ssu – SHOT Show Blog

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.

Special Featured Speaker Announced for 2015 SHOT Show University

Patrick Houlahan, Senior Consultant

The National Shooting Sports Foundation is pleased to announce that renowned former U.S. Marine fighter pilot instructor Patrick “Lips” Houlahan will be the featured speaker for the closing session of this year’s SHOT Show University (SSU). Now working as a senior consultant with strategic business training organization Afterburner, Inc., Houlahan brings a wealth of leadership and management expertise to the table, and his dynamic presentations keep audiences captivated.

“Plan, brief, execute, debrief. That’s the recipe for success for high-performing teams around the world. It works in the business of combat and it works in the shooting, hunting and outdoor business,” explained Houlahan. “The Afterburner team of consultants will teach you how to harness the power of Flawless Execution℠, starting with planning. You’ll learn the Six Steps to Mission Planning and apply them to all facets of your business. You’ll also learn about the power of STEALTH Debriefing℠. How many times have you heard a person admit they made a mistake? Let’s face facts: It takes a strong ego to succeed in business, and strong egos don’t like to admit mistakes. When that happens, your team never has a chance to learn from experience. Performance stays flat, and you never have a chance to address the root causes of lost business. In this keynote, my team and I will teach you how to use the STEALTH Debrief module to glean lessons learned and accelerate the experience of your entire team, while learning how to boost performance.

“Keeping jets in the air takes a staff of hundreds, coordinating, communicating and executing flawlessly. It takes a mindset to make this happen that many businesses don’t have,” Houlahan explained. “We help your team understand and begin to develop that mindset. Walking away from an Afterburner program, your team will be completely aligned behind your goals, ready to take action and improve business performance and management.”

“We are very grateful to have a speaker like Patrick ‘Lips’ Houlahan bringing his extensive management expertise to our retailers at SSU,” said Patrick Shay, NSSF Director, Retail Development. “This is a rare opportunity for our front-line industry retail leaders to learn what highly successful business planning looks like and how the principles Afterburner developed—and as they’re used by companies like PepsiCo, NFL teams, J.W. Marriott and more—will work for every firearms seller, from the small-town mom-and-pop shop to the big-box giant. This is must-see, must-hear material for every retailer in our industry.”

SHOT Show University is open to all retailers, but seating is limited, and this event is always an early sell-out. Tickets to the 2015 event are $250 for NSSF members and $500 for non-members. To show our appreciation to all our Premium Retailer Members, those members are eligible to receive one complimentary ticket. For more information on SHOT Show University, go to shotshow.org/education/. To upgrade your membership to a Premium Retailer level or to join the NSSF at whatever level that best suits your business needs, go to membership section of nssf.org.

Smith & Wesson Is Platinum Level Education Sponsor for SHOT Show University

Smith & Wesson^®returns as the top-tier sponsor of SHOT Show^® University^SM, the education seminar for firearms retailers that will take place in conjunction with the 2014 Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show).

We greatly appreciate Smith & Wesson’s generous support as the Platinum Level Education Sponsor for industry’s largest professional development opportunity for firearms retailers—SHOT Show University.

More than 300 firearms retailers will attend the 2014 SHOT Show University at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas on Jan. 13, the day prior to the beginning of the four-day SHOT Show. Expert speakers and strategic breakout sessions will provide firearms retailers and their staffs with training and education that will help them operate their businesses and service their customers more effectively.

Educational tracks include ATF Compliance, marketing, retail operations and range operations.

Learn more about course lineups, scheduling and registration at SHOT Show University.

Chris Dolnack is senior vice president and chief marketing officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.