DSA

including suppliers and vendors,asmost other associa- tions do,”he continues.“Affiliatedwith all of those com- panies,there are probablyabout five or six thousand employees; and in addition to them,we have over 20 million peoplewho are individual direct sellers.And while they’re not dues payingmembers of theAssoci- ation,under our bylaws,theyare consideredmembers. Our primaryand exclusive relationshipwith them is through themember companies.In addition to the domestic activities of theAssociation,we have about 62 other associations,world-wide,in other countries that are brought together under our world federation umbrella organization.So,we are an industryof global scope,even though our focus in the U.S.DSAis here in the United States.” According toMariano,the DSAhas three coremis- sions: “Policing,Promoting,and Protecting.”Regarding its policing function,he says,“One of the things we engage in is significant self-regulatoryactivity.At least one person on staff is assigned to compliance,ethics, and self-regulatoryefforts.In addition,we have two to four attorneys who are also involved in the ethics/ self-regulatoryagenda.” Adolfo Franco,DSA’s ExecutiveVice President & Chief OperatingOfficer,explains the importance of theAssociation’s policing function: “We are guests in people’s homes or in their offices andwe areworking with people in a verydifferent way than the retailer or where a customer goes to awebsite,”he states.“So,we have an extra obligation,a code of ethics,and a set of standards that gowell beyondwhat’s required by law, andwell beyondwhat most industries require in terms of their standards for return of goods and refunds of money.When you add all the parts together,what we do is provide consumer protection.” RegardingDSA’s promoting function,Mariano says, “One of the things that we do to support the channel is engage in communications activities,disseminating public information.But more importantly,perhaps, within the industry,we provide educational opportuni- ties for executives and companies to share best prac- tices to enhance their businesses and growthe per- centage of total retail sales both as an industryand as individual member companies.Like everyassociation, we haveweb-based communications vehicles to our existingmembers and our regular communications are newsletters,etc.Those are generic communications about industryhappenings and the like.With regard to specific activities,wewill have specific communica- tions.We find at least one personwithin each company to be our primarycontact and that’s our funnel for all of our information.Beyond that,we have 5,000 or so people in our data base andwe can communicatewith THE DIRECT SELLING ASSOCIATION