Remaining Relevant in Today's Retail Climate

By Michael Hart

	Five SEMA Show Education Days sessions are designed to ensure retailers reach their business potential in the coming year.

Running a retail business never gets easier. Whether you’ve just opened your store or you’ve been in business for decades, the challenge always focuses on improving, increasing revenue and landing the next sale. Let the 2014 SEMA Show help you stay ahead of the curve and remain relevant as a retailer.

Here are five SEMA Show Education Days sessions designed to ensure your retail business reaches its potential in the coming year:

• First, the basics: Join Larry Mersereau of Promo Power for “The Moment of Truth.” You spend a lot of time and money to get potential customers into your store. Once they’re there, what do you do with them? How do you convert shoppers into buyers? In this session, Mersereau will give you the tools you need to guarantee those shoppers won’t leave the store until you’ve made a sale.

• Every day, more and more women are making the purchasing decisions, and successful sales professionals know there is a difference in how you approach them. The popular “Selling to Women: Today’s Greatest Economic Engine” session is back by popular demand as well-known authors Christine Corelli and Doug Dvorak tell you what you need to know to break the ice and make the sale with this important demographic.

• Retailers are learning there is a new path to sales growth—It’s online. No matter how big or small your business, there’s a place for you on the Internet. You’ll find the key with “How Online Retailers Can Successfully Sell on Amazon’s Automotive & Powersports Marketplace” as two executives from Amazon explain why you should sell on their sales portal, how to get started, and how to accelerate your sales in the online marketplace.

• Now that all these new paths to sales growth are in place, it’s time to review your financial statement and say, “So That’s Where the Money Goes?” Eventually, business owners have to ask themselves where the profits are if they’re bringing in so many sales. Tom Shay of Profits Plus Solutions will take you through this session and help you understand how to read your financial statement to make the decisions you need to grow your business.

• Finally, ever wonder what the latest economic news means to you? You’ll get all the answers when you attend “20 Questions: Examining the Economic Climate” as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tim Gallagher interviews Dr. Bill Watkins, director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University. Watkins will explain the complicated world of global economics and what it means to your aftermarket business in a way that you’ll understand.

SEMA Show Education Days will feature more than 60 educational sessions in 12 different tracks, ranging from new-vehicle technology to best business practices to marketing strategies and emerging trends in the industry. To see the complete schedule of SEMA Show Education courses and pre-register, visit www.SEMAShow.com/education.