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January 2019
Association Updates
CEO's Corner
Great News for our Community; As of January 3rd, we have more individual VAR companies and more individual Vendor companies registered NOW for our upcoming Inspire event than our final Grand Totals last year.

This is great for our sponsors and our attendees. The "Community IQ" will be in high gear as we refine together. We continue to add to our numbers each day. See you in Sanibel! We have a rare event taking shape. Thank you for your support!

-John Kirk, RSPA President and CEO
RSPA Scholarship Program
The scholarship applications are coming soon! Employees of all eligible reseller members (and their families) are encouraged to apply for this scholarship to help ease the costs associated with higher education. The RSPA Scholarship Program has awarded more than $2 million to families of RSPA reseller member companies and that tradition continues in 2019.

Be on the lookout for an email with more instructions on how to apply! In the meantime, hear from past recipients how the scholarship has aided them in pursuing higher education.
RSPA Academy Book Club *New in 2019*
"You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read." - Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

The RSPA Academy will be launching a book club beginning this month so why not join us? RSPA members will meet every other week to discuss the selected book. For the leadership book club, we will be reading "Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek. For the sales book club, we will be reading "The Challenger Sale" by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson.

To join the leadership book club discussion group: To join the sales book club discussion group:
After the initial discussions, readings for the next meeting will be assigned and time and date for the discussion will be determined. Start the new year off right, pick up a good book and learn something new.  
Inspire 2019 Mobile App
Everything you'll need to know about Inspire 2019 will be in the palm of your hand! The mobile app will give you access to:
  • Daily events calendar
  • Social wall - what's happening? Who is where? And where is the fun?
  • Education session content and audience participation through the mobile app
  • Event venue maps
  • All conference updates
  • Conference survey
The Inspire 2019 app will be available in the App and Google Play Stores.
RSPA Academy Upcoming Education Opportunities


January 16, 2019
Leadership Book Club Kick-off
Kathy Meader, VP of Education Services, RSPA


January 17, 2019
Sales Book Club Kick-off
Kathy Meader, VP of Education Services, RSPA

 
 


January 24, 2019
A Fresh Look at MasterCard's Terminal Servicer Program
Richard Audet, VP Franchise Management, MasterCard
Nathan Sweaney, Security Advisor, RSPA


February 3, 2019
Inspire 2019 - LIVE EVENT
Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort and Spa
Ft. Myers, FL



 
 
For webinar details, visit www.GoRSPA.org/Education
Communities Corner

The Canadian Community is back in action for another year and will be hosting 3 in-country events for 2019! To kick things off, we will be at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on February 26, 2019. To add to this impressive venue, the community is excited to welcome back Michel Leblanc from the retail council of Canada as our guest speaker.

The second in-country event will be held in conjunction with the Vancouver Grocery West Showcase and, in Toronto, with the Grocery Innovation Canada for the third event. More dates and details to follow on these events, stay tuned!

2019 NextGEN RSPA Inspire Grant Winner Highlight
Justin Wells is the Sales Manager at DCRS Solutions. He spends most of his days closing multi-store deals while roaming the halls of DCRS, singing Motown tunes and occasionally cracking jokes at others expense. Justin started in Account Management at DCRS and quickly worked his way up to Sales Manager. Read More...

The W2W Community is focused on developing educational and networking opportunities around the topics and trends that matter most to the community. To identify those topics, in December we surveyed the community and those results uncovered a couple of topics that were deemed to be very important to our group: salary issues (i.e. gaps and negotiations) and identifying leadership qualities. Additionally, we'll continue to look to industry publications for other topics with strong interest from the W2W community. This information, along with input from you, will help steer our brainstorming to provide you with those exceptional opportunities. Also, remember that each new year brings new ideas, it's not too late to complete the W2W Survey on what matters to you, click here to provide your input.

Make it your 2019 resolution to keep up to date with these and other hot topics by reading articles in industry publications and taking advantage of the RSPA's many educational offerings.
Inside RSPA

Security Tip
Antivirus is like a seat belt. It won't stop every attack, just like your seat belt won't protect you from every car accident. But it definitely limits the damage from lower-risk attacks. One of the most important features of a strong antivirus system is centralized management. You need to have a central console that allows you to monitor when your clients have gotten virus alerts or the antivirus has been uninstalled or disabled.

Selling Your Business
In some instances individuals have sold their business, enjoyed life during their non-compete term only to go back into business and sell it again. The relationships dealers establish with their customers are long lasting. End users become accustomed to a level of service that if not maintained following a sale is welcomed back when offered. The structure of a sale is always critical. It is not the purchase price, but the net dollars after taxes that count. Read more...

RSPA Membership Benefits Tip
RSPA and UPS took the guesswork out, and put the easy in. Members now have access to new and improved flat rate pricing with savings of:
  • 45% on Domestic Next Day/Deferred
  • 25% on Ground Commercial / Residential
  • 50% on additional services.
In addition, members can take advantage of UPS Smart Pickup® service for free.

Open a new account, or if you are already taking advantage of our UPS savings program, re-enroll and apply the new discounts to your existing account by visiting: www.savewithups.com/rspa or call 1-800-MEMBERS (1-800-636-2377).
RSPA Community IQ

What We've Learned After a Decade of Social Media 
The growth of social media has been among the biggest changes in both business and society generally over the past decade. Ten years ago, Twitter was still getting off the ground, and Facebook hadn't fully grown to be the all-encompassing platform it is today. These were not yet tools that businesses dedicated much time to. Read More...

Why the Expense of a PSA Tool is Worth It 
To maximize profits, you need to control expenses. For some value-added services (VARs) or managed services providers (MSPs) that basic rule of business has become an argument against using professional services automation (PSA). After all, the cost to use a PSA tool can average between $50 and $100 per user per month with additional costs upfront for implementation. For a 10-man shop, that's thousands of dollars per year that you aren't spending now, right? Read More...
News and Events


Calendar of Events

Jan. 13 - 15
NRF 2019: Retail's Big Show
New York, NY

Jan. 16 - 17
NEAA 2019
Newark, NJ

Jan. 23 - 26
Restaurant Manager Resellers Conference
Nassau, Bahamas


Feb. 3 - 6
Inspire 2019
Ft. Myers, FL