Click here to see a copy of a communication from VANA Board candidate Trevor Mason to Victorian newsagents yesterday.
I am left wondering if Trevor wants $100,000 of VANA’s finds for his project or the four or five times that amount which I understand he originally sought from VANA.
If Trevor wants to engage in the commercial structure and operation of newsagents he ought to do that through the commercial structure he has established already. If the riches which he says he can unlock for newsagents are so real then the numbers will stack up and newsagents will support him, commercially.
To try and support this business venture VANA, as appears may be the agenda with this election, would be an abuse of the resources VANA and its members have built up over many years.
I am all for change in the newsagency channel and in newsagencies themselves and write about it here often. However, that change must be driven and controlled by the shareholders and not an industry association which is a servant of its members.
I see data from many newsagencies. There are some excellent success stories out there of people reinventing their newsagencies, building customer traffic and profitability. Unfortunately, too many newsagents will realise too late that they should have been doing this. This is their problem and not the problem of the associations.
Well said Mark.,
Succint and to the point.
You are right, there are many success stories out there, and newsagents are embracing change and making healthy profit.
Seems like Mark Fletceher is still trying to drum up business for himeself. Having listened to some of his presentations at workshops etc in recent months i wonder if he really understands IT let alone retail.
As having watched so many industry associations in the past five years fall by the wayside of relying upon basis of a yearly subscription to fund their activities I wonder how much kmnowledge Mark has of industry associations. Most now are reverting to fee for service and those that are relying upon small trailing commissions form some service providors find themselves dipping into reserves just to survive. Look at the ARA as one example.
Any good industry association providing professional services to members and being an effective lobbyist have additional income streams to avoid the burden of having a fee structure that is unaffordable to the basic member.
William,
There are plenty of associations which are financially viable and operationally successful without needing to go into business to compete with well established suppliers in their channel.
I am not looking to drum up business for myself at all. Don’t need to.
You said you have been at some of my presentations, which ones, I am curious as your name does not ring a bell.
William Robson,
You make some interesting points I am not going to get into the motivations of Mark Fletcher, that is for individuals to decide, for there is good and bad to be viewed depending on where you are sitting.
Associations are something I know a little about and today yes, you can have Associations serve their members very well on a large subscription fee without any commercial activity.
The newsagency channel has been one that is loathe to pay for these services on a subscription base for they were inherently protected and didn’t need business nous to survive.
Different ball park today.
Yes, they can survive with a not for profit association being truly representive to all members without “commercial” activity providing they work in with commercial objectives.
They can provide essentials common to all-structures that than unify procedures in a business sense, representative values to commercial authorities and more than could be boring here.
I believe that if an association is soley reliant on income from commercial ventures it is doomed for failure.
I t should be the watchdog, the epithamy of good practice and the presentation of an industry that is of the times.
I equaly believe it is not for others to assume that role.
As for Mark drumming up business at his presentations -well isn’t that what business presentations are for?
My concern would be if the presentations were accurate or truly representative of the industry to an otherwise sheltered audience
Graeme, as any of the 400+ newsagents who attended me recent Newsagency of the Future presentations saw, I was not drumming up business at all. There were no ads, no handouts and no sales people present.
The presentations presented accurate information about print media trends, retail trends, current newsagency sales benchmark numbers and an outline of how newsagents could work on their own future.
There was no cost to attend. I funded the funcion rooms, refreshments and even parking in some venues.
It is very easy for ignorant people to sit on the sidelines and criticise. Through this workshop series and others I have done I sought to put something back into the channel.
This blog post is not about me. It is about the most important election Victorian newsagents have faced in twenty years.
Mark,
You are starting to show that you have a problem.
I did not, deliberately, I might add judge you, and then I answered what William’s post is about without reference to you.
I then defended your right to promote your goods when you want to.
I made no reference to what you believe is your industry “duty” to inform newsagents of a better life “according to Mark” this is your interpretation, please re-read post.
I hope unhealthy paronoira is nottiong getting in the way of healthy debate, which by the way is with William.
Graeme, you are playing your usual game. You didn’t need to “defend” my right as it didn’t happen. I don’t see helping newsagents as a “duty” I do it because I want to. The workshop did not present a “life according to Mark” as you call it. It outlined how newsagents could find their own future without any connection to me.
As I said, this blog post is not about me, it is about the most important election Victorian newsagents have faced in twenty years.
Now get back on track please.
Maybe Trevor Mason could publish his success stories with newsagents. He has been doing this for three years so there must surely be some newsagent success stories. Any? I have seen one newsagent I heard he is working with and it is a shocker.
Mark,
As usual you do not answer the the meat of the argument and you take any remark as offensive..Sad
This is not about you, and definitely not about me.
Graeme please tell me what the meat of the argument is, that which you say I have not answered?
Graeme, William,
I went to Mark’s Newsagency of the Future workshop in Sydney. It was my first ‘Mark Fletcher’ workshop. I was impressed with Mark’s knowledge, his committment, his openness and generosity. He certainly didn;t try and sell anything, far from it.
I take dispute with some comments he publishes here about magazines but I cannot fault the work he is doing to help newsagents create a brighter future for themselves.
I was one of close to 100 at the Sydney workshop and I would think that most there felt like me. Certainly a couple of other publisher types did who were there.
i was at the cairns one and he tried selling everything …..no just joking come on it is friday arvo and i am still waiting to find out about the meat .
By the way at the Cairns meeting in any form did i take it that Mark was selling anything . They are a good idea and i hope there is more in the future
Publisher,
At no time did I say Mark does seel his wares at these workshops. I merely stated if he did it is understandable. I defended Mark’s right to if he wanted to. Boy, there seems to be a soft shell here.
I think it is simple for VANA members. Do they want to be part of a tribe or part of an association? COMMERCIAL SUICIDE or CIABLE ONGOING LONG LASTING ASSOCIATION. The choice is very simple.
I was a Director of VANA and resigned due to what I believe was the incompenant structure and dictatorship at Board level.I worked hard to develop initiatives without success. I have now resigned as a member of VANA due to “outside involvements” of the Board and a direction that lacks true open governance.
Thanks for joining this conversation David. Victorian newsagents have to make an important decision by the end of this week. This election is important for the future direction of VANA.
I am a South Aust newsagent who has had a lot of experience with associations and the like and the powerplays and egos get in the way of people like Mark Fletcher who is, in my opinion, the right person to lead us into national unity (at VANA level if necessary).
I would like to see Mark as chairman of VANA and we, as newsagents, would quickly see an overhaul of our biggest issues – oversupply and terms of trade.
Victorian newsagents could take this opportunity to ask Mark back to the Vana table and try to get our industry moving in one direction again instead of each state only working for their own benefit. I can see Vana being the national entity (THE ANF DOESN’T DESERVE ANY MORE CHANCES) why wouldn’t it work.
Victoria controls the AFL so why not control the ANF under the banner of VANA for those parochial people out there who think they need their own state association.
IT WOULD WORK
IT COULD WORK
WHY NOT TRY
WHOOPS! FORGOT TO ASK MARK WHETHER OR NOT HE WOULD TAKE ON
SUCH A TASK.
VANA………… needs new Newsagent blood ( not outside self desired views of men who know nothing about our Industry) and we need direction from Board members who have passion and desire to work for the Industry and not waving their wand and saying do this my way.
Seriously how many years have we seen this exact same scenario evolving ? Year in year out… for decades and we still cannot get it right.