Consultant Society: Business Case and Research

1. Consultant Society: Business Case and Research SLT Presentation - March 25, 2003

2. Rainmaker sub-team • Kevin Mahler • Dave Mitchell • Susan Renda • Corinne Smereka • Jon Steffey

3. MICA - The Opportunity • SAE has 4,000 - 7,000 members and circulation recipients in consultant-related positions • SAE’s overall membership base and corporate associations are very attractive to consultants • SAE discontinued its print Consultant Directory, and thus has no formal mechanism for connecting consultants with companies who need them.

4. MICA - The Solution • Create a new society to provide members with a professional affiliation, networking benefits and to facilitate the connection between industry consultants and corporations… The Mobility Industry Consultant’s Association

5. Why a separate, affiliated association? • Provide a specialized professional membership • Provide a new, clearer value statement to current non-SAE members • Make a clearer distinction from SAE, to counter claims that new benefits should be included in SAE membership • Use affiliated status to draw on SAE’s brand strengths • No existing society meets these needs

6. Building a business case • One-on-one consultant interviews • Found preliminary indications of interest, honed value possibilities • Consultant Survey • 1800 consultants in SAE’s database, with email addresses • Divided into 4 groups, to test various price points • 293 respondents (16% response rate)

7. Overall Interest in MICA concept 65% of respondents indicated at least preliminary interest.

8. Join rates at different dues levels Much less price sensitivity from $150 & $250 than higher

9. Four Dues packages: 1) Dues: $150 Initiation Fee: $100 Preferred Membership: $200 2) Dues: $250 Initiation Fee: $150 Preferred Membership: $400 3) Dues: $300 Initiation Fee: $200 Preferred Membership: $600 4) Dues: $350 Initiation Fee: $250 Preferred Membership: $800

10. Package Acceptance Rates

11. Revenues Scenarios: (assume similar acceptance rates for a market of 4000) *Membership levels assume lower of acceptance rates between relevant Dues & Initiation Fee responses.

12. Interest in proposed benefits Directory, job listing & matching and best practice surveys are tops. Professional Development, Web services & magazine have some interest

13. Benefits interest for most likely members: Similar patterns, tend to regard everything as more important

14. Interest in corporate membership • 41% belong to organizations with more than one consultant • 35% of those believed their organizations might be interested in a corporate membership

15. Response to MICA name/tagline • 43% indicated a positive response • 11% indicated a negative response • 58% Full-time / 42% Part-time • 26% consulting 1-4 years, 28% 2-5 years, 46% for more than 10 years Consulting Status

16. Consulting Field (more than one could be chosen for each respondent) • Engineering Management 30% • Engineering Design 46% • Engineering Manufacturing 22% • Information Technologies 14% • Human Resources 5% • Marketing 14% • Accounting 0% • Other 54%

17. Other Memberships • 77% of respondents are SAE members • 64% of those expressed a positive interest in MICA (vs. 65% overall) • 25% of respondents are members of other consulting-related societies • 84% of those expressed a positive interest in MICA

18. Conclusions • The MICA concept is viable and potentially profitable for SAE • Primary member-only value propositions include: • Online consultant directory • Consulting opportunity listings • Best practices surveys and reports • Secondary possibilities: • Web and email services, journal/magazine, business services discounts, presentations to SAE members

19. Estimated Revenue Structure

20. Current Plan • Create a team to write and implement a complete business plan • Rhonda Buzard* • Kevin Mahler • Dave Mitchell • Susan Renda • Corinne Smereka • Jon Steffey • Becky Wiley* * These potential team members have not yet been approached about potential involvement