Keynote at the Society of American Florists Association 2016 Annual Convention in Maui, HI.
Evolve or die isn’t just the stuff of biology books — it’s the rule of retail. Consumers want the next best thing even before the last best thing wears out. To ensure you’re playing and winning by these new rules, join internationally known retail consultant and retail trainer James Dion as he details how innovative businesses are changing the game and raising expectations for customers. You’ll leave unable to think the same way about what you’re selling, how you’re selling it — and the story you’re telling to sell it.

Rut busters:

Rethink assumptions about social media, ads and technology — before they put your business at risk
Spot evolving opportunities and emerging markets
Leave the session with no fewer than 10 resolutions you can implement right away and that are guaranteed to make you profitable for years to come

Presentation for Crossville Tile & Stone Sales Team in Nashville, TN.
Your showroom needs to become a true selling room where professionals and customers come to 'dream, play and select' what they like and want, to quote from one of the most successful retailers these days whose wins are built around a clear understanding of what makes customers click and how to take them there one step at a time.

Learn from the best players out there what changes need to take place in your showroom to really make a difference in your customers and in your sales. Because with so much choice out there, unless you have something unique and special to offer you are not going to stand out. It is about creating an experience for the customer that goes beyond what you have always thought, including that having the lowest price and the highest assortment is not only deadly to your business but irrelevant to your customer.

Workshop for Crossville Tile & Stone Sales Team in Nashville, TN.
Today’s prospects have a general lack of trust and they simply don’t want to be sold. They are weary of pitches, pushy Sales People and manipulative marketing tactics. They are time constrained and too busy to think. So what do they do with most sales and marketing messages? They just ignore them, unless....you become more of a resource to them and a trusted advisor and understand the needs of prospects. Then, you are "69% more likely to make a sale", according to a recent research.
 
There are at least six steps in the Inside Sales Roadmap that you need to follow in order to become a 'trusted advisor' to your propsect and customer. They are: Step 1. Prospecting and Qualifying - Identifying and Screening for Qualified Potential Customers; Step 2. Approach - Knowing how to meet the Buyer to get the Relationship off to a good start; Step 3. Presentation / Demonstration - Telling the Product ‘Story’ to the Buyer, and showing the Product Benefits; Step 4. Answering Objections - Seeking out, clarifying and Answering Customer Objections to buying; Step 5. Closing - Asking the Customer for the Order; Step 6. Follow-Up -  Following up after the sale to ensure Customer Satisfaction and Repeat Business.
 
This Workshop will cover all of these steps plus you will be able to complete an Action Plan detailing your actions in each steps that you will start taking immediately for better sales results.

Webinar for AudioSolutionz customers.
Retailers' race to the (price) bottom has reached its tipping point. Learn the numbers on price cuts and how they have created more losers than winners. This, despite the fact that we have known for years that price (the right price which is NOT the lowest price) is the single biggest lever to bottom line profitability.

Why is this happening? Join us on a fascinating journey as we explore the psychology of price from the retailer and consumer's point of you and then learn what to do about it. Because if pricing can't solve all competitive and customer related problems, what does? A lot! Learn the tactics you will need to deploy to maintain your competitive position with an eye - or two - on your long term profits.

Presentation at Coverings '16 in Chicago, IL.
Learn the new rules of customer engagement and which brands and businesses are already capitalizing on them and why you cannot afford not to do the same.

Join us on a fast paced ride that will rock your understanding of business today including your intuition. We are going to talk about:
- A new definition of competition: industry shakers
- A new definition of shopping: mobile and online imperatives and the end of retail pure plays
- New retail channels: social retail outlets
- Caring for Generation Z: your plan for the future
- Caring for Generation Y: the most difficult customers
- A new definition of store: merchantenment, retailtenment
- Slow shopping: tapping into US consumers' preference for experiences
- In store technology that customers really care about
- Deliver me now: anyway possible
- IoT: to gain operational efficiencies and deeper customer relationships
- Low price no more: you need a point of difference and price is not it
- Stocking up on more merchandise no more: shoppers have already too many choices

Keynote at the 2016 Boston-only retailer event for J.D. Associates in Boston, MA.
Brick-and-mortar will remain the dominant revenue-generating channel. But you’ll need to respond to the shoppers’ needs.

Learn:
- What it takes for a retailer to be relevant in today’s economy
- Ways to get more cash out of your business
- How the omnichannel experience is good for business
-Why you need as a “point of difference” to succeed (hint: it’s not low price)
-How you power a counterattack to Amazon

Retailers have seen a lot in the last decade or so. First, customers started demanding lower and lower prices, then deals every day, then instant free delivery and no cost returns, and now, they are only coming to a store if we can deliver them an outstanding experience.

Experiential retailing has been around for a long time but it has reached new heights lately blurring the the lines between residential/personal and retail, hospitality and retail, and physical and digital (some call it 'category convergence').

New concepts, an amalgam of traditional services, convenience and new options, are supposed to help traditional retailers compete with the rise of online shopping. ‘By offering services like hair salons, bike repair shops, and restaurants, stores are becoming one-stop-shopping giving customers an experience they can't purchase with a click of their mouse’ explains Urban Outfitters Marketing Manager Tracy McGinnis. Urban Outfitters, Bonobos, Warby Parker, Nordstrom, Restoration Hardware are just a few examples of retailers focusing on “experience/lifestyle retail” as you have not seen before.

As we always say, customers shop horizontally and the new experiences customers are having at these stores are raising the bar for everyone else.

In this presentation you are going to learn what you need to do to meet consumers’ new experience expectations by coming on an exciting journey with us where we are going to explore trends that you need to watch and embrace. Here is a taste of them (note: we update and change them monthly):

- A new definition of competition: industry game changers
- A new definition of shopping: mobile and online imperatives
- New retail channels: social retail outlets
- Caring for Generation Z: your plan for the future
- Caring for Generation Y: the most difficult customers
- A new definition of store: merchantenment, retailtenment
- Slow shopping: tapping into US consumers' preference for experiences
- In store technology that customers really care about
- Deliver me now: anyway possible
- IoT: to gain operational efficiencies and deeper customer relationships
- Low price no more: you need a point of difference and price is not it

Mobile is definitely a significant part of the way customers experience brands today. Yet, receiving offers via phone is not something customers always like. In fact, most of the time they think it is intrusive. That sometimes happens when retailers use beacons to target customers as they walk past their store and just send them random offers.
 
What if you could market your brand in a way that your customers feel valuable and it is a service to them? Can it be done? Of course, it can! Learn in this presentation what some of the the top retailers are doing to personalize offers and messages to their customers and make them crave those messages and help them reap the benefits with increased sales.

It has been said that data is the new oil. That may be true insofar as it is and will become even more valuable than oil to our economy but this will only be the case for those companies who realize the value of data and how to collect it, store it and then use it to better understand and even predict the behavior of staff and more importantly customers.

First companies have to determine what data is important to their businesses, then they have to determine how they will capture that data and if it is cost effective to do so.

Once the data has been collected then how will it be stored and in what format, this will determine how easy it will be to then sort, filter and turn into usable information. Often the storage of data is done in what is called ‘data warehouses’ but that name is somewhat misleading insofar as there really may not be a single place where the data is stored and in no way does the data exist on shelves or pallets!

In this session you will learn how to:
- Build a business case for collecting and using data in your company
- Identify what basic data you should be collecting every day
- Decide on the best format to store that data for easy access and understanding
- Identify the best uses of data today to better understand your customer
- Learn what software is available for analysis
- Learn the difference between predictive analytics and data analysis

Much has been written and said about millennials. Learn the true facts about this much researched generation, they are your customers, your employees, your boss and everything else in between.

Learn the reasons why they are the way they are and most importantly how to capitalize on their strengths and deal with their differences and learn how to increase your sales and profits by aligning with their goals and aspirations.

Because there is a lot that they have to offer that can benefit you. Plus, they are here to stay and buy!

In this session you will learn:
- What is a Millennial? Definition; Differences with other key buying generation groups (Boomers and Xers)
- What characteristics are common to Millennials around the world?
- Global social media map
- How do Millennials decide what to buy and why? Path to purchase; Media that reach them
- How do you talk to Millennials?
- Why you need to connect with Millennials?

What makes a great leader? A deep understanding of psychology. But no, you don’t need a degree in the science of the mind and have studied all the behavioral theories but rather you need to understand a few fundamental truths about what motivates people's actions and perceptions. 

Because you can teach people how to do things right – the correct behaviors – but unless they are motivated, they are not going to do them just because you asked. Learn to be an effective leader by understanding your people’s motivation, needs and competency levels.

Did you know that family businesses account for a staggering 50 percent of the gross domestic product of the U.S.? And it is not just in small storefronts or website businesses: 35 percent of Fortune 500 companies are private or public companies that are controlled by families (source: Forbes)

And yet if you own a family business, you know those statistics don’t come without pain. Independent Business Owners and family business owners in particular reach a point when their overwhelming question and biggest worry is: what should I do with this business I own?

Even when business is thriving, they often wonder how long can they continue to run it and put in 70-100 hours’ work a week. And if it is not doing so well, they wonder when they should sell and how much they can sell it for..

And sometimes they wonder: what are my options? Leave it to the kids, sell it to them or to friends? Put it on the market and sell to strangers? And most importantly — How much is it worth?

No easy questions or answers and certainly no small decisions to make and that is why it is important to have a clear roadmap to determine what the next steps should be after reviewing pros and cons of all options which is the subject of this workshop. In particular, you will learn:

- How to asses the health of your business and know when it is time to close and move on (is it a 'dead man walking’?)
- The steps to create a viable plan to sell your family business
- The pros and cons of selling your business to family and friends
- The step you need to take to get your business ready for sale
- The steps you need to take to assess the value of your business and how to determine what your asking price should be
- Will you sell it yourself or hire a broker? Learn the upside and downside to each approach