Advocacy Articles

Be Positive
by Mark Palmore, Institutional Store Advocate

In the first year of the Connect2One Institutional Store Advocacy Program we have helped a number of stores stay self-op/institutional. Our overall efforts have been successful and we are proud of the many contributions from our members that have helped save these stores.

The program will continue to work for bookstores who are "Proactive and Prepared" to meet the challenge of outsourcing long before it appears. Besides being "Proactive and Prepared" to meet the challenge, one other area we should all work on is to "Be Positive" about the advantages of the self-op/institutional store. Simply put, the institutional model is the best choice for campus administrators to make and we have the facts at Connect2One to prove it!

Don't be one of those who upon hearing a school is "considering" leasing says, "I heard it is already a done deal." The lease companies love to hear that statement; it means some of us have already given up hope. When we go around expelling doom and gloom that a certain store will be leased, we are just fueling the fire and playing into the hands of the lease companies. Ask yourself and your colleagues, "What can we do to help that store stay self-op/institutional?" Don't perpetuate a rumor that may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

One thing you can do is let anyone at Connect2One or Nebraska Book Company know what you have heard and we will react promptly to help that store in their effort to remain self-op/institutional. We have a number of tools for a store to use to convince their administration to keep their store institutional.Contact us. We are glad to help you or any institutional store in the country.

Remember, "Be Proactive, Be Prepared, and Be Positive!" Contact Mark Palmore or via phone at (800) 563-9034. Click here for more information on the Connect2One Advocacy and Marketing programs.