Patrick Shay, NSSF Director, Retail Development

Retailer Seminars—Focus on Compliance

Though there’s a wealth of knowledge to be gained by attending SHOT Show University, we understand that not everybody can commit to a full day of classes before the show begins. That’s why NSSF also offers a variety of seminars throughout the show week.

Without a doubt, issues regarding FFL compliance and NICS are top points of discussion with our retailers. We have several seminars on this topic:

NICS E-Check 2.0 and the NEW NICS—In this session, conducted by veteran FBI Agent Kim Brown, who’s been with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) since the program’s inception in 1988, you’ll learn about the vastly improved NICS E-Check 2.0 that let’s retailers access the NICS system via any computer or browser. There will be a live demonstration of the upgraded system and a review of other changes coming to NICS. This seminar takes place Jan. 20, 9-10 a.m., in Lando Ballroom Room 4302, located on Level 4 of the Venetian.
NSSF FFL Compliance Consultant Panel—Moderated by former ATF Deputy Assistant Directors Wally Nelson and Harry McCabe, who have nearly 70 years of combined experience in their field, this session allows retailers interact face-to-face with two of NSSF’s retailer compliance consultants. You’ll learn about the benefits this team provides NSSF members, such as compliance assessment onsite visits, ATF inspection preparation and other topics crucial to staying compliant. This session takes place Jan. 20 from 3-4:00 p.m. in Lando Ballroom Room 4302, located on Level 4 of the Venetian.
NFA Compliance and Best Practices—Geared for use by FFL Class III license holders, attorneys and law enforcement personnel who engage in issues and transactions pertinent to the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act, this seminar will be moderated by former ATF Deputy Assistant Director Wally Nelson and attorney Chris Renzulli. This two-hour session will focus on compliance, with an in-depth review of the NFS process, plus a special discussion on how to deal with trusts involving NFA firearms. This seminar takes place Jan. 21 from 9-11:00 a.m. in the Lando Ballroom Room 4302, located on Level 4 of the Venetian.
Federal Prohibitors FBI/NICS—Also moderated by FBI Agent Kim Brown, attendees of this seminar will learn about the top 10 FBI/NICS items that will prohibit an FFL from transferring a firearm to a potential purchaser. Sample transactions using actual background check research will be demonstrated, and you’ll also learn why some customers are delayed or denied, as well as the steps your customers can take to overturn a denial they feel is incorrect. This seminar takes place Jan. 22 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in Lando Ballroom Room 4302, located on Level 4 of the Venetian

The 2015 SHOT Show Retail Seminars above are just $20 to attend. There are many more sessions available to firearms industry members looking for new ways to improve their business processes and compliance efforts. For a full schedule of Retail Seminars, click here and then click the dropdown for the Retailer Sessions class schedule. Classes can be added at any time after you’ve completed your application to attend the 2015 SHOT Show by going to shotshow.org and logging back in with your registration ID and password. Don’t know your password? Email the 2015 SHOT Show management at regmgr@shot.convexx.com your request and the password will be emailed to the company contact listed when you applied to attend and completed your registration.

2015 SHOT Show University—Don’t Miss Out!

With the holidays almost upon us and SHOT Show just weeks away, I wanted to take a moment to round up the stream of information available for the 2015 SHOT Show University and encourage all retailers and range owners to attend. I firmly believe that this year’s lineup of speakers and sponsors brings more to the table than ever before, with ideas and discussion that will help everyone on the front lines of the firearms industry improve their businesses and meet the challenges of the year ahead.

We’ll start the day with a keynote address by the talented Dr. Linda Talley, who’s discussion on leadership development skills will help store owners and managers get the most out of their employees and create a productive, profitable environment for all staff members.

After the opening address by Dr. Talley, attendees will participate in one of four learning tracks. Track 1, ATF Compliance, is geared toward newer retail owners and certainly a solid refresher for anyone. Choose Track 2, Drive Your Sales, and you’ll get lessons from experts Larry Messereau, Doug VanderWoude, Miles Hall and Gene Marks on how to profit from digital marketing, enhance your Internet presence, differentiate your business from the competition, increase cash flow and improve your promotions for better returns. In Track 3, Retailing 101, industry retail professionals Tom Shay, Karl Stearns and Bill Napier will discuss honing the basics of retailing firearms, with topics such as advertising planning, and merchandising practices that increase turns. Finally those attending Track 4, Veteran Retailer, will glean knowledge from some of our industry’s most successful and long-time entrepreneurs, such as Janey and Meaghan Hall, Tom Shay, Bill Napier, Karl Stearns and NSSF’s own Deb Kenney, with panels on human resources, ecommerce planning, security strategies, and store layout enhancements.

The 2015 SHOT Show University will conclude with a closing address from business consultant giant Afterburner, Inc.—and I promise, you do not want to miss this dynamic presentation.

This year’s University is represented by an unprecedented lineup of talent and expertise. But none of that would be possible without the industry support of our sponsors. These include Smith & Wesson, Celerant Technology, the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers, Winchester, and our two newest sponsors, iTech Digital and Joseph Chiarello and Co., Inc. Their contributions to making the 2015 SHOT Show University live up to and surpass the success of past Universities amply demonstrates the industry’s commitment to helping today’s firearms retailers succeed. Be sure to visit with them during SHOT Show and thank them for their partnership in this year’s event—together, this is how we all continue to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports for the generations to come.

SHOT Show University is the premier event for firearms retailers. Seats are limited and this event will sell out, so retailers are urged to sign up now. Remember, NSSF Premium Retailer members are offered a complimentary ticket to SHOT Show University. Additional tickets for both Premium Retailer members and all other NSSF members who wish to attend is $250; non-members may attend for $500. To learn more about SHOT Show University and its many sessions, click here. To upgrade your membership to the Premium Retailer level or to join NSSF at the level that best serves your business needs, visit nssf.org/join or e-mail membership@nssf.org.

SHOT Show University Adds Seats, Encourages Exhibitors to Attend

Thanks to an outstanding lineup of topics and speakers, we’ve received numerous calls from exhibitor representatives asking to attend the 2015 SHOT Show University. Though SHOT Show University is generally geared toward firearms retailers, with the number of seat requests we received, we took a look at the panels and realized that there was indeed value in many of them for exhibitors at the show. We recently sent an invitation to the full list of exhibitors announcing the expanded seating, and I just want to take a moment here to emphasize the breadth of information they’ll receive by attending SHOT Show University.

For those exhibitors unfamiliar with the forum, SHOT Show University is a one-day educational event that takes place on Monday, Jan. 19, the day before the official start of the SHOT Show. Sessions are geared toward the unique needs of professionals in the firearms business and cover such varied topics as working with the Federal form 4473 and other important compliance issues, as well as business development forums such as digital and content marketing, cash flow practices, store security, loss prevention, advertising planning, store layout maximization and more.

The day starts with an opening address by Dr. Linda Talley, one of the country’s most respected business-development leaders. After that, University attendees will break into one of four educational tracks—ATF Compliance, Drive Your Sales, Retailing 101 and Veteran Retailer—learning about developments in our industry through leading experts such as Gene Marks, Tom Shay, Larry Mersereau, Karl Stearns, Bill Napier and NSSF’s own ATF Compliance Consultants Wally Nelson and Harry McCabe. This year’s University will end with a dynamic closing address by former Marine pilot Patrick “Lips” Houlahan, a team leader with business consultant company Afterburner, Inc.

“After seeing the number of requests to attend SHOT Show University that were coming from exhibitors, we realized that they had a genuine and valid interest in knowing the business through their retailers’ eyes,” said Randy Clark, NSSF Senior Director, Business Development. “There is tremendous knowledge to be had by learning about what’s important to others in the chain of people who move product from maker to consumer within our industry. Thus it makes perfect sense to open the doors wider to the unique forum that is SHOT Show University.”

Though NSSF has added additional seats to accommodate the many exhibitors wishing to attend SHOT Show University, seating is limited and this event will sell out. We encourage everyone to register for this event now. Exhibitors interested in attending can email me at pshay@nssf.org for assistance with registration. Remember, NSSF Premium Retailers are offered a complimentary ticket to SHOT Show University. Additional tickets for both Premium Retailer members and all other NSSF members who wish to attend are $250 per ticket; non-members may attend for $500 per ticket. To learn more about SHOT Show University and its many sessions, click here. To upgrade your membership to the Premium Retailer level or to join at NSSF at the level that best serves your business needs, visit nssf.org/join or e-mail membership@nssf.org.

NSSF Welcomes Business Expert Karl Stearns to 2015 SHOT Show University Speaker Lineup

KMS_2014_WKC_cropped Entrepreneur and small business expert Karl Stearns is the newest addition to the growing list of highly respected individuals lecturing at NSSF’s 2015 SHOT Show University. Stearns will conduct two sessions for this year’s University:

The Four Pillars of Digital Marketing—During this presentation, retailers will learn how to “get found” in today’s vast world of cyber presence. The session will focus on ways to nurture relationships, grow contact lists, increase customer loyalty, and utilizing dedicated digital campaigns to drive customers to your business. Attendees will also learn how use and understand digital analytics to make better decisions for their businesses and their customers.
Tactics to Improve Your Ecommerce Plan—Give your website, online store and digital marketing plan a tune up with this exciting and insightful presentation.

With a background of accounting skills, sales and marketing expertise and the advantage of owning several small businesses, Stearns “walks the walk and talks the talk” of small business people. A winner of numerous automotive industry awards, Stearns writes for a number of industry trade journals and serves as a marketing consultant to clients nationwide. As a speaker for Tom Shay’s Profits Plus small business seminars, he addresses groups throughout the United States on a wide variety of small businesses topics from pricing strategies, getting better results from employees, business management and reading and understanding financial statements. He also is a Platinum Solution Provider for Constant Contact, one of today’s most-used business client mailing list platforms, having attained certification in presenting programs on digital marketing.

“We are extremely pleased to have someone like Karl, who’s knowledge of digital business marketing—how to plan it, how to analyze the results, how to make it work to grow any retailer’s client base—is so important to meeting the demands of retailing firearms in the 21^st century,” said Randy Clark, NSSF Managing Director, Business Development. “Our retailers’ visibility absolutely depends on a digital presence these days. But in the lightning-fast pace of the Internet, it’s a mistake for today’s retailer to think that a simple web page with a picture of their staff and the store’s hours and phone number are enough to get people into your store. The web is the place where business is happening, and whether you’re actually taking and fulfilling orders via the web or merely utilizing its inherent functionality to drive more foot traffic into your store through the creative use of advertising, blogs, newsletters and more, Karl’s sessions will provide the foundation to do both.”

SHOT Show University is the premier event for firearms retailers. Seats are limited and this event will sell out, so retailers are urged to sign up now. Remember, NSSF Premium Retailers are offered a complimentary ticket to SHOT Show University. Additional tickets for both Premium Retailer members and all other NSSF members who wish to attend are $250 per ticket; non-members may attend for $500 per ticket. To learn more about SHOT Show University and its many sessions, click here. To upgrade your membership to the Premium Retailer level or to join at NSSF at the level that best serves your business needs, visit nssf.org/join or e-mail membership@nssf.org.

Two Newest Speakers to SHOT Show University to Address Veteran Retailer Needs

Our world is constantly changing, and today’s modern firearms dealer is anything but immune to those changes. Demographics shift, purchasing abilities go up and down and trends come and go—and if you’re not making the necessary adjustments to meet those challenges, your product is going to sit on your shelves and your business is going to suffer.

This is precisely why NSSF has an educational track devoted exclusively to driving sales in its SHOT Show University Lineup. We’ve already told you about expert business professionals Larry Mersereau and Gene Marks, scheduled to speak on topics such as digital marketing and market differentiation and content marketing. Now NSSF has added well-known firearms retailing veterans Doug VanderWoude and Miles Hall to the Drive Your Sales Lineup as the featured speakers for the all-important Power Promotions session.

In this session, VanderWoude and Hall will show retailers how to drive sales and increase margins and turns with a number of unique promotional ideas that the pair have developed over their combined 60-plus years of experience in the firearms industry.

“It’s not often the an FFL dealer gets to engage with successful, veteran retailers like Doug and Miles,” said Randy Clark, NSSF Managing Director, Business Development. “Not only do these have the ‘street cred’ to speak on what works, they have the profitable and long-standing successful businesses to back them up. Having gone through innumerable ups and downs during their tenure in the firearms business and come out ahead, their insight into what works and what doesn’t should prove invaluable to today’s retailers.”

Doug VanderWoude is a 32-year veteran of the retail firearms industry, having spent 29 of those years behind a gun counter. He started a firearms retail store with an indoor shooting range from scratch and was a charter member of the industry’s first performance group. He is a current and active member of the NSSF Range Committee. Today, VanderWoude is a firearms retail and range consultant who has visited more than 190 firearms retail facilities in the past 38 months. He has worked with multiple firearms companies on proven nationwide promotions that drive consumers into ranges, and he spends many of his days helping other firearms retailers improve traffic flow inside their stores and increase profitability.

Miles Hall is Founder and President of H&H Shooting Sports Complex in Oklahoma City. Started in 1981, H&H is a community educational and retail complex with a focus on developing and promoting shooting sports. The current facility houses 61 shooting lanes for Olympic air rifle and pistol, standard pistol, high-power rifle, and archery. H&H has been ranked as a top 10 dealer by the majority of major manufacturers in the shooting sports. Hall is a founding member and serves as past president of the Association of Shooting Ranges, is a founding member of the Association of Firearm Retailers, and a past board member of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. He was named 2004 Retailer of the Year by Shot Business Magazine. H&H was also selected for that magazine’s Range of the Year honor in 2006 and was the first facility to receive NSSF’s prestigious Five Star Range Rating. Inc. Magazine has selected H&H as one of the fastest growing, privately held business in the United States for the last seven years and is the only gun dealer ever on that list for four of those years.

SHOT Show University is the premier event for firearms retailers. Seats are limited and this event will sell out, so retailers are urged to sign up now. Remember, NSSF Premium Retailers are offered a complimentary ticket to SHOT Show University. Additional tickets for both Premium Retailer members and all other NSSF members who wish to attend is $250; non-members may attend for $500. To learn more about SHOT Show University and its many sessions, click here. To upgrade your membership to the Premium Retailer level or to join at NSSF at the level that best serves your business needs, visit www.nssf.org/join or e-mail membership@nssf.org.

SHOT Show University: Learn How to Hire the Right People from HR Pro Deb Kenney

DKenney Joining the growing list of talented speakers to engage listeners at the 2015 SHOT Show University, NSSF’s own Deb Kenney, Vice President, Human Resources and Administration, will bring her wealth of knowledge and decades of experience in employee recruitment, retention and management to the table.

“There are many experts in the field of human resources,” said Randy Clark, NSSF Managing Director, Business Development, “but when it comes to the highly specialized businesses that make up the firearms industry, none is more qualified than Deb Kenney. With more than 18 years at the helm of our own Human Resources Department, she has an intimate knowledge of how successful manufacturers, wholesalers, range owners and retailers profit through smart hiring practices. She truly understands the ins and outs of what our industry members do, and her insights into the core of those businesses—their employees—are invaluable.”

Kenney’s all-important presentation “Winning Teams Start with Great Players: Hiring Habits of Highly Successful Businesses” will provide SHOT Show University attendees an insider’s perspective on what makes a company successful. She will outline a roadmap on how to identify the right people for your business using behavior and attitude interviewing techniques. Attendees will learn the importance of culture, job fit and how to attract and retain exceptional employees.

“I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to talk to those attending the 2015 SHOT Show University and share why smart hiring practices should be implemented in their businesses—diminished turnover and training times, reduced product loss, increased morale, enhanced team coordination and an employee workforce that actually drives sales—as well as the steps any retailer can take to make smarter hiring choices and build a team of people who want to work for you.”

With extensive experience leading human resources, talent and organizational development, Kenney leads the human resources and administrative operations for the NSSF. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and is certified by the HR Certification Institute as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). Kenney is also a certified analyst for Activity Vector Analysis (AVA), a behavioral cross-industry, work-related behavioral assessment system. She is an experienced speaker and presents educational programs on a variety of human resources and management topics. As a Vice President for the NSSF, Kenney ensures that the strength and success of the Foundation is an exceptionally talented and experienced staff that successfully carries out the NSSF mission each and every day.

SHOT Show University is the premier event for firearms retailers. Seats are filling fast and this event will sell out, so retailers are urged to sign up now. Remember, NSSF Premium Retailer members are offered a complimentary ticket to SHOT Show University. Additional tickets for both Premium Retailer members and all other NSSF members who wish to attend is $250; non-members may attend for $500. To learn more about SHOT Show University and its many sessions, click here. To upgrade your membership to the Premium Retailer level or to join at NSSF at the level that best serves your business needs, visit nssf.org/join or e-mail membership@nssf.org.

Did You Know?

Premium Retailer members are offered a complimentary ticket to SHOT Show University. To learn more about this important benefit, click here.

NSSF ATF Experts Latest Speakers to Join SHOT Show University Lineup

The National Shooting Sports Foundation is pleased to announce that two of its leading compliance experts have joined the lineup of speakers for the 2015 SHOT Show University. Retired ATF agents Harry McCabe and Wally Nelson will be moderating five classes in the ATF Compliance Track. Topics for this track include:

How to identify errors in your 4473 forms and the ways to legally correct them.
Perfecting A&D book maintenance.
A review of the best compliance practices NSSF’s team of compliance consultants has seen across the thousands of site visits and inspections they’ve conducted.
What happens during an ATF inspection and how you and your store can best prepare for one.
The top 10 compliance issues ATF routinely encounters with today’s retailers and how you can ensure your store doesn’t make these same mistakes.

“More than any other topic we encounter during discussions with thousands of retailers across the country each year, how to stay on top of compliance is a primary concern,” explained Randy Clark, NSSF Managing Director, Business Development. “Our retailers truly want to make every effort they can to conduct their businesses in a completely legal manner, and that includes working to pass an ATF audit without any errors, making sure each and every Form 4473 transaction is completed accurately and that inventory records and firearms A&D books are both up to date and accurate. This is why we are so dedicated to providing these business owners with experts in the field of compliance like Harry McCabe and Wally Nelson. These two men alone bring nearly 70 combined years of ATF experience to the table to help our retailers negotiate the maze of regulations and compliance issues that go hand in hand with selling firearms.”

Harry McCabe has more than 36 years of service with the ATF under his belt. He began his career as an inspector in Raleigh, North Carolina, eventually becoming an area supervisor in Detroit and a branch chief at Headquarters. In 1998, he became Director, Industry Operations of the Nashville Field Division. During the 12 years he spent in that position, he oversaw more than 5,000 firearms qualification and compliance inspections and conducted approximately dozens of firearms industry educational seminars. In 2010, he became Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations, a position he maintained until he retired from ATF in June of 2012.

Wally Nelson is a retired ATF Deputy Assistant Director with more than 30 years experience. As DAD, he directed all regulatory firearms programs, including the development and monitoring of firearms inspection programs, licensing, NFA, imports, tracing and regulations, as well as the firearms technology branch. He retired from ATF in October 2005 and for the last nine years has brought his expertise in firearms laws and regulations to industry members as a private consultant. In that capacity, Nelson performs site inspections, provides employee training and helps develop compliance plans.

Both McCabe and Nelson are members of NSSF’s team of FFL compliance consultants available to our members for on-site consultations. Both men also frequently lecture at NSSF’s regional Retailer Seminars held throughout the year.

Registration for the 2015 SHOT Show University is open now, but seats are limited and this event will sell out. New this year, NSSF Premium Retail members are offered one complimentary ticket to attend this event. Additional tickets for Premium Retail members and tickets purchased by other NSSF members are $250. Non-members may attend SSU for $500. To register for the 2015 SHOT Show University, go to shotshow.org and log back into the show registration panel using the username and password you originally used to register to attend the show. Once logged in, you’ll find a full list of events and ticket prices. Not an NSSF member? Join here.

Renowned Business Author Tom Shay Joins SHOT Show University Speaker Lineup

NSSF is pleased to announce that expert small business owner and author Tom Shay will be presiding over four sessions of the 2015 SHOT Show University. These sessions include:

Merchandising and Maximizing Turns
Advertising Effectively: Your Ad Plan and Budget
Understanding Your Financials: There Are Dollars in the Details
Maximizing Your Store Layout

“While compliance is the leading concern of our retailers,” explained Randy Clark, NSSF Managing Director, Business Development, “there are many other topics important to running their businesses successfully. This is where Tom comes in. As a lifelong small business owner and the fourth generation to be involved in a family business, Tom has great insight into how to realize the potential in any store floor plan and how merchandise should be displayed within the space you have so that your customers see the products you have and they want. Getting these kinds of behind the scenes things down is what will keep product moving off your shelves and your cash flow up.

“Cash flow, of course, is part of any retailer’s overall financial picture, and that’s another subject Tom knows well. In his session on financials, he’ll help SSU attendees learn why they should drill down into their cash flow, fixed costs, overhead and more so that retailers get both the most for the money they need to spend and see ways to increase profits.

“Finally, Tom will address the value of advertising. Word of mouth used to be enough, and retailers still need that, but to be truly successful, they also need to utilize both the traditional methods of advertising, such as radio and newspaper ads, and the modern, such as social media and website placements. Tom will show this year’s SSU attendees how to discover which methods will provide the greatest outreach to your store’s community and produce the biggest results.”

Tom Shay has authored 11 books on small business management, a textbook on small business financial management, and he’s co-authored a book on retailer/vendor relations. During the past 18 years, he has written more than 400 management articles that have appeared in more than 70 national and international trade magazines. He is also the author of NSSF’s series of books specifically for firearms retailers, covering topics such as business plan writing, merchandising and financials, among others.

“Since the retailer books were first created by NSSF some 8 years ago,” said Tom Shay, “I have continually updated the content to reflect the changes that have occurred in retailing, as well as the changes that have occurred within the economy. I’ll bring those attending the 2015 SHOT Show University a wealth of these latest concepts.”

SHOT Show University is the premier event for firearms retailers. Seats are limited and this event will sell out, so retailers are urged to sign up now. Remember, NSSF Premium Retailers are offered a complimentary ticket to SSU. Additional tickets for both Premium Retail members and all other NSSF members who wish to attend is $250; non-members may attend for $500. To learn more about SSU and its many sessions, click here. To upgrade your membership to the Premium Retail level or to join at NSSF at the level that best serves your business needs, visit nssf.org/join or e-mail membership@nssf.org.

Business Growth Expert to Lead SHOT Show University Sessions

Adding to the growing list of expert business leaders lecturing at the 2015 SHOT Show University is professional consultant Larry Mersereau. Mersereau is an engaging and highly respected speaker with more than 20 years experience providing keynote and general session addresses and specialized training in breakout and workshop settings to corporations and associations. Through his consulting enterprise PromoPower, Mersereau has worked with companies such as American Express, Inc. Magazine and Yamaha Motorsports, with a focus on business growth through sale expansion, customer retention, branding and positioning, maximization of marketing returns and leadership growth.

Mersereau will guide two sessions of the 2015 SSU. The first, “Content Marketing in Cyberspace,” will teach attendees how to connect with your “virtual” customers, the ones who are shopping with retailers without actually going to brick-and-mortar establishments. This course will discuss marketing content, execution plans, budgeting, and metrics that allow you to assess your results once your cyberspace marketing plan has been implemented.

In Mersereau’s second session, “Stand Out, Differentiate or Disappear,” retailers will learn how to position their businesses to stand out in a crowd of similar entities as the go-to place in every customer’s mind. Attendees of this session will hear about Mersereau’s “Brand Ladder” that teaches business leaders how to move potential customers into their stores and turn them from one-time shoppers to repeat, loyal customers who, in turn, continue to help spreading the word about your business through social media personal recommendations to friends and family.

SHOT Show University is the premier event for firearms retailers. Seats are limited and this event will sell out, so retailers are urged to sign up now. NSSF Premium Retailers are offered a complimentary ticket to SSU. Additional tickets for both Premium Retail members and all other NSSF members who wish to attend is $250; non-members may attend for $500. To learn more about SSU and its many sessions, click here. To upgrade your membership to the Premium Retail level or to join at NSSF at the level that best serves your business needs, visit nssf.org/join or e-mail membership@nssf.org.

Business Expert Gene Marks Highlights SHOT Show University Classes

The NSSF is pleased to announce that columnist, book author and small business owner and expert Gene Marks will be hosting two segments of the 2015 SHOT Show University. Marks writes daily for The New York Times and weekly for Forbes, The Huffington Post, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur.com, FOX Business and Philadelphia Magazine. He’s authored five books on business management specifically geared toward small and medium-sized companies, the most recent being The Manufacturer’s Book of Lists (Create Space, 2013). A dynamic speaker, Marks has appeared on FOX News, FOX Business, Bloomberg and CNBC discussing matters affecting the business community.

Through his keynotes and breakout sessions, Marks helps business owners, executives and managers understand the political, economic and technological trends that will affect their companies, so they can make profitable decisions. He owns and operates the Marks Group PC, a highly successful 10-person firm that provides technology and consulting services to small and medium-sized businesses.

In his first segment at SSU, “How to Leverage the Power of Digital Marketing for Your Small Business,” Marks will discuss the many technological changes ahead everyone in the world of business faces. The next few years will bring big changes to how all businesses drive revenues, and Marks will address the decisions retailers should be making now so that they can increase revenues in the future.

In talking about these changes, Marks will tell you that it’s not just Google, Microsoft and Apple that are leading the wave. It’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media platforms, as well as the right kind of e-mail marketing, using video to connect to your prospects, taking advantage of new voice, chat and text tools to generate leads and using mobile tools for search, payment and relationship building. Marks’ questions to retailers: How are you touching your customers, your prospects? How are you making sure nothing falls through the cracks? What workflows have you created to make sure customers never leave? How are smart business owners leveraging the latest services, applications, devices and processes to maximize their revenues?

Marks’ second seminar is entitled “The Latest Ideas to Better Manage Your Cash Flow.” This presentation is for the owner and manager working in an established business and looking at the future—not next week or next month, but rather planning for the next few years. Marks explains that if you’re not thinking all the time about ways to manage your cash and grow your business, then there probably won’t be a business in the future. He emphasizes that if you think that your employees are as happy and productive as they’ll ever be, then this is where you’ll always be, and if you’re not always wondering about ways to reduce overhead and lower your costs, then someday someone is going to come along and out-think you.

During this fast-paced session, Marks will keep you on your toes with dozens of the latest methods and ideas for reducing expenses and building profits, i.e., generating more cash for your business. You’ll learn cost-effective ways for squeezing out more profits, boosting your bottom line and keeping more customers happy.