“Not Me” Good afternoon, everyone, I’d like to introduce you to someone. You’ve seen this person through the conference activities, and whether or not you realize it, each and every one of you knows this person very well. Allow me to introduce, “Not Me.” Not me is the person that everyone loves to hate. When something goes wrong, a shop is not done, a report is missing, or a project is not where it’s supposed to be, the first question is always, “Well, whose responsibility was that?” Undoubtedly, the answer without fail is always, “Not me. Not my department.” With SampleSecure there are no vacancies available for “Not me.” “Not me” has no place in the network or in this industry. “Not me” is fired. Thanks to Retex and the SampleSecure Network of providers, the days of lackluster accountability are over. SampleSecure took 8 years to develop their online ordering and program management system. They made a quiet introduction into the Retail Marketing Support Services industry, including Mystery Shopping, Merchandising, Demo, and Event Management. By quiet I mean that they won only one award. This innovative system won the 2009 fast Pitch Award for Best New Technology, and now our clients and shoppers have the best possible programs we can provide. First of all, SampleSecure and Retex don’t hire shoppers, the providers within the network, most of which you’ve heard of or are already working with, do. SampleSecure has made it possible for us to concentrate our client budgets, promote accountability, eliminate hidden profit centers, and increase the quality of the labor at the in-store level. Retex, the largest Retail Technology Buying Consortium, has made it possible for us to do so on a much larger scale. How Does SampleSecure and Retex save clients money, and what is a hidden profit center? A hidden profit center is any service or item that while invoiced elsewhere is absorbed or refunded by SampleSecure. A good example of this is in the demonstration world. It takes a lot of people, supplies, and processes for a demonstration to be managed. With SampleSecure the client can receive their printing, product, supplies, retail floor space, and in-store labor all in one place and all online. Where a paper napkin used for a cookie demo will cost 25 cents elsewhere, it costs 2 cents with SampleSecure. SampleSecure does not mark up the costs on supplies, printing, product, or labor, ever. SampleSecure charges a minimal fee to take the order and provide the online program management system, for a mystery shop we’re talking a figure as low as a dollar or two. What this means is that the local labor service provider, receives the majority of the client budget to manage the project. As we all know, when an order is subcontracted out, one of two things happens, either the price increases or the client’s budget is greatly reduced, leaving the people actually doing the work with a much lower figure to work with. With SampleSecure and Retex, we’ve made sure that the client’s rates are guaranteed not to change before the project has been completed. We’ve also made sure that the client’s budget is focused on labor, the mystery shoppers, merchandisers, and demonstrators that represent us at the store level. Furthermore, Retex allows clients to receive a rebate on top of that, and they don’t charge our clients a thing to be a Retex member and obtain those rebates. We’ve made absolutely sure that we can charge our clients the least amount of money and pay the mystery shoppers, merchandisers, and demonstrators most, thereby increasing the quality of in-store labor and guaranteeing loyalty and retention among our clients and Field Service Personnel. Example: The founder of SampleSecure has worked in the Demo and Market Research industry for many years. She tells a story about working on the “Vote for your favorite Cream Saver” promotion in the 90s. It was a simple demonstration with a ballot box and product samples. However, she noticed at the end of the project that several hundred ballot boxes were not returned. Upon reviewing the tapes, it was discovered that the table was not staffed and consisted of a bowl of the product samples and a sign reading, “Help yourself” (Not at all what the client had ordered.) When this distraught professional approached the management at the space where the event took place, she was told that the client had to pay for the events, even though they were done incorrectly. She refused to allow her client to be abused in such a fashion and went straight to the top of the company to have this wrong righted. I believe that that was the day SampleSecure was born. It was these ideals that influenced my decision to accept an invitation into the SampleSecure Network of Providers, because they so closely mirror my own. All clients of Integrity Consultants can be assured that regardless of whether or not their particular project is a SampleSecure project, they are receiving the highest quality service, above and beyond industry standard. “Meeting the Needs of Business with a Standard of Excellence that is Integrity Consultants.”