MEMBER SPOTLIGHT NOW GIVE ME 5 WITH SHAWN HANCHEROFF

MVP ATHLETIC SUPPLIES, Sales Manager Langley, British Columbia

4 An Mvp Performance

The biggest difference between MVP and our competitors is our staff - we have a tremendous group of knowledgeable and experienced employees who are ready to help our customers get what they need to effectively compete in their chosen sport. In addition to an amazing staff, we carry a large amount of inventory allowing the customers who rely on us to be able to get what they need quickly at a fair price. As a member of two buying groups, Sports Distributors of Canada and Sports Inc., in the US, we have strong relationships with the key suppliers in our industry. Inside those groups we also have other members who we work together with on a variety of co-operative projects to make each other stronger and more competitive.

5evolving And Thriving

1celebrating A Golden Anniversary

By far the biggest key to our success for 50 years has been the team at MVP. The No. 1 comment we receive is that our staff provides superior customer service from top to bottom. We try to treat customers like family, concentrating on developing long-term relationships. The same is true with our staff, we have been a locally owned family business for 50 years and most of our full-time staff have been with us for more than 10 years, and several for a lot longer.

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2 From The Basement To The Family Business

My father was the head trainer at Simon Fraser University in town and he helped with purchasing for the athletic department. In the early ‘70s some of the local colleges and high schools wanted to buy product along with the University so my grandfather financed him to begin selling sporting goods part-time out of my grandparents’ basement and garage. Within a few years this grew into a business he decided to pursue full-time.

Why Nsga Membership Matters

For the first 30 years of our existence, we were primarily an institutional dealer specializing in School and PE business. Over the last 20 years we have evolved into a specialty team dealer focusing on providing everything you need for a select group of sports. In Canada, especially Western Canada softball/baseball and football are more centered around local youth leagues and club teams, rather than high school the way it is in the US. We decided years ago that MVP would be more profitable and better able to grow focusing on those sports specifically and becoming experts in those sports. In the last few years, we have added the sport of lacrosse, both field and box lacrosse (indoor) to the sports we are concentrating on, and it is becoming a more important part of our business all the time.

One of the most valuable decisions someone running a business in our industry can make is to attend the NSGA Management Conference and Team Dealer Summit. The NSGA Staff does an amazing job finding terrific speakers to educate and inspire the participants to a better job running our businesses. The ability to meet and network with the top people in the industry is second to none and their innovative speed networking event puts participants face-to-face for a few minutes with a supplier or customer where people discover there are possibilities to work together. NSGA has also been very helpful with the information they provide in research, publications, updates on equipment and rule changes with the sports governing bodies, answering questions or connecting us with others in the industry so we can get the information we need.