, research. If you can get the same benefits from a local or regional association as opposed to a national one, it might be better tailored to your individual business needs. Finding the one that will benefit you the most makes the money you will spend in the long run highly worth it.