The Western Home Furnishings Association (WHFA) and National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA), leaders in quality education, have released the Summer Market educational seminar schedule. The Retailer Resource Center (RRC), located in their new showroom in C-496, is designed to provide buyers with every business need and convenience.
During Market, the RRC will host a powerful selection of industry speakers on a diverse range of specific retail issues. These complimentary workshops are designed to motivate, educate and accommodate busy buyer schedules while still providing a wealth of quality information.
WHFA has partnered with the World Market Center to offer the WHFA Business Survival Academy Series on Wednesday afternoon in the Retailer Resource Center. Retail industry experts Rich Kizer and Georganne Bender will present GenerationSpeak: What You Need to Know About the Diverse Generations of People Who Shop and Work In Your Business. This Business Survival Academy Series session pulls from data that Kizer and Bender have learned over the years of generational focus groups and attendees will come away from this presentation with a clear understanding of each generation, what they expect and what to do about it. Other sessions held in the new Retailer Resource Center will feature topics such as sales and sales management, social media, succession planning, design, operations, promotions and much more.
RRC seminars, brought to you by WHFA and NHFA, are offered Monday, August 1 through Thursday, August 4 during the Summer Las Vegas Market.
For more information about WHFA’s Retailer Resource Center or the seminar series, please visit www.WHFA.org or call (800) 422-3778.
A complete listing of the dates and times of WHFA seminars follows:
All seminars are in the WHFA/NHFA Retailer Resource Center, C-496.
Monday, August 1, 2011
9:30 a.m.
8 Great Closings
Philip Gutsell, GutSELL & Associates
How often have you seen or heard the following from your customers? “This is the first place I’ve shopped”; “It’s more than I want to spend”; “I have to check with my significant other, room size, etc.”; “I have to think about it”; “I saw it elsewhere for less.” Philip Gutsell will show and demonstrate the most effective methods to teach your salespeople how to close today. Each of these eight techniques will be elaborately exposed with step-by-step procedures to cut down the number of walks you currently experience.
11:00 a.m.
We Can’t Wait For Customers, Go Get Them!
Brad Huisken, IAS Training
No longer can furniture retailers wait for customers—sometimes they aren’t coming. Dealers today have to create business. Most salespeople believe the goal when a customer walks in is to make the sale—Brad Huisken says the real goal should be to make a friend. Learn to increase your personal trade, repeat business and referral business through building relationships with your customers. Brad will share how salespeople can get more people coming into the store than ever before, how to sell more of the people that are already coming in and how to sell more to the people you are already selling.
12:30 p.m.
Profit NOW
John Egger, Profitability Consulting Group
Profit is the bottom line—period. John Egger, drawing on years of industry experience, education and consulting observations, will show you how stores, even during the recession have kept profit for their companies.
2:00 p.m.
Web-based Intelligence
Bob George, FurnitureCore.com
Would you buy a car without any gauges? That decision would be the equivalent of running your business without knowing your numbers. A recent survey in a major technology magazine listed the leading investment for small and mid-sized businesses in 2011 as Business Intelligence Technology applications. Learn how retailers and manufacturers alike can use groundbreaking software service applications to improve top line and bottom line profitability. Know the available gauges that measure your performance and enable you to make fact-based business decisions in real time.
3:30 p.m.
My Associates Have Been Trained & Don’t Need or Want More Training
Mark Lacy, The Furniture Training Company
Retailers large and small too often believe that their salespeople don’t need or want more sales training. Nothing could be further from the truth. They absolutely need and want better training. This seminar, for corporate executives and furniture store owners, examines the impact an organized, ongoing furniture training program has on store sales. Attendees will review eye-opening, never-before-seen data collected from thousands of furniture sales associates. Learn the differences between the training needs of newly hired and veteran sales associates. Discover the differences in attitudes towards training between poor producers and million dollar sellers.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
9:30 a.m.
Public Relations: The Secrets Revealed
Kathy Wall, The Media Matters, Inc
Kathy Wall, from The Media Matters, unveils the mysteries of public relations, and how you can make it work for your company. What is the purpose of PR? Do you know the difference between good PR and advertising? How do you identify what is newsworthy without being self-serving? How can you use PR to increase your traffic and increase sales? What does the press need from you to cover your story? Kathy will also share ideas, stories and great examples of public relations opportunities.
11:00 a.m.
Measuring and Maximizing the Value of your Website
Steven McLendon, MicroD, Inc.
Relative to your peers, how does your website compare? What are the key attributes that provide superior performance? This program will present simple metrics and key objectives to measure the performance of your site while providing business advancing “best practices” to maximize your website’s performance.
12:30 p.m.
How to Prepare for Today’s Emboldened Mattress Shoppers
Gerry Morris, Inner Spring, Inc.
In recent years, mattress shoppers have become empowered because of the proliferation of choices, the abundance of research information on the Internet, and the influence of social media networks to determine what and where to buy. Now the slow economy is turning these consumers into emboldened shoppers. Armed with knowledge they are wielding their power to seek and find that elusive “best value” for a mattress. What’s a retailer to do? This seminar will help you meet the challenge and turn discriminating shoppers into satisfied customers.
2:00 p.m.
Anatomy of a Salesperson
Joe Milevsky, JRM Sales & Management, Inc.
What makes one salesperson succeed while others fail? Is there a magic profile? Do you know where to find the best candidates and if so, why would they come work for you? Do you position them for success? Join Joe Milevsky for an in-depth discussion that will give you the much needed information to identify, hire and retain the best sales team you could ever hope for.
3:30 p.m.
Hire Google
Seth Weisblatt, Nulution
A Google Certified Small Business Trainer and furniture store owner, Seth will teach you how to use Google to get your business found online. Make the world’s largest search engine work for your company. Topics include Google Places, Google Analytics, Google Apps, and Google AdWords.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
9:30 a.m.
Creation + Sharing + Engagement ÷ by Marketing = Social Media!
Kevin Doran, R&A Marketing
First things first, there are no exact answers on how to make sales from social media. Don’t let anyone tell you that they have the greatest solution to start getting you sales from social media. Social media is an ever-changing media. Every day something new is introduced or taken away. What you need to learn is how to best reach and understand your Facebook marketplace. From there you can start making sales and start growing your social media presence.
11:00 a.m.
Hire Google (repeated from Tuesday)
Seth Weisblatt, Nulution
A Google Certified Small Business Trainer and furniture store owner, Seth will teach you how to use Google to get your business found online. Make the world’s largest search engine work for your company. Topics include Google Places, Google Analytics, Google Apps, and Google AdWords.
12:30 p.m.
Dynamics of Family Business—What is Your Succession Plan?
Carolynne Ruccereto, STORIS Management Systems
Join us for a powerful presentation of multi-generational planning within a retail business. The statistics may surprise you. We will discuss the importance of understanding succession planning and the unique challenges in running a family business. This topic will touch on the statistics, the pillars and pitfalls of family business and also provide insight for planning a future successful enterprise.
2:00 p.m.
Nobody Notices Normal
Sally Morse, HunterDouglas
In this session you will learn how to set yourself apart from your competition. Maybe you are doing the same type of advertising marketing and networking as your competition but there are ways to garner your potential customer’s attention. This seminar will make you see your business through your customer’s eyes. Learn why your customer will buy from you and what they want from you as a retailer/designer.
4:00 p.m. SPECIAL SESSION!
Business Survival Series hosted by World Market Center and Western Home Furnishings Association
GenerationSpeak!—What you Need to Know about the Diverse Generations of People who Shop and Work in Your Business.
Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender, Kizer and Bender Speaking!
Do you speak the same language that your customers speak? Do you understand generational nuances—the things that make each generation who they are? Getting a handle on your changing customers has never been easier! Kizer & Bender host yearly focus groups with each generation. They’ve observed how they shop and what they look for in their businesses of choice. You’ll come away from this presentation with a clear understanding of each generation, what they expect and what to do about it. You’ll leave armed with the know-how to give each generation what they want, when they want it, the way that they want it!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
9:30 a.m.
The Magic 3’s
Sally Morse, HunterDouglas
How many colors work well together in a room? How many colors make up a triadic color scheme? An analogous color scheme? How many times must a color be used to make it an accent color? To what proportion do you mix patterns in a room? This fact-filled presentation points out the many times the number three is used in the rules of design, showing proportion in a fun-filled way. These and many other questions are answered in this lively presentation. Just think about the number three…
11:00 a.m.
The Real Estate Market is Ready for You
Douglas Kays, Douglas Kays Real Estate
If you are ready to think about expanding or reducing, you need to understand today’s changing commercial real estate market. Whether you own or lease, learn how the changes in the market and market conditions have created opportunities that we haven’t seen in 25 years.
12:30 p.m.
Get a Grip on Your Business Financials
Bob Moorman, JRM Sales & Management, Inc.
Gain penetration insights into your financials. Learn how every financial document tells you a story, understand and identify how a P&L or budget gives you the initiatives you should be going after. Learn the early warnings that can appear in your financial documents. Understand what it takes to keep a company safe and how to have predictable net profits.
2:00 p.m.
True Cost of Home Delivery
Kevin Truett, Speedy Delivery LLC
One of the most common complaints we hear from furniture dealers today is the headache they receive when dealing with home deliveries. This workshop is designed to identify the true cost of home delivery and how to eliminate the headaches. We’ll outline over a dozen hard costs and time consumers directly associated with home delivery, from employee wages to damage and liabilities; we’ll talk about reducing your cost and improving your bottom line. Join us as we also compare side-by-side the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing your home deliveries. Save time, save money and increase profits!
A full listing of seminars, RRC MarketPlace tradeshow vendors and other Market activities can be found on WHFA’s brand new website at www.WHFA.org.
About the WHFA and NHFA
The Western Home Furnishings Association (WHFA) is the largest affiliate of the NHFA, representing more than 1,000 independent home furnishings retailers in more than 2,200 stores in 12 western states.
National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA) is the nation’s largest organization devoted specifically to the needs and interests of home furnishings retailers. NHFA’s membership comprises 2,800 corporate entities representing 10,000 stores in all 50 states and several foreign countries.