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

DKenneyJoining 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.

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.