The ProSource buying group has undertaken several initiatives to help lead the organization through the novel coronavirus COVID-19 crisis.

Over the past month, the ProSource team has contacted all of its vendor partners with the goal of sharing strategies and programs that will help drive a recovery plan for its members. In response, many vendors have stepped up by extending terms, prioritizing inventory for the channel, suspending freight charges, and accelerating group program payouts to the members.

ProSource has also worked closely with AVB to populate the COVID Info Hub, a microsite within YourSourceNews.com. The new microsite aggregates best practices, resources for business owners and employees, official government information, and documents relating to aid and loan packages.

“A little over a month ago, the world changed,” says Dave Workman, CEO and president of ProSource. “In the past few weeks, we have been pulling together with our members and vendor partners to work even more closely to navigate these uncharted waters. It is gratifying to know that each conversation underscores our shared commitment to emerge from this experience even stronger for having met this challenge with a unified spirit.”

In addition, ProSource will feature upcoming educational webinars on its website that will address timely topics and be available on demand after each event. The first webinar, hosted and moderated by ProSource in conjunction with ProSource Marketing and One Firefly, is titled “Refilling the Pipeline: A Moderated Discussion on How to Deploy a Successful Digital Campaign to Reach Out to New and Existing Customers in their Markets to Expand the Business.”

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ProSource District Managers are also holding daily virtual Town Hall meetings with small groups of six to eight members to stay connected on a local level. Hundreds of members are participating, sharing strategies and solutions on these roundtable regional calls, according to the buying group.

“Now, more than ever, it is important to keep the lines of communication open as we all grapple with the challenges of the COVID-19 situation,” says Tim Bashford, director of field management at ProSource. “The District Managers are scheduled to initiate the annual individual Member Business Reviews that will focus on helping our members navigate the vendor programs and creative marketing solutions that will help fill he pipeline.”

Finally, to fill the gap created by the cancellation of the Spring Meeting in May and the three Summer Education Series events, ProSource moved up the launch of the ProSource University Learning Management System from early summer to May 4 and is offering free access for all ProSource members through September 30. This newly created, centralized platform houses a complete library of customized training materials for business owners to address the pain points of training and retaining a specialized workforce. It is designed to onboard new employees, train new technicians, as well as educate current employees. ProSource University provides a one-stop shop for all of the group’s vendor education content. It also offers exclusive access to the entire catalog of CEDIA Education content.

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