Ed Expo 2007 - Workshops

Ed Expo 2007 Workshops
(Click Here to download the Education Brochure for Dealers)

School’s In at Ed Expo

Increase your business expertise at these outstanding workshops specifically aimed at educational retailers and distributors.

Wednesday, February 28

1:15 pm–3:00 pm

Marketing to the Generations
Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender, KIZER & BENDER Speaking!

Generational Myopia – applying the values and attitudes of your generation to someone of another generation – is a dangerous and costly disease. Consider the major restaurant chain’s ad campaign that invited its customers to do things with its hamburgers that, well, just aren’t done.

Know why that happened? Generational Myopia. Do you speak the same language that your customers speak? Do you understand generational nuances – the things that make each generation who they are? Today, it all comes down to understanding people – people from different generations, with different values and motivations and sensitivities. Your advertising and marketing efforts must come together to reach each diverse generation.

You Pay Bills With Dollars…Not Percentages
Sam Geist, Geist and Associates, Inc.

This program highlights GMROI, outlines its benefits, and provides hands-on instruction in its calculation and application to specific categories.

Whether you are a veteran or a rookie, use it to assist you to identify and evaluate whether the desired gross margin is being earned by your inventory.

This session will help you better understand the concept of GMROI, as well as its value as a merchandising and buying tool to significantly increase your inventory productivity. You will be able to identify your product winners and products starving to become winners, as well as identify those “lazy assets” in your inventory system.

Wednesday, February 28

3:15 pm–5:00 pm

The Wholesale Option to Help Your Bottom Line
Moderator: Allan Lepler , L.L. Weans

Have you ever been short of a product or two when filling orders during the busy back-to-school season, or anytime throughout the year? Have you ever had a parent/teacher request a product you typically don’t carry? You don’t want to say “no” to your customer so what do you do? At this session your fellow dealers who use the wholesale option will share their experiences on how they maximize their bottom line while increasing their customer service.

Challenges of the Future—The Rebirth of Small Independent Retail
Jim Dion, Dionco Inc.

Over 95% of all retailers have only one store. Yet this segment is under tremendous pressure from larger competitors.

This roundbreaking workshop is based on a study of successful Independent Retailers who are beating the odds and their larger competitors. Learn how they are doing it with practical, low cost tactics to not just survive but to thrive in this world of hyper competition.

Building The Customer Service "Dream Team"
How to make good people great... and great people even better!
Mark Mayberry

What if your Team Members were:

Enterprising - They realize that Customers pay the bills - and their paychecks!
Customer-Focused - The Customer wins! Your company does too!
Risk Takers - They discover new and exciting ways to "Wow" your Customers!
Inspired - they lead by example!
Big Thinkers - there is no limit to their "Customer First" thinking!
Accountable - they stand up and are counted for every action they take - with internal (Their Team members) and external Customers!
Fun Seekers - They deliver dynamic Customer Service - and have fun doing it!
Lifelong Learners - Seeking to learn how to serve Customers better every day!

Your organization has the resources right now to have a "dream" Customer Service Team! During this dynamic presentation you will learn how to get your Team to start thinking and acting like entrepreneurs within your organization. They will become self-motivated and focused on the success of your company. Entrepreneurial thinking can be created in any company - large or small. Start the transformation now and establish this competitive advantage - a "dream" Customer Service Team!

Thursday, March 1

8:00 am–9:00 am

Moving Beyond the Typical Educational Products
Panel: Norma Ireland, The Chalkboard and Ricki Bloch, Ariel’s Child

Does your store stay busy with customers year round? Do you alter your product mix with the changing seasons? If not, learn what other product mixes (toys, special education, craft & hobby, etc.) are successful and how to incorporate them into your store’s merchandise mix. Your fellow members will share with you what they are doing and how they got started. Seasonal altering of your product mix is not an easy undertaking, but it’s well worth the time and effort as your bottom line will benefit year round.

Year-Round Profits: How Arts & Crafts, Furniture, Toys and Other Products Can Produce Year-Round Sales
Janet Calliham, Calliham & Associates; Cameron Logan, Cameron Marketing; Dan Glass, Midwest Representatives

It is every retailers’ dream to have a dependable, steady cash flow. While most Parent/Teacher Store sales come in the months around Back-To-School, our Independent Manufacturers Representatives panel will share their advice and ideas about maintaining a high level of profit by skillfully marketing products throughout the entire year. A short presentation by “expert” IM Reps will cover specific product categories, quarterly recommendations, cross-selling and impulse buying with specific recommendations for NSSEA exhibitors.

Brand Aid: How to Make Your Store More Important than Anything it Sells!
Rich Kizer & Georganne Bender,KIZER & BENDER Speaking!

Your brand is your image. It’s the customers’ perceived identity of your product. It’s what they FEEL when they hear your name. Your brand is the mental picture that flashes in a customer’s mind every time they see or hear your name. Tiffany…The Gap… Nordstrom…Who makes their merchandise? Who cares! Does the average customer go to Starbucks just for the coffee? Nope. It’s more than that: customers’ preferences are not based merely on what those stores sell; they’re based how those stores make them feel. The trick is to think like a brand, but act like a retailer. Smart companies have turned their stores into marketable brands. You can, too! You’ll learn:

What a Brand Really is and Why Marketing
Yours is Important
How to Know Your Customers Better than
You’ve Ever Known them Before
How Customers Currently Perceive Your
Brand and Why that’s Important
Strategies to Create Top-of-the-Mind
Brand Awareness
How to Create Customer “Disciples”
Who Just Can’t Live Without You

Branding isn’t hard – it’s easy! And KIZER & BENDER will show you how! No text book theories here, just branding success stories from real retailers. You’ll leave armed with branding strategies and tactics you can use immediately to increase your brand awareness.

Thursday, March 1

7:30 am–9:00 am

Credit Management & Protection Methods to Help Your Business
Panel led byRonald Solomon, Founder, The Credit Collective & President, Swingset Press

The financial pressures from the increased costs of manufacturing, importing and shipping, coupled with the public’s reluctance to pay higher prices, have made profitability for educational manufacturers and distributors more difficult. Additionally, because of a reduction in the number of larger specialty game chains, game publishers and distributors have had to take increasingly larger risks with unknown debtors who seek longer and better credit terms. Based on these market conditions, it is essential that you know how to make solid decisions regarding the extension of terms. An expert panel will explore issues that are vital to the financial health of publishers and distributors, both large and small.

Discussion topics will include:

How to find reliable credit information on potential retailer debtors.
How to determine which accounts will get terms.
How to determine how much credit to extend to a particular account.
How to set up an effective dunning system for late paying accounts.
How to get your Sales and Credit departments to work well together.
How to choose and when to use a collection agency.

Find out what every NSSEA manufacturer should know about receivables and credit management to ensure your company’s financial future.

Friday, March 2

8:00 am–9:00 am

Retail Store Roundtable
Moderator: Michelle Lepler, L.L. Weans

One of the benefits in attending ED EXPO is the opportunity to network with, and learn from, a variety of retailers from across the country. In this session the Retail Store Council, your elected representatives at NSSEA, will facilitate discussions on subjects that are continually of interest to show attendees. Such topics will include: What the Toy Event Can Do For You; Who Are Your Customers; Special Events That Work; Credit Issues; What To Do When You are New.

Freight 101
Ray Bohman,Bohman Industrial Traffic Council

This session is designed for the novice when it comes to freight and traffic. Topics covered will include freight terms such as FOB, Bills of Lading, and Drop Shipments. Learn how to check for concealed damage and what your responsibilities are when receiving freight along with some suggestions to help save you money when shipping merchandise and product.

Basic Tools for Using Technology to Manage and Market Your Business
Panelists: Bryan Bundgaard,American Teaching Supply; Anna Longo, Scholar’s Choice Moderator: Vicki Smith Bigham, Bigham Technology Solutions, Inc.

Are you using technology to support your efforts to attract new customers and maintain relationships with existing ones? Does technology enhance your ability to use what you know about your customers and their buying preferences to deliver what they most need when they most want it? Does your ordering system allow you to easily manage inventory levels and provide data to your vendors? This session will identify technology-based tools and tips to help you better collect data and then use it to effectively market and deliver to individual customers and to streamline your overall business operations. Included will be information on benefits of point-of-sale systems, databases and technology-enhanced vehicles for marketing. Learn steps to get you started on migrating from manual operations to technology-supported ones and envision how technology can help you be more efficient, more competitive and more responsive to the market.