2010 Firearms Retail Education Conference

Anytime there are significant changes in the economy, consumer buying habits, and the consumer marketplace in general, it’s important for retailers to take a look at what they ARE doing as well as what they are NOT doing to improve, fine-tune, and grow their businesses.

Rather than being reactionary to tough times, it is far more productive to challenge the status quo, evaluate all the costs associated with operating a retail company in this new
environment, and reposition the business for when the economy turns back around.

In this eye-opening presentation, retail expert George Whalin, will discuss five things retailers should STOP doing and five things they should START doing right now to survive
and thrive in these tough economic times.

The ideas and tips George shares in this valuable presentation are real-world solutions to the challenges retailers face every day.

THIS IS A PROGRAM RETAILERS WON’T WANT TO MISS!

George Whalin is author of two books, Retail Superstars and Retail Success, and writes the monthly Retail Management e-Letter, an online newsletter read by subscribers all around the world.

George was a retailer for 25 years before founding Retail Management Consultants. One of the highlights of his retail career was as manager of the original Guitar Center on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. In the 1960s and early '70s he sold musical instruments to the biggest stars in the business including The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, and many more.

George's presentations are always fast-paced, high-energy, entertaining, and motivational. Best of all, he jam packs his programs with real-world ideas and insights attendees can take back and put to use right away to build their businesses, sell more merchandise, and better serve today’s savvy consumers even in this unsettled economy.

Have you ever wondered what a web site could do for your business?  Do you currently have a web site and want to know how to improve it?  E-Commerce & the Shooting Sports Industry  focuses on the basics of e-commerce and demonstrates how to use the internet to increase sales and profits.  Topics to be covered include: getting started, planning, website development, pitfalls to avoid, maintenance, content development, online marketing, cohesive branding, analytics, increasing conversions, and more.  Curtis Jazwiecki, of the Outdoor Business Network, aims to help retailers, manufacturers, and distributors simplify the daunting task of succeeding online.

Mr. Jazwiecki is the President and Founder of Outdoor Business Network, Inc., a firm dedicated to providing e-commerce solutions to the Outdoor Industry. Curtis has brought together manufacturers, distributors, and independent retailers to provide managed e-commerce services to retailers and distributors. His specialties include multi-channel retail, website architecture and development (both B2B and B2C), internet marketing, and online merchandising.

Curtis studied Marketing and Entrepreneurship at Bowling Green State University and also holds several online marketing certifications. Curtis' diverse background also includes extensive experience in the Powersports Industry, as founder and CTO of a leading e-retailer, and in the Convenience Store Industry, as Director of Operations for a mid size convenience store chain.

He is an active consultant and regular speaker on the topics of e-commerce and internet marketing. Curtis can be contacted at curt@outdoorbusinessnetwork.com or through the web at www.outdoorbusinessnetwork.com.

Retired senior ATF executive Wally Nelson will provide invaluable advice on how to manage your ATF Forms 4473, A&D books and other paperwork to be in compliance with ATF.

Walfred A. (Wally) Nelson retired in October 2005 from a distinguished 33-year career with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).  He was a member of the Senior Executive Service beginning in 1998 and, in 2004; the rank of Meritorious Executive was conferred on him by President George W. Bush for sustained superior management accomplishments.

Mr. Nelson began his career with ATF as an Inspector in Tuscola, Illinois in March 1972.  For nearly 28 years he held a number of management positions in the field and in ATF Headquarters of increasing responsibility.  From 1998 until his retirement he was the Deputy Assistant Director of the Office of Enforcement Programs and Services.  In that position he was responsible for the development and evaluation of all of the agency’s firearms and explosives criminal and regulatory programs; the development of firearms and explosives regulations, forms and publications; as well as a number of operational activities.  Among these were the Federal Firearms Licensing Center, the Federal Explosives Licensing Center, the National Firearms Tracing Center, the Firearms and Explosives Imports Branch, the National Firearms Act Branch, the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, and the Firearms and the Explosives Technology Branches. 

Mr. Nelson also conducted numerous briefings of senior administration officials, members of Congress and their senior staffers on ATF policies, regulations and the impact of proposed and enacted legislation.  Finally, he established and maintained excellent working relationships with firearms and explosives industry trade associations.  He worked with these groups, as well as individual industry members, to arrive at creative solutions to a wide variety of regulatory and trade issues.

Since retirement, Mr. Nelson has brought his ATF experience to the private sector, as a consultant to the firearms and explosives industries.  He is particularly skillful in all matters of regulatory compliance, pre-ATF inspection reviews, firearms marking and variance requests.  He provides a keen and practiced insight into the interactions of the executive, legislative and judicial branches in the firearms and explosives arenas.

Mr. Nelson is a 1969 graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington where he received a BA degree in American History.  He is an Army veteran and served with the Infantry and Military Police in Viet Nam.

How is your business performing compared to other firearms retailers? Learn more at the SHOT Show university luncheon. In 2009, the NSSF conducted the first comprehensive survey of firearms retailers, identifying trends in employment, sales by category and more. Use the results presented at lunch to help identify areas where your business excels and areas that might need improvement. Other business trends within hunting and shooting sports will also be presented to help you identify other potential business opportunities. The presenter will be Rob Southwick, President of Southwick Associates, who has spent years monitoring and evaluating the trends and business side of the hunting, shooting and firearms industry.

Rob Southwick is the President of Southwick Associates, a firm specializing in tracking and reporting economic and business statistics associated with hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation. Current clients include nearly half of all state fish and wildlife agencies, many private companies, the American Sportfishing Association, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and many others. Founded in 1990, Southwick Associates is based in north Florida and is supported by experienced staff and research associates all over the country.

What do successful business owners do to improve their businesses and help it grow? Are there best practices or keys to building a successful retail business?

In this interactive session, Christopher DiCenso, the Managing Partner of Growth Strategy Partners will share with you the extensive research his firm has conducted to identify the 7 Keys to a Successful Business and explain how you can apply them to build yours.   During this session you will:

• Learn the 7 Keys to A Successful Business
• Receive the opportunity to evaluate your business to these 7 Keys
• Identify which ones you should start implementing now
• Learn quick start tools

Christopher DiCenso is the Managing Partner and founder of Growth Strategy Partners LLC, a strategy consulting firm that accelerates the revenue, profit and talent growth of entrepreneurially managed organizations by implementing the 7 Keys to Growth.  His is an active speaker on the 7 Keys to Growth and how to build a successful business. 

Christopher was a founding member of the northeast middle market consulting practice for PricewaterhouseCoopers.  He was instrumental in building the consulting practices for Inc. Magazine and the Boston office of Grant Thornton.  Chris also has hands on industry experience leading a medical device product development organization and engineering and manufacturing organizations in the defense, automotive, textile and computer industries.  Chris started his career as a manufacturing engineer for Sturm Ruger.

In his ‘spare’ time, Chris shoots IDPA and IPSC, is the President of the FBI Citizen’s Academy Alumni Association in Boston, coaches a girl’s soccer team and typically loses to his two girls in various board games.

A comprehensive session that will teach firearms retailers how to manage their budgets and profit & loss statements.

Tom Shay's experiences as a fourth-generation merchant provide him the knowledge and background to assist owners, managers, and staff with the day-to-day operation of their businesses. During the 25-plus years when Tom was part of the family business, the stores were ongoing laboratories for the management and promotional techniques that are the backbone of the information Tom now shares.

A native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Tom's first job was working in his grandfather's general store. Tom moved to Florida to join his parents in the family operation they had purchased in 1971. Over the next 26 years, the Shay family owned and operated three businesses. In 1997, Tom sold the business to devote full time to the development of his company, Profits Plus.

Tom's seminars present proven and time-tried ideas on the topics of promoting, customer loyalty, business-management, target marketing, employee skills development, and financial control.

In addition to providing proven business-building ideas through his writings in over 65 trade publications, Tom has authored EZ Cashflow,  a book teaching how to accurately forecast your next 12 financial sheets, How to Become the Preferred Vendor – 251 Strategies for Doing More Business With Retailers, and a series of management tip books beginning with 100 Profits Plus Ideas for Power Promoting and 100 Profits Plus Ideas for Power Managing.

As a speaker, Tom has earned the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) distinction, an honor that has been earned by fewer than 7 percent of speakers worldwide.

Tom and his wife Marilyn reside in St. Petersburg, Florida, with their twin sons Darren and Blake.

In this nuts-and-bolts seminar, George Whalin teaches independent and smallchain retailers how to develop a marketing strategy that maximizes every marketing effort.

He shows them proven, cost-effective methods for using print, radio, TV, and direct-mail advertising and promotions to get more customers into their stores and keep them coming back again and again.

Participants learn how to:

• Aim marketing messages directly at prospective customers
• Use direct marketing to keep regular customers coming back again and again-and buying more
• Keep new customers coming through the doors every month of the year
• Develop and produce low-cost, highimpact direct marketing campaigns
• Create effective customer loyalty programs

and much, much more!

George Whalin is author of two books, Retail Superstars and Retail Success, and writes the monthly Retail Management e-Letter, an online newsletter read by subscribers all around the world.

George was a retailer for 25 years before founding Retail Management Consultants. One of the highlights of his retail career was as manager of the original Guitar Center on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. In the 1960s and early '70s he sold musical instruments to the biggest stars in the business including The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Grateful Dead, Eric Clapton, and many more.

George's presentations are always fast-paced, high-energy, entertaining, and motivational. Best of all, he jam packs his programs with real-world ideas and insights attendees can take back and put to use right away to build their businesses, sell more merchandise, and better serve today’s savvy consumers even in this unsettled economy.

In this presentation, you will learn:

• The myth about who creates and attempts to grow most businesses
• The fatal assumption that causes most businesses to fail
• Why experience is often your worst teacher, not your best
• How thinking differently about your business will begin to change its results
• The five core principles behind every successful entrepreneurial enterprise
• The Seven Centers of Management Attention that will drive your business to become a success story that serves you, rather than you continually serving it, and create a sustainable advantage over your competition
• Why the most successful businesses are not participating in the recession, except to take advantage of it; and
• How to create a business that can one day be sold for significantly more than the average business in your industry.

Robert K. (Bob) Clements is co-founder, co-owner, and Marketing Director for E-Myth Benchmark, a world-wide business development and coaching company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, employing a staff of coaches that serve businesses in the United States and several foreign countries. He holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Creighton University School of Law, and is a Senior Certified E-Myth Consultant. For more that 35 years he has been involved in helping businesses succeed, first as a lawyer, and for the past 10 years as a consultant and coach. He is a regular presenter before businesses of all kinds and audiences of all sizes.