The Western Home Furnishings Association (WHFA) and National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA), leaders in quality education, have announced the Winter Las Vegas Market educational seminar schedule, sponsored by Furniture Wizard Software. The Retailer Resource Center (RRC), located 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. Sessions feature topics such as sales and sales management, social media, design, operations, promotions and much more.
“Furniture Wizard Software has been providing intelligent solutions for retailers since 1996 and is always on the forefront of technology. We continue to push forward with the latest in iPad application development, including use of cutting-edge scanner technology. Our sponsorship of the seminar series is to help encourage people to embrace technology and evolve their businesses as the industry changes,” said Marty Fischbein, president of Furniture Wizard Software. “To see the newest version of the iPad application, stop by and see one of our team members in the Resource Center. We look forward to some great seminars.”
RRC seminars, brought to you by Furniture Wizard Software, WHFA and NHFA, are offered Monday, January 31 through Thursday, February 2 during the Winter 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, January 30, 2012
9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
What is the Essence of Effective Selling?
Philip Gutsell, GutSELL & Associates
Most salespeople in our industry were hired for their verbal skills. All too often these skills end up as statements about our products. This seminar will demonstrate the techniques and skills that separate the professional salespeople from the average to below average performers. Phil will show and demonstrate the art and science of professional sales communication that leads to relationship selling including: building rapport with your customers, uncovering their home furnishings problems, overcoming common customer objections and of course, closing the sale. Attend this seminar and take these proven strategies back to your store for immediate results and success in the future.
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Setting The Stage for Effective Mattress Sales Training
Gerry Morris, Inner Spring
Mattress Sales Associates may be the only touch-point shoppers have with a retailer. With today’s emboldened consumers, under-prepared associates can be quickly placed upon their heels and on the losing side of a power struggle. With social media spreading word-of-mouth at light speed, retailers can’t afford for shoppers to have a bad experience. This seminar will teach mattress retailers how to create a more effective training system to help your sales associates be up to the task of serving customers.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Speaking from Experience: What Works in Retail Social Media Marketing and What Does Not
Crystal Vilkaitis, SnapRetail
If only social media came with an instruction book, we would all be doing everything right! But since with social media comes much trial and error, we’ve created this convenient seminar to uncover what works and what doesn’t when marketing your store on Facebook and Twitter.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
More clients, More sales, More Profit
John Egger, Profitability Consulting
This presentation will make you more $$ than any hour at Market. Mr. Profit John Egger will give you the latest on developing more clients, getting more sales with higher profit margins.
3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
How to Use Smartphones, iPads, and Other Mobile Devices as Furniture Sales Trainers
Mark Lacy, The Furniture Training Company
Your sales associates spend down time every day surfing the web, posting on Facebook, tweeting and watching YouTube videos. They waste time tapping smartphones, swiping tablets, and clicking web links on laptops. Learn how to easily and affordably turn your associates’ time wasted on mobile media for entertainment into mobile education. Turn mobile devices into personal tutors teaching furniture product knowledge, room design, and selling skills that increase furniture sales. Learn how to deliver with mobile technologies the consistent, essential training associates need but you and your managers never have time to provide.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
It’s All About Synergy Baby: Combining Offline & Online Media Together
Kyle Doran, President and Co-Owner R&A Marketing
Facts and figures are great. They allow us to figure out where the world is moving, and what we are supposed to be looking for. But they are not the game changers to make money today. It’s a combination of gut, knowledge and numbers. This seminar will explore not viewing “online” and “offline” as exclusive but inclusive of each other to produce sales for retail today. After this seminar you will walk away with five sure-fire ways to combine “online” and “offline” media plus figure out what all of these mediums do today as well.
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
What’s All This Buzz About QR Codes
Ron Gordon, MicroD, Inc.
QR Codes seem to be appearing everywhere in the home furnishings industry but are they really ready for prime time? Are they practical? Who’s using them, and what kind of results are they getting? How are they generated? Where does the data come from? What are the benefits of using QR Codes? Are they a “better” way or just “another” way of doing something you’re already doing?
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Social Media—Connecting the Dots to ROI
Tim O’Neill, STORIS Management Systems
Social media is the secret element that drives many great marketing campaigns’ success. Today, prospects research your company before moving forward. They listen to what’s being said both among friends and complete strangers. What they find will impact the image of your business, and sales.
In this seminar, we’ll discuss the numerous social media tools helping to drive Lead Generation and Sales. We’ll review key social and mobile enablers for web sales, unique social media selling points, and blogging acting as a way to reduce customer calls. Additionally, we’ll introduce tools such as social bookmarking and many more essential social media tactics for 2012.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
The Skill of Asking Questions—The Key to Great Sales Results
Jody Seivert, oneXone Companies
While there are personal talents and characteristics that contribute to the success of great salespeople, not to be overlooked are the skills of managing and executing the sales process masterfully. The greatest skill, and one that is present in every step of the process, is the skill of asking questions. Come and learn the questions that connect, qualify, manage concerns, and get commitments to increase your own sales results or those of your sales team.
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Creating The Ideal Sales Team
Joe Milevsky, JRM Sales & Management
Do everything else right but this, and your company will dramatically under-perform and could fail!
- What are the “must have” qualities and how do I avoid making a hiring mistake?
- How do I utilize incentive compensation but avoid conflicts?
- How do I train, coach and hold salespeople accountable?
- How do I know if I have the right amount of salespeople?
- What do I need to do to get my lower performers towards the middle, the middle performers toward the top and help the top performers reach their goals?
This seminar is a must on your list no matter how big or how small your sales team is.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Creating a Winning Team: Strengthening Your Organization from the Inside Out
Rene’ Johnston-Gingrich, Profitability Consulting Group
This workshop focuses on how we can strengthen our internal team and increase our bottom line. This seminar highlights a positive and proactive approach to creating a highly productive sales team and a harmonious work environment, as well as how to make the most out of every opportunity.
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
The Secret’s Out! What to Expect When You Hire a Promotion Company
Ron Cooper & Berry Gevertz,
Profit Management Promotions
The secret’s out… In this no-holds barred seminar, you’ll get a sneak preview of an actual case study of a struggling independent furniture retailer who transformed their image in 2011 and redefined their future by hiring a promotional company to run a high-impact sale. You’ll learn how to determine if you need to rebrand your image—and if so, just how to accomplish this. You’ll get the inside scoop on the changes that promotional companies implement when they partner with an independent retailer to run an event. Find out how this retailer produced high-volume while maintaining their profit margin, and subsequently unlocked their true potential in the marketplace.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
How to get NEW Customers into Your Store Every Day!
Daryl Oldenkamp, Color Ad, Inc.
Advertising is not an option! Good signage inside and out is not an option! They are as critical to the life of your business and its success as the rent, electric bill, payroll and so on. For over 21 years, Color Ad has guided thousands of retailers to increased profits—attend this seminar and learn about targeting, how to design the right brand for your customer, how to get a customer into their ‘Buying Cycle” and how to measure, manage and adjust your monthly strategy.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Merchandising Your Store in Today’s Ever-changing Climate
Bob Moorman, JRM Sales & Management
Does your merchandising engage customers through a better understanding of their preferences and behaviors?
- How should your merchandise lineups be structured?
- What does the first 500 square feet near the entrance of your store tell the customer?
- How are you merchandising your floor, what’s new?
- Your product tagging strategy—is it customer friendly?
- Your customers—what demographics are you merchandising too?
- Merchandising must enhance the customer experience and create environments that make customers want to buy.
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Every Delivery Tells a Story
Kevin Truett, SpeedyDelivery, Inc.
Every delivery tells a story. Some good, some bad. This session will recap real life stories of delivery crews that became heroes and some that produced zeros. We’ll learn from these stories and discover exactly what went right and what went wrong. From amazing repeat customers to tragic accidents in the field, the delivery tells all!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Turning Display into Dollar Sales
Barry Rishton, deBarry Designs
This seminar shows dozens of pictured examples of how to take your current retail setting to the next level. Additional sketches and examples of how to sublet to lessees such as coffee shops, snack bars, bookshops, even clothing boutiques, that would drive more customers to your showroom.
Barry, holds a Masters in Design Education, with over 40 years in furniture display in the retail marketplace. He will share how to showcase your space, whether a large showroom, or small store, that will enable the customer to see products better, and how they will be used in their homes. A final emphasis will show you how to use your sales staff to get customers back into the store, see fresh displays and develop key customer relations.
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
The Model Store for The New Economy!
Brad Huisken, IAS Training
When people walk through your door they are not looking to buy furniture. They are looking for a connection with someone and something. Do you know your story? Does your staff? How are you connecting with the customer before, during and after the sale? No longer can you sit back and wait for customers to come to you. How are you engaging with this new consumer and how are you sharing your unique story to capture that loyal business. The main responsibility of a sales manager is to give his/her people the help, training, and guidance that they need in order to achieve success. Don’t miss this exciting seminar and learn how to share stories, share success, and stimulate your business and your staff.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
This Old Dog Had to Learn New Tricks
Bill Napier, FurnitureDealer.net
Let me show you a road map to a successful Internet marketing strategy because your customer today is much different than your customer of 5 years ago. They are younger and grew up in a wired world. The baby boomer generation, 47-65 years old, is not the primary consumers of home furnishings as it once was. Generation X & Y, totaling 112 million, are the new demographic for home furnishings and they are “wired for the Internet”.
This makes it critical that your Internet strategy “attracts” these new buyers to your retail store, and to do this you must be found in online searches. Three out of four furniture purchases (76%) are influenced by online research and 81% of home furnishings shoppers cite the Internet as their #1 source of information. In a recent survey of these generations, 59% of people use their “smartphones” to find: nearby stores, research product details, research reviews and more. If you are NOT found in search engines, you risk not making the connection.
A full listing of seminars, RRC MarketPlace tradeshow vendors and other Market activities can be found on WHFA’s website at www.WHFA.org.
