The Regret of Missed Opportunity

By: Leslie G. Sarasin, President and CEO, Food Marketing Institute 

Is there anything worse than a missed opportunity?  Very few things leave a more bitter taste in my mouth than that regretful thought that if I only knew then what I know now, I’d have done things differently. 

To help you avoid the regret of missed opportunity, I want to ensure you are aware of a new feature offered at FMI Connect 2015 that many food retailers plan to take advantage of, and I do this with hope that hearing what your industry colleagues – and competitors - are planning might spark you to also seize this opportunity and later save yourself the from the agony of regret.  At FMI Connect in Chicago next month, FMI will launch FMI Connect Business Exchange (CBX), designed to provide a systemized approach to maximize meeting time among food retailers and their supply chain partners – what some have tagged "speed dating for food retailers."

CBX will create the forum to allow you and your teams to conduct more meetings over the span of three days than they could manage in a single quarter through traditional meeting avenues.  CBX minimizes the costs associated with time and travel, and the CBX scheduler tool removes the frustrating, energy expending efforts associated with arranging a meeting to hear about a new product or an improved piece of equipment. Clearly, the more team members who participate in CBX, the more a company can amplify CBX's effectiveness.  Already, one food retailer has registered 145 of its team members to participate; six others have registered 50 or more associates; and another five are bringing 20-plus.  One international company sees such value in this endeavor that it will bring 18 food retail team members all the way from New Zealand to take advantage of this opportunity.

An environment for one-to-one meetings is not unique to FMI Connect and of course, other FMI events make great use of this type of program.  What makes CBX special is the global aspect the FMI Connect environment brings to it, plus the focus FMI has in addressing retailers' hunger to connect with the plethora of smaller specialty providers.  CBX will enable your team to connect with these emerging suppliers who offer distinctive new products that will bring additional spice your shelves, diversify your offerings and delight your customers.

In a business so dependent on solid working relationships, CBX allows your company to make and nurture new connections – the kind of trading partner connections that make a difference in your operations.

I invite you to ensure you have the teams in place to accompany you to Chicago to take maximum advantage of this FMI Connect opportunity.  Regret is not a pro-active or productive feeling, but it can easily be avoided by taking productive action now.  See you in Chicago!