Retail education conference will return to Soaring Eagle

How can you hire and train the best staff possible?

Does your website sizzle?

Would you do business with you?

For the answer to these and other retail questions, attend MRA’s 5th Annual Retail Education Conference on March 5, 2007. The conference, which will return to Soaring Eagle Resort in Mt. Pleasant, brings together retailers and experts with retail backgrounds to discuss ideas and techniques that will strengthen any business.

Susan Negen, of Whizbang Training—one of this year’s new presenters—will address the issues of building a top-notch staff. With years of retail experience under her belt, Negen presents practical tips from a real-retail perspective. Her workshop on creating a “whizbang” staff will offer:

• Tips to optimize your hiring process and minimize your risk of making a bad hiring decision.

• Five secrets of successful coaching and how to make them work for you.

• How to take the emotion out of disciplining your staff and getting them back on track.

In a separate session, Negen will also present a workshop on what retailers need to know and do to harness the power of the Internet and e-mail marketing to grow their business.

“This is not a technology workshop,” said Negen. “It’s a marketing workshop designed to give your practical, to-the-point tips and techniques to make the web and e-mail work for your business.”

Mitzi Taylor, of Not So Basic Training, is back by popular demand after receiving praise for her high energy and relevance at previous MRA conferences. Taylor will address the question: “Would you do business with you?”

This seminar will show why it’s important to view your store and its service from the customers’ perspective. She will offer tips on how to find out what your customer needs, meet those needs and “treat the customer like a partner, not the enemy.”

Other topics at the conference include leveraging the current popularity of retail tourism and planning for business succession. Next month’s Retailer will feature more information on these presentations.

A registration brochure with detailed information on the conference will be sent by mail in early 2007.