IMCO 2022 Annual Conference and Trade Show
Courtesy of IMCO
IMCO recently hosted it 2022 Annual Conference and Trade Show in Orlando, Florida. “Excellence Through Partnership” was the show theme, which demonstrates the culture and beliefs we all have about how we work together. Our members and vendors achieve excellence in the level of service they provide their customers each and every day.
Our 2022 Conference was filled with numerous opportunities for members and vendors to connect to achieve success and strengthen their partnerships. Bill McLaughlin, IMCO president and CEO, explained what the theme meant to him: “Partnering with someone is a beginning, striving for excellence with those partners comes with effort and collaboration not everyone is willing to achieve.”
Vendor participation for our trade show was filled to capacity. IMCO had an increase of over 30% of members in attendance from last year’s conference. We partnered with 7 new members and 9 new vendors in 2022, and almost all were in attendance at this year’s conference.
Highlights
On Sunday, we offered “ The Sales Playbook” featuring our Sales Emphasis Line (SEL) Vendors, the first of its kind. This session allowed attendees to learn how to successfully create a road map for selling more products and understanding the value proposition each Vendor partner brings from a clinical efficacy and profitability standpoint. IMCO has worked hard to enhance the value of the SEL Program, and this session demonstrated our commitment to the program and vendors. The Sales Playbook program will definitely be a part of the meeting going forward!
IMCO has continued to enhance its E-Commerce Data offering and it now contains products from 130 manufacturers, 75,000+ products, 65,000+ with one or more images, and 60,000+ hand cleaned with improved descriptions and descriptors.
With the addition of Vendor Vaults on our new and always-improving AccessIMCO, IMCO is seeing an astounding increase in site hits for both members and vendors. Through a Vendor’s Vault, a member can quickly search for products and pricing, and access product information, promotions, literature, and training videos. They can also view contract terms and connect directly with field sales representatives. Vendors have full access to their vault analytics and the ability to modify and add collateral to support and promote their product line.
We currently have 45 key vendors participating in our Member Incentive Program (MIP). Roughly 90% of members earned dollars on this program last year. We are excited to see future growth with member participation and sales in 2022.
IMCO is expanding its support for distributors with their digital marketing. We understand our industry and a distributor’s vital role within it. With an effective digital marketing strategy, they will get noticed, stay top-of-mind with current and future customers, grow sales, and stay competitive.
Sunday evening, we had a great welcome reception to kick off our 2022 Conference where Members and Vendors were able to reconnect with old friends and make new ones.
Monday evening, we enjoyed each other’s company out on the hotel’s lawn with great food, drinks, and games. CEO Bill McLaughlin and our new Director of Primary Care Adam Deets took on challengers for cornhole after dinner at our “Wine Down with IMCO” event.
Tuesday evening, we celebrated the end of our 2022 Conference with Casino Royale where we encouraged everyone to dress in their favorite past or present dynamic duo or stellar squad from pop culture, movies, sports, business, politics, music or television. While we always see a good amount of participation from attendees, this year, people went all out with their group and duo costumes. The Powerpuff girls, Bob Ross and his painting, Wayne and Garth of Wayne’s World, Thing 1 and Thing 2, the Talladega Nights crew, and more celebrated another noteworthy convention with us.
Speakers and sessions
Keynote speaker Connie Podesta educated our IMCO audience with how to “Stand Out from the Crowd.” Her session was equally as entertaining as it was informative and gave members and vendors new insights in which to lead and grow their brand in the coming year.
After Bill’s opening address, we had our highly acclaimed TED-styled presentation Industry Insights, including:
- Dirk Beveridge, Founder of UnleashWD – A Time to Lead with Purpose and Humanity
- IMCO’s Jay Butler – Optimize your IMCO Partnership,
- Scott Stiver, Carew International – Perception as It Relates to Leadership and Selling,
- Scott Adams, Share Moving Media – Social Marketing: Content Delivered Through Omni Channel Market.
Other sessions included:
- Defining Your Business Ambition | Owner/Manager Roundtable – Facilitated by Dirk Beveridge, Founder of UnleashWD
- Dirk Beveridge’s “Innovate! How to Create Relevancy in the Age of Disruption”
- A “Social Marketing Strategies – A Member’s Perspective” Panel facilitated by Scott Adams, Share Moving Media with Carla Rodych – Canada Medical, Chris Walsh – Zoetek Medical Sales and Services, Colton Mason – Supreme Medical Fulfillment Systems, and Sanjay Shah – AMSCO Medical.
- “The Lowdown on GPOs” with IMCO’s Bob McCart and Kimberly Shamblin followed by “Advancing Distribution with Healthcare and Government Leaders: Highlights From HIDA” with Elizabeth Hilla of HIDA.
- Scott Stiver’s “Master the Art of Listening – Maximizing your Distribution Opportunities”
- Scott Stiver’s “Invest in the Relationship”
- The Collaboration Connection | Member Roundtable Discussions with discussions such as Supply Chain Disruption, Team Building: HR in a Post-Pandemic World, Equipment Sales, Handling Extended Care Challenges, Connecting with Customers through Marketing and E-Commerce, and the popular IDEA Workshop.
Award winners
IMCO had its first tie for Vendor of the Year in 2021. Recipients were Clarity Diagnostics and GOJO Industries.
The 2022 Scholarship Winners were Bert Pineres of American Medical Supplies & Equipment, Gerald Martin of Grove Medical, and Jeff Rainforth of JML Medical.
IMCO’s Equipment Performance Incentive Contest (EPIC) is a year-long equipment contest in which Members sales reps sell 10 key Vendor lines of products and earn points based on sales orders and Vendor interactions throughout the year. We handed out over $20,000 in prizes to all our ‘21 winners.
2021 EPIC Winners
- 10th Bert Pineres – American Medical Supplies & Equipment
- 9th Kristina Pacheco – Canada Medical Ltd.
- 8th Gerry Volponi – Canada Medical Ltd.
- 7th Christopher Tuzzeo – Bell Medical Services, Inc.
- 6th Gerald Martin – Grove Medical Inc.
- 5th Tyler Reichenbach – Medical Resources
- 4th Brian Hodgson – Omni Medical Supply
- 3rd David Ellis – Atlantic Medical Solutions
- 2nd Victor Amat – American Medical Supplies & Equipment
- 1st Angi Muse – Booth Medical
For the second year in a row, the Best Booth Award at the trade show went to Sempermed, as they created
an engaging Gilligan’s Island themed booth coined “Glove-igan’s Island” with the entire cast in attendance.
We can’t wait to see what our Vendors come up with next year. Save the date, May 7-10, 2023 at the Hilton Orlando.