The Western Home Furnishings Association (WHFA) and National Home Furnishings Association (NHFA), announced that they have unveiled the September Fall Market Web site and released their educational seminar schedule. The Retailer Resource Center (RRC), located in World Market Center B-1630 and C-510, is the retailers’ “home away from home” during busy Market weeks offering attendees top-rated educational seminars, a bustling business tradeshow, complimentary coffee, buyers’ breakfast and Internet access as well as numerous networking opportunities.
Retailers can now visit the RRC Web site at www.WHFA.org which is a one-stop source for information about the RRC and Las Vegas Market. The Web site allows retailers to easily schedule their day ahead of time. Get access to information on educational seminars, preview a list of business service providers that will be showing in both RRC locations, learn about the brand new Hot Spot and much more.
During Market, the RRC will host a 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.
As an added attendee service WHFA and NHFA, in partnership with the World Market Center Las Vegas, will be providing an Education Concierge which can be found in the lobby of Building B. The Education Concierge will be available for those wishing to learn up-to-date seminar details, locations and speaker contact information.
One highlight of the seminar week is the WHFA Academy Training Series focusing on social media. This hot topic has been gaining popularity in the industry as a great tool to communicate with each other as well as connect with customers. Topics that will be covered during the WHFA Academy Training series are social media 101, successful advertising in a digital age, getting visitors to your store and much more. This not-to-be-missed series takes place daily from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in the Retailer Resource Center.
WHFA & NHFA seminars are offered Monday, September 14, 2009 through Thursday, September 17, 2009 at the Fall Las Vegas Market.
For more information about the 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 & NHFA seminars follows:
Monday, September 14
8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Success in Spite of the Economy
Philip Gutsell, GutSELL & Associates
RRC, B-1630
You have squeezed all the fat out of your overhead and traffic is more difficult. Now what do you do? Phil Gutsell will show you the strategies and promotions that are getting profitable results in spite of a tough economic condition. Included are case histories regarding advertising, gross margin and volume results. This is a must attend seminar for retailers that want to jolt their volume and margins back to where they belong and more.
10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Academy Series ~ Social Media Marketing
Wondering How to Get Online Shoppers to Visit Your Bricks & Mortar Store?
Hosted by: NHFA and Sharon Gillis, VP Client Services, JGSullivan Interactive www.JGSullivan.com
RRC, B-1630
Learn how to use Google, social media and your website to capture consumers who are using the Internet to make their furniture buying decisions and bring them into your showroom to increase sales offline. Sharon Gillis of JGSullivan Interactive will host this powerful presentation giving you actionable Internet marketing tactics, including: How to Use Google to Help Home Furnishings Shoppers Find You Online, Questions to Answer Before You Build or Redesign Your Website, How a Great Web Landing Page Brings Consumers Offline and Into Your Showroom, Turning Online Leads Into Showroom Sales, Effective Internet Advertising in Your Local Market and Social Media - What It Is And How To Use It Effectively.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Internet Success Made Easy (And Made For Your Budget)
Andy Bernstein, FurnitureDealer.net
RRC, B-1630
Think your store can’t afford a winning Internet strategy? Think again. How can local retailers (with showrooms, inventory, expert sales assistance, good reputations, delivery and after sale service) convert online shoppers into profitable customers? Superstar websites focus on three things: the online showroom or product catalog — online marketing — salespeople and selling processes. Come to this presentation and learn how you can differentiate your company and do it easily. Bring a business card and win a free website.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Every Customer Counts
Arnie Capitanelli, Experience Relationship Programs
RRC, B-1630
How do you define your Customer Experience in order to maximize each opportunity and create loyalty to the brand? How do you exceed customer expectations? Every Customer Counts is a Five Pillar concept that focuses a retail organization on Customer Centric activities that maximizes the potential of each transaction and exposes erosion in the Disciplines that define a superior customer experience. Join Arnie as he shares real life experiences and proven methods for maximizing each transactional opportunity.
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
10 Proven Steps to Increase Profits with a Successful Promotion
Denise Mae Scattergood, Sale-in-a-Box
RRC, B-1630
Denise will teach you 10 proven steps to create a successful promotion or event that motivates customers to stay and buy today. From targeting the right audience, to choosing the right message, to creating the right atmosphere, Denise’s presentation will give you the tools you need to make the right decisions. You and your entire staff will benefit from this fresh, energizing presentation that is geared to help you increase sales and gross profits.
Tuesday, September 15
8:30-9:30 a.m.
Road Map to Sales Success
Mark Lacy, The Furniture Training Company
RRC, B-1630
The secret to getting your salespeople to sell more furniture is their having the product knowledge, selling skills, and fashion expertise to gain the confidence and trust of your shoppers. Shoppers only buy from salespeople they trust. Stop putting off, or haphazardly training your salespeople in these essential skills for sales success! This seminar will teach you a systematic and easy to implement training plan for your sales associates. Also, as an attendee, receive a free the four-color poster, "Road Map to Sales Success."
10:00 – 10:30 a.m.
Academy Series ~ Social Media Marketing
Social Media 101: Is It Really Worth All The Hype?
David Lively, The Lively Merchant
RRC, B-1630
During this presentation we will delve deeply into the reality of social media in the furniture industry. You’ll learn to cut through all of the bull, and you will leave the room with enough information to decide how to best implement a strategy in your business.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
How to get NEW CUSTOMERS into your store EVERYDAY!
Daryl Oldenkamp, Color Ad, Inc.
RRC, B-1630
Learn how to get consistent and predictable results from a truly “grassroots approach” to “branding” each store through Direct “Marriage Mail” and newspaper inserts. Discover the powerful, high “Return on Advertising Investment” experienced by top manufacturers like Ashley, Serta, Tempur-pedic and many others.
Learn the four key principals for successful Direct Mail Campaigns:
1. Targeting customers around each store that traditionally and statistically have the matching demographic profile for that store and offerings.
2. Fully Customized Ad designs that brand each store.
3. Planned and timed continuous exposure to reach and maintain “Top of the Mind Awareness” in your Targeted customer’s mind.
4. The management and measurement of the effectiveness of each ad in each zip code attacked to produce the highest results at the lowest costs.
Yes, this economy is though, but the retailers that are following these principals are winning, and you can too!
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Email Marketing — How to Get Started RIGHT!
Ken Mahar, Email Broadcast
RRC, B-1630
Email Marketing has the number one return on investment of any marketing medium according to the Direct Marketing Association. If your email marketing campaign is non-existent, or isn’t delivering huge results especially in this economy, don’t miss this dynamic presentation. Ken Mahar will share secrets garnered from nine years of experience serving clients like More Furniture and Ivan Smith Furniture. You’ll learn how to get started, and how to do email marketing RIGHT in this interactive and FUN program. Make profits broadcasting email! Bring a business card to win the door prize!
3:30– 4:30 p.m.
GenerationSpeak!
Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender, Kizer and Bender Speaking
RRC, B-1630
Do you speak the same language that your customers speak? Do you understand generational nuances — the things that make each generation who they are? Do you know the attitudes and values of each generation, how those values were formed, and why they are important for your success? Do you know their secret languages, favorite methods of communication, and how they buy? It’s dangerous when you don’t because what works for one generation is Kryptonite to another!
During GenerationSpeak! you’ll meet Generation Z, the Millennials, Generation X, the infamous Baby Boomers, and the LOMLOTs™, (Lots Of Money, Lots Of Time). Getting a handle on your changing customers has never been easier! KIZER & BENDER spend time each year in 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 seminar 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!
Wednesday, September 16
8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Five Secrets to Better Bedding Sales
Gerry Morris, SleepTrust
RRC, B-1630
Gerry Morris, veteran sales trainer and mattress industry leader will deliver ideas, concepts and practical advice to help mattress retailers create new sales opportunities, even in today’s difficult economic climate.
For over 20 years, Gerry has shared his wit and wisdom with thousands of sales associates and mattress retailers. He is the author of two of the industry’s most popular books, Spring Training and Sell More Beds Guaranteed!
Don’t miss this insightful, informative and entertaining seminar.
10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Academy Series ~ Social Media Marketing
E-Commerce & The State Of Media For Retail Furniture
David Lively, The Lively Merchant
RRC, B-1630
I’ll bet the 2,000 plus car dealerships that lost their brands this year would have never believed it could happen. Is the furniture business heading down the same path? Bring your wide-open mind and your thinking caps to this glimpse at the future of furniture retail. You might not agree — nobody says you have to — but you had better decide where you stand about how furniture will be sold in the near future.
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Great Employees Aren’t Sea Monkeys
Phyllis Zaepfel, PROFITsystems, Inc.
RRC, B-1630
Finding, Hiring, Training, Retaining, and Building Your Staff (FHTRB). Remember when you were a kid and you could grow Sea Monkeys by just adding water? It takes more than that to develop and retain extraordinary employees who love what they do and excel at their jobs. In this seminar, you will learn best practices in recruiting and hiring the right people for the right job. We will examine training methods for developing your staff into experts and how to productively use your resources to create a dream team. You will discover what is needed to retain them so your best employees will never again move on to your competition.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
The Profit Matrix in THIS Economy
John Egger, Profitability Consulting Group
RRC, B-1630
There are hidden profits in your company right NOW! John is the number one profit analyst in the furniture industry. He will make this your most profitable hour at the market with real examples on how to add to your bottom line.
3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Create Your Own Stimulus Package
Brad Huisken, IAS Training
RRC, B-1630
In these tough economic times, furniture retailers can’t afford to sit back and continue to do things the way they have always been done. Furniture retailers have to do something different to distinguish themselves from their competition. Brad Huisken will discuss various ways that furniture retailers can increase their sales and profits in a fun and motivational seminar. In addition, he will detail five proven ways that salespeople can increase traffic in the store. If you continue to do things the same way — how could you expect a different result? Learn how to stimulate your business and your sales staff to meet and exceed expectations.
Thursday, September 17
8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Non-Negotiable Sales and Customer Service Standards
Brad Huisken, IAS Training
RRC, B-1630
What do these companies have in common — Fed-Ex, The Ritz Carlton, McDonalds, Disney, Hertz, IBM and Nordstrom? They all have non-negotiable sales and customer service standards. Brad Huisken will deliver a fun, informative and motivational seminar on: Why furniture retailers should have non-negotiable standards; What your standards should be; and How to implement them into your store. Brad believes that people want and need discipline, and that every store needs rules and regulations just as we need laws as a society. Join us and see how non-negotiable sales and customer service standards will increase your sales, profits and the referrals that you receive from your customers!
10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Academy Series ~ Social Media Marketing
Successful Advertising in the Digital Age - Websites, Social Media and E-Promotions
Doug Knorr, Knorr Marketing Group
RRC, B-1630
In this fast-paced session, Doug Knorr will walk you through the steps you need to build a stronger online presence and increase your customer outreach and build loyal relationships with one-on-one customer communications.
Using samples and real case studies, you will see how rich website content and integrated promotions, with traditional media, email, SEO, PPC, videos, social media and blogs across multiple communication platforms, are needed to reach your customer today. Don’t be left behind by competitors. Start advertising smarter in the digital age!
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
It’s Not Business As Usual in Today’s Challenging Real Estate Market
Julius Feinblum, Julius Feinblum Real Estate, Inc.
RRC, B-1630
Retailers must cut their real estate expenses, including rent, taxes and common area maintenance. Retailers must reposition and take advantage of lower rentals available. Retailers must dispose of non-performing locations unless they can adjust their pro-forma. Smaller 1-4 store players can take advantage of these low real estate prices. We will show you actual cases where these issues have been taking place and how to accomplish this ASAP. This might be the greatest retail furniture and bedding real estate opportunity since 1947.
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Fear is No Longer a Factor. Software Conversions — Not what they used to be!
Mark VanWinkle, Storis, Inc.
RRC, B-1630
Every aspect of your business should be under the microscope right now and fear should not be a factor. Change now can also be easier on your operations because time is available to implement and monitor new processes. This highly informative seminar will cover the successful processes necessary to transition from one retail software solution to another. Logistics of managing the project, methods of training and Q&A will have you walking away knowing that if change is needed, it is possible. A technical background is not necessary to gain knowledge from this seminar.
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 2,400 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.