Membership-An Overview and Invitation

Just what is a good business investment in today's business environment?

It's tough to know today: turbulent markets, increased competition, distribution channels in flux, price pressures—where do you focus resources for best impact? What are pathways to the right decisions? How do you know how to best navigate the business environment now and in the future?

A few things are clear: it's a time to be the best you can be. To have access to the best tools and know-how. To invest in those activities with real leverage for you and your firm—that have the potential to make your business decisions better, more on target, more effective...

In these times, membership in the ISBM will be valuable for you and your firm in many ways.

Fast answers—right when you need them:
Leading-Edge B-to-B Thinking. Made Practical. Just in Time.

Call us with a question or problem. Chances are we'll have on-the-spot insights which can help. We can connect with marketing professionals from a broad spectrum of firms, as well as THE leading practical academic researchers spanning business marketing practice. You and your firm will be part of the largest network of business-to-business marketing professionals, educators, and researchers of its kind in the world.

You and your team gain practical insights, benchmarking cases, tools, tips, and tricks from our eight ISBM consortia . These communities of practice "drill down" into today's challenges and tomorrow's trends to enable more effective and profitable business marketing:

• Business Marketing Web Consortium
• Business Marketing Educators Consortium
• Business Branding Consortium
• New Product Development Consortium
• Business Market Research Consortium
• Business Segmentation Consortium
• Key Account Management Consortium
• Distribution Consortium

Members have told us that insights from ISBM consortia—by themselves—have resulted in remarkable business and profit improvements!

You and your firm will connect with up-to-the-minute perspective and leading-edge thinking on important issues facing business marketers at our two Members Meetings each year.

• The ISBM Annual Meeting, in State College, Pennsylvania on August 22-23, 2007 was titled: "B-to-B Marketing: Organization, Process, Leadership--Keys to Profitable Growth in Business Markets."
  
• The 2007 Annual ISBM/CBIM Joint Members Conference in Tampa, Florida, on February 22-23, 2007 was titled: "B-to-B Marketing: Beyond Best Practice>>to Next Practice."
  
• The ISBM Annual Meeting, in State College, Pennsylvania on August 22-23, 2006 was titled: "Driving Profitable Growth: B-to-B."
• The Annual ISBM/CBIM Joint Members Conference, held in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 7-8, 2006 was on the topic of "Understanding Customer Needs and Managing the Customer Experience: End-to-End, B-to-B."
• Special Value: All of our meetings are "Key Point Summarized" on our Web site, so you can retrieve what you need, when you need it.

ISBM members connect with thought leaders and seminal, real-world cases. Build knowledge and relationships for a personal and professional competitive edge—and more profitable business marketing practice.

ISBM publications, working series papers, and our Web site provide members fast access to leading-edge thinking in business marketing.

Gain New Knowledge/Tools/Techniques from ISBM Seminars in Business Marketing:

• Value and Pricing Strategy
• SmartPricing in Business Markets
• Competitor Analysis and Intelligence
• Pathways to Profitable Innovation Strategy
• Innovation Strategy
• Portfolio Management for New Products
• Harvesting Customer Value (Segmentation Marketing)
• Rethinking Distribution Channels
• Managing Brand Equity in Business Markets
• Developing Next Generation Integrated Marketing Communications
• Creating and Managing Successful Strategic Alliances
• Planning Profitable B-to-B eBusiness Strategy
• Effective Marketing Across Countries, Customs, Cultures, and Currencies
• Power Tools for Marketing Managers: Marketing Engineering
• Building Effective B-to-B Marketing Plans
• Marketing Strategy for Growth in Business-to-Business Markets
• Return on Marketing Investment

ISBM seminars are taught by the best—from all over the world. Each instructor brings real-world experience in a firm, as well as leading-edge thinking to each course. (One ISBM member could point to a $30M profit impact from our Value and Pricing Strategy course alone!)

New: The ISBM B-to-B Sales Series

An all-new roster of courses for the B-to-B selling team, including:

• Selling Skills in Customer-Driven B-to-B Markets
• Business Markets Sales Management
• Value-Based Selling in Competitive Markets
• Selling With and Through Manufacturers' Representatives
• Selling With and Through Distributors
• Phone Sales in Business Markets
• High-Level Strategic Selling
• Key Account and Customer Relationship Management

We offer complete curricula through spot courses—at your site or in "open programs" scheduled throughout the year. We run b-to-b programs for many of our members each year.

You and your firm will have fast access to the results of ISBM-supported research shaping the practice of business marketing.

• Over 100 Working Series Papers now available to you on the ISBM Web site.
  
  
• ISBM Business Marketing Doctoral Support awards identify and nurture the best new, innovative, and practical thinkers in business-to-business.
  
  
• ISBM supports over 70 research projects at universities throughout the world in areas such as:

ISBM Membership—What is the value of more effective business marketing practice?

• One better decision, based on tools learned at an ISBM course, netted $30M in upside profits/year.
• ISBM marketing engineering tools helped create a 43% impact in positioning a new offering in an ISBM Member campaign.
• Members have actually left our courses—mid stream—to stop and more profitably rethink product launches.
• Before a big decision, members routinely call to connect with world thought leaders for perspective, check points, tips, and comparable cases.

Help yourself and your firm to stay on the cutting edge—become part of ISBM!

Membership in the Institute for the Study of Business Markets is open to any company that has an interest in business-to-business marketing.

Two levels of annual memberships are available:

Member

For medium to large sized firms, $15,000 per year.

Associate

For an individual in a small to medium sized firm, $1,500 per year.

For additional information contact:

Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM)
Smeal College of Business
The Pennsylvania State University
484 Business Building
University Park PA 16802-3603

Phone: 814-863-2782
On the Web: www.isbm.org
E-mail: isbm@psu.edu