In 2021, on average, the Saskatchewan Industrial and Mining Suppliers Association (SIMSA) caused or greatly assisted $930-thousand in annual sales, for each of its 309 members. How is that possible from a $500 to $2,500 membership fee? The answer explains why SIMSA has continued its rapid growth. Keep reading.
In July 2022, SIMSA conducted its annual member survey. The survey revealed that SIMSA’s 309 members represented 32,100 employees attributable to Saskatchewan, generating $13.7-billion in annual sales attributable to Saskatchewan.
But what about the member-value? SIMSA provides member-value through two key avenues; (1) procurement’s use of our database and (2) in-person events that feature bringing buyers and sellers face-to-face.
SIMSA’s member database, has had significant use by various mining and energy producers, as well as industrial companies. In 2021 there were 14,961 searches and 2022 is heading towards a similar result. Most of these searches are potash related.
SIMSA events include those conducted as partnerships – the annual Saskatchewan Suppliers’ Energy Forum and the annual Saskatchewan Mining Supply Chain Forum – as well as those conducted independently for SIMSA members only – such as our Nutrien Roundtables and BHP events. All of these events see buyers and sellers share information, as well as meet face-to-face for several hours. Most of these events are potash focused.
As an example of a SIMSA Roundtable event, on October 20th SIMSA held an event with Nutrien. At this event, over 225 SIMSA members met with over 60-Nutrien persons – for an entire day. As with all SIMSA Roundtable events, attendees from the producer company (Nutrien) are assigned seating individually at a banquet table of 6-persons for the day. Upon entry, SIMSA members can choose with whom they sit.
However, over half of the event time was spent in free-flow networking around the room, giving SIMSA members ample access to key Nutrien persons, and an opportunity to connect with fellow members.
Nutrien Executives, Directors, and Managers presented on capital and strategic plans, as well as Nutrien’s Indigenous Engagement strategy and its impact.
Nutrien SIMSA Roundtable Event
In preparation for the event, SIMSA surveyed its members to gather questions, which were answered during the various presentations.
The survey also built a snap-shot “state of the union” document. At the event, to provide some context to what they heard from their engineering, construction, and fabrication membership – SIMSA shared the results and had a SIMSA Board member from each of those categories provide some context.
To further build communications, Nutrien shared its presentation decks with attendees after the event.
SIMSA has a similar event scheduled with BHP and has held similar events in the past with Cameco, Federated Co-operative Ltd., K+S, Mosaic and others.
And SIMSA has signed MOU’s with GE Hitachi, X-energy, and the OCNI to see us spearhead supply chain development in SMR deployments. SIMSA also provides value by publishing a “Saskatchewan Opportunities” list. This list portrays $29.4-billion in projects for review.
What do these efforts cause?
Per their annual survey, SIMSA’s database use and various events have resulted in, or contributed significantly to, significant business leads and then sales for their members.
In 2021, SIMSA’s initiatives resulted in $410-million in leads for their members – that is an average of $1.3-million in sales leads per member company.
These leads, as well as those from the past, have then resulted in sales. Leads from previous SIMSA initiatives have caused, or greatly assisted in, $290-million in sales by their 309 members in 2021. That is an average of $930-thousand in sales, per member company.
This average of $930-thousand in sales for each member company, from a membership-fee ranging from $2,500 to as low as $500, arguably results in an ROI ranging from 372x’s to 2,600x’s. Given SIMSA cannot take complete credit for any of these sales, the ROI from SIMSA’s portion is arguably 100x.
This 100x ROI was during a pandemic, which explains how SIMSA grew by over 50% through COVID. And, 2022 and 2023 are looking to have a significantly higher ROI.
Most of this is due to potash.
SIMSA will continue to search for new avenues to create value for its members and adapt existing ones to fit the future.
