about membership
Membership is currently only open to established retailers and like-minded well-established professions and entities contributing to retail. The intent –which was considered at length among founding members-- is to establish a formidable foundation grounded heavily in knowledge and influence based on experience and business longevity.
IRA Member Applicant Checklist
As a prospective IRA member, you must first be recommended or "sponsored in" by an IRA founding or "mentor" member, you must then submit the following material for consideration to complete your application:
1. Business profile that identifies owners and
includes answers to the following:
a. How many years have you been in business?
b. How many customers do you currently have?
c. What is your approximate annual (business
sales) volume?
2. Minimum of three (3) business/trade references.
(May include customer testimonials. May include
sponsoring IRA member endorsement.)
3. Your business or personal mission statement.
4. “Benefit statement” that explains your reason for
interest in joining IRA, how you hope to benefit,
and what you hope to contribute.
5. Completion of “IRA Members’ Self-Interest &
Education Survey.”
6. Face-to-face IRA Board interview, followed by
IRA Board approval.
What’s expected
Applicant retailers and current IRA members are expected to meet certain business standards and are considered and subsequently judged on the following points:
1. STORE/BRAND PRESENTATION
(What and for whom your business stands for should be clearly evident.)
2. IRA MISSION BUY-IN/COMPATIBILITY
(You should find IRA’s mission relevant or complimentary to your own. Each member
should know the IRA mission statement by heart. Attendance and participation count.)
3. MERCHANDISE SELECTION
(Ability to stock what your customer base wants and have it on hand at all times when they want it. Not too much assortment that causes customer confusion and wasted resources and not too little.)
4. CUSTOMER SERVICE POLICY
(There should exist a written policy and be in-store evidence of putting your customer first.)
5. PROFIT MARGIN
(Simply this: you must operate at a profit and stay aware of your numbers at all times.)
6. INNOVATION
(Ability to stay on top of the ever-changing, changes in retail, customer and market demands. Successful retailers don’t sit still.)
7. BRAND (PUBLIC) IMAGE
(Success at creating top-of-mind awareness with your customer base.)
8. SENSE OF VISION AND PURPOSE.
(Ability to develop and communicate your “corporate culture.” Successful delivery of clear internal and external messages.)
9. INTERNAL AFFAIRS
(Attention and ability to leverage core strengths and improve weaknesses of your operation.)
10. COMMUNITY CITIZENSHIP
(How is your business giving back Ðor being relevant to your community?)
For details on how we in IRA assess these criteria,
download IRA’s Retail Scoring System (copyrighted PDF file).
BENEFIT
As a member of IRA, you’ll benefit directly in the following 10 ways:
~ Stay current on industry trends and business technologies.
~ Share in the contacts and resources of your peers.
~ Develop and share ideas for increasing business.
~ Fortified commercial buying power for significant savings.
~ Opportunities to create cross promotional partners.
~ Access to a recommended staffing pool.
~ Learn new business strategies.
~ Share in market-wide promotions and ad campaigns.
~ Form trade show allies.
~ Exclusive access to business, financial, technical and
industry guest experts and consultants.
For IRA Membership fee schedule information, contact:
iradetroit@gmail.com
To apply for membership, download the IRA membership application package or apply online.
