Home Furnishings Association Retail Resource Center Announces Schedule For Seminar Series.

Furniture World News Desk on 12/4/2016

The Home Furnishings Association Retail Resource Center recently announced their schedule for the Winter Las Vegas Market Seminar Series.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

8:15am – 8:45am
POWER BOOST
Building a Culture
Jody Sievert, OnebyOne Companies
What do you want your marketplace to say about you? Who is the ‘tribe’ you want to attract? What are the key words that they ascribe to, that aligns with the culture of your organization? How is your organization growing to meet the needs of an aging population AND a techno-savvy younger generation? Answer these questions and more in this fast paced seminar!

9:00am – 10:00am
The Making of a Furniture Salesperson
Joe Milevsky, JRM Sales & Management
What makes one salesperson succeed while others fail? What’s the magic profile for a strong salesperson? Where do I find my best candidates? How can I attract the best candidate? How do I increase the probability that my salespeople succeed? How do I know I have the right number of salespeople? You may have a beautiful store, a great location, a superior merchandising lineup, and do a great job marketing your business, but without the right sales team you’ll never reach your potential.

10:30am – 11:30am
The Digitally Empowered Consumer is Already Here, Are You?
Jesse Akre, Amber Engine
Technology has empowered the digital-centric consumer like never before. As an industry, we have to adapt to this ever-changing landscape to ensure our success. Amber Engine teamed up with the HFA, AHFA and IHFRA to survey the industry on digital and technology topics that we all need more insight on. Join us for this informative session as we collaboratively present the findings from this initiative and discuss what’s next.

1:00pm – 2:00pm
Use Your Customer Data to Drive More Sales
Isaac Knorr and Kurt Strasser, Knorr Marketing
Knorr Marketing, a strategic marketing and advertising agency specializing in the furniture industry, will show you how to harness the data you already have to increase purchases and your bottom line. You’ll come away with three must-execute objectives to start increasing sales: Learn how far the rabbit hole goes with mining your customer data; test different messages to your segmented customer database; and learn how to reach new customers who are just like your current customers.

2:30pm – 3:30pm
Stand Out in the Crowd: How Online Reviews Can Give Your Local SEO a Boost
Nick Miller, Podium
How easy is it for potential customers to find your business when searching online? If you’re not showing up in the top-three listings in Google’s Map Pack, the answer to that question is not very easy. Selling furniture is a competitive business, so if you want to stand out and be there when customers need you most, you need to be optimize for local SEO. Join us for this as Nico Dato walks you through best practices for optimizing your business for local SEO. Key takeaways include: The differences between organic and local search; tips for optimizing your site for local SEO; what role online reviews play in local SEO; and how to take advantage of the rise in mobile searches.

4:00pm – 5:00pm
Building the Perfect Team with a Positive Culture
John Egger, Profitability Consulting
Great teams don't just happen. Building a great team culture takes special processes with accountability done in an exciting positive manner. In this session, you’ll learn how to build the best recruiting methods, positive training, and accountable measurements for each of the divisions of your store plus how to put incentives and rewards in place and how to perform one-on-one reviews with inspiring outcomes. 

5:15pm – 5:45pm
Building a Following
Jody Sievert, OnebyOne Companies
What are the behaviors among your employees that deliver on the cultural changes in your organization? If you were to describe the ‘experience’ for both employees and customers, what would be 3-5 key words or phrases that you would use and want to hear from them and how would you go about creating this experience? In this seminar, you will discover the biggest changes YOU would have to make to cultivate this new culture.

Monday, January 23, 2017

9:00am – 10:00am
10 Steps to Improve Advertising Results
Phillip Gutsell, GutSell
Industry veteran, Phil Gutsell will divulge 10 strategic ways to improve your overall retail business through your advertising and marketing. Learn how to identify critical weaknesses and mistakes that are wasting your valuable advertising dollars. Then learn what to do about them. Each step will be analyzed and examined so you can develop a clear plan to increase your traffic, sales and ultimately your bottom line.

10:30am – 11:30am
Drive Success Faster Using the Retail Performance Report
David McMahon, HighJump, ProfitSystems
David McMahon, author of the HFA Retail Performance Report, will reveal the latest industry benchmarks to drive your business success. He’ll then show you selling, inventory and management techniques that top 20% performers use to beat the averages. Finally, he’ll discuss the biggest challenges expressed by retailers today. David’s session is a must for anyone wishing to grow their profits as quickly as possible.

1:00pm – 2:00pm
Play the Game: Marketing & Selling Online
Jessica Norby, MicroD
Everyone knows that capturing the attention of online customers is the way to play the game, but do you really know what it takes to do it right? Marketing and selling online is a fast-moving and always changing strategy. Together we’ll explore which companies are the winners, review current best-practices (think social), and get specific with facts and figures. Whether your business is already a website warrior or you’re starting out, we’ll help you define an action plan that gets you moving, thinking, and growing to attain our online goals.

2:30pm – 3:30pm
Are you Being Held Hostage by Your Salespeople? How to Escape without Paying a Ransom
Wendi Swanson, The Friedman Group
Have you ever retained a sub-par salesperson because you didn’t think you could find anyone better?  Or because you dreaded the idea of starting over and training a new hire?  Or have you allowed top performers to get away with murder because you’re afraid they’ll leave?  Don’t be held hostage any longer—take these proactive steps: know the importance of bench strength and how to build it; drive accountability and discipline; recruit quality candidates; and train fast and effectively to minimize costs and get salespeople producing at high levels. 

4:00pm – 5:00pm
Use Your Words: Leveraging Customer Conversations to Enhance Your Content Marketing
Marisa Peacock, The Strategic Peacock
No one believes your brochures, banner ads or billboards. What people trust are words straight from your customers’ mouths. From keywords, online reviews, and conversations taking place across social media, it’s easier than ever to listen to what your fans, haters and ambassadors are saying. Learn how to identify your different types of customers online; explore ways organizations can incorporate user-generated content into marketing campaigns; and understand the realities in making customer reviews an effective part of your brand’s marketing strategy.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

9:00am – 10:00am
Branding Revival: Making Main Street Relevant Again
Josh Camden, RelevantMarketing.net
Your small-town store’s lack of branding is costing you market share, sales, and loyal customers. Online retailers and regional stores want your customers, and marketing companies have you convinced that being the next Wayfair will save your business. It simply won’t cut it. We’ll look at 10 practical steps local retailers can take to secure their market share and ensure future growth. From a full-scale business perspective, there are practical steps your business can take today to improve your advertising, web design, social media, and retail display. Main Street USA is still the most relevant place customers want to do business and it all starts with a branding revival.

10:30am – 11:30am
10 Pillars for Retailer Success in Today’s Economy
Erika Sparrow, Imagine Advertising & Publishing
Highlight Having worked with more than 5,000 furniture retailers, we’ll be presenting the 10 strategies and tactics that have worked over and over for our retail customers creating lift before, during and after the sale.

1:00pm – 2:00pm
TOOLS + TACTICS for Reaching Your Social Media Audience
Jeff Evans, Social Dealer Connect
This will be a guide to growing an online, local army of advocates for your store and brand. Social media platforms are what your potential customers use to talk about and engage with your brand. Think of these as digital backyard barbecues, informal cocktail parties or virtual office water-cooler talk. The key is the content and resulting engagement that cause those conversations to be about you and ultimately drive sales.

2:30pm – 3:30pm
Integrate Your In Store Experience with Your Website to Benefit Your Business
Ryan Lindsley, Storis
Today’s consumers are tech-savvy. In fact, 80% of the U.S. population has made an online purchase. eCommerce is a large player in current retail sales and it’s important for your business to stay relevant to consumers with your online presence. Your website is the virtual door front to your retail store and is often the first step of the customer shopping journey. How are you connecting your brick-and-mortar operations to your online presence? Learn why integrating your in-store experience with your website is important.

4:00pm – 5:00pm
Top 10 Mistakes in Email Marketing for Furniture Retailers
Ken Mahar, Email Broadcast
With today’s high costs of creating traffic, every lead is important. But is your company REALLY treating each opportunity that way? Find out the magic that happens when EVERY web and in-store visitor gets the proper follow up until they buy or die. Going beyond the newsletter, this dynamic talk will focus on turning web traffic, and in-store traffic into sales—taking over where your salespeople leave off. Ken will share his secrets on how to get your sales people to buy-in, a critical step in the process. Come early and bring a business card for the door prize.