INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM

TO: DAWN SWEENEY

FROM: ALEX KESSLER
SUBJECT: NRA MEMBERSHIP BUSINESS PRACTICES PROPOSAL
DATE: 10/14/2014
CC: MARVIN IRBY, MARY PAT HEFTMAN, SHERMAN BROWN, PHIL KAFARAKIS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
For 95 years, the National Restaurant Association has been dedicated to serving
business owners in the hospitality industry by representing their interests in
government, delivering market research, and offering a variety of methods for
connecting with vendors, customers, and business peers. As an industry leader, the
NRA Education Foundation provides career training and scholarships to students
and certification programs for restaurant employees through our respective
ProStart and ServSafe programs. By partnering with various state restaurant
associations (SRAs) to generate membership in the NRA, providing the leading
marketplace for those in the hospitality industry to meet and share ideas and
business (the annual National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel
Show), and selling our various products, the NRA was able to generate $36,926,872
in revenue to be shared with our members, who represent over 60% of the industry.
Membership with the association means a host of benefits are readily available for
member companiesfrom economic forecasts to personalized assistance from
veteran leaders to develop successful business strategies. Unfortunately, many
members of the NRA dont know the full breadth of the advantages afforded to them,
as the internal alignment of the association has created departmental silos
prohibiting cross-communication. NRA membership segments--corporate, dual, and
allied--are divided among the Convention, Sales, and Education Foundation
departments devoid of any inter-department dialogue or training for staff so as to
make employees aware of business goals.
This creates a problem on number of fronts: members are not receiving the best
possible customer service as their inquiries are bounced among the sales,
marketing, and education departments; employees are not knowledgeable enough
to assist in the generation of new members (an effort that should be made by all
employees when speaking with customers); and existing members begin to question
whether membership is worth the annual cost, which could begin to see
membership numbers decline. With revenue hovering just below $2,000,000
annually and initiatives to increase this number already being discussed, losing
members could pose significant problems in the future as the Association begins to
discuss the 2014-2019 strategic plan.

INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM

The first step to correcting these issues is internally. Problems are solved when a
healthy dialogue is established. I propose an Association-wide adoption of the
Salesforce Chatter engineessential in-house social media platformto begin to
correct some of the issues with communication between departments. The benefits
will be two-fold: not only will it broaden employee knowledge of the Association,
increasing our ability to serve our customers; it will begin to familiarize employees
with Salesforce. Salesforce is powerful tool for an Association like ours, providing us
with an intuitive user interface to track analytics, current and prospective
customers, and streamline our sales and marketing initiatives. I believe using
Association membership, as the foundation for this process will increase employee
adoption of the best business practices regarding Salesforce.
As the economy continues to trend upwards and the hospitality industry recovers
after the recent recession, the National Restaurant Association is in a prime position
to increase membership and brand awareness.

Works Cited
Leading Americas Restaurant Industry: 2009-2013 Strategic Plan September
2008, National Restaurant Association.
2014 NRA Dashboard October 2013, National Restaurant Association.