Harold has created 18 different presentations to educate and stimulate employees as well as business leaders. Each seminar is fully customizable to fit your needs.

1) Customer Feedback... The Breakfast Of Champions

Most would agree that staying in close contact with the consumer is critical in determining their needs and wants. Yet, few businesses utilize the most fundamental customer feedback methods on a consistent basis.

This presentation showcases 10 affordable feedback methods which could be easily and quickly implemented. Once in place, the business owner can react more quickly to recover from challenging customer service issues which inevitably arise.

2) Drilling Down For Dollars

Some merchandising ideas to build sales are so obvious we sometimes smack ourselves in the head and say "Why didn't I think of that?"

Other ideas are more intricate. They require a plan and careful execution to achieve a sales lift.

This session drills down through 3 levels of effort: (easy, moderate, and involved). The good news is that all of the ideas work and require little more than a passion for retailing and a desire to try something new.

This newly developed session is a must for owner/operators and store managers who want to give their organization a boost in business.

3) Merchandising Magic

Old ideas not working as well as they once did? Is your business in serious need of a mega dose of some sort of stimulant?

The core of this session includes successful merchandising ideas from around the world readily adaptable to your operations. A very special segment will be devoted to teaching a proven method for successful implementation of these practical and effective ideas beginning with your next manager's meeting.

This stimulating session is a must for owners, store managers, and merchandisers who are tired of the same ole' anemic merchandising techniques.

4) Fishin' For Sales?... Better Bait The Hook

Minimal inflation, myriad new competitors, and merchandisers preoccupied with ECR, ABC, and category management... or worse, downsizing or merger-mania... no wonder sales are flat with few encouraging trends in sight. Meanwhile, your customers are being subjected to a shopping environment more and more devoid of sizzle. This tendency to move toward "plain vanilla" merchandising plays right into the hands of your competitors; the category killers, niche marketers and on-line operators.

• Get in-store merchandising techniques that stimulate more consumer spending and maximize sales.
• Discover merchandising ideas that can be effectively implemented in 1, 10 or 100 days.
• Learn ways to invigorate associates with new and exciting ways to sell.

5) Promoting A More Positive Price Perception

In a period when protecting an already razor thin bottom line is crucial to survival, retailers are not as anxious to roll back prices in response to a competitive threat as in years past.

Yet, recent FMI research suggests that price has made a dramatic rise toward the top of the list of reasons why shoppers choose a particular store. How can a retailer handle this seemingly Catch-22 scenario?

In this session, we will look at numerous creative ways in which you can create a more positive low price image without lowering prices. So "if perception is reality," this session offers you great hope to give your customers more of what they want without giving them more of what you can't afford.

Owners, company executives, and store managers will benefit from the concepts and ideas in this timely, thought-provoking session.

6) How To "Incentivize" Your Staff

Unlike the Energizer Bunny, our employees don’t seem to keep on going and going and going. They need to be recharged regularly and in different ways. Some need a push to make their budgets. Others need added inspiration just to show up each day.

So, how do savvy managers energize their staff? By “incentivizing” them with specific rewards for above average performance - that can take the form of a pat-on-the-back, cash, time off, and opportunities for personal development.

This stimulating session, designed for operations executives and store managers will be a unique blend of lecture, case study, and group participation. The goal of the session is to develop a thorough list of practical, effective methods of "incentivizing" your individuals on your team.

7) Creative Ways They Rip You Off!

With our relentless focus on sales, it might be a good idea for us to revisit the latest methods thieves are using to fleece us out of our profits.

Holding on to a bigger percentage of what we already have has always been more cost effective than trying to build new business. But do you watch the back door? Or the front door? And now they're using the internet and who knows what else.

Attend this session and learn where the holes are in your profit bucket and ways to plug them.

8) Why Restaurants Are Winning

Any competitor is worth watching. But one who has successfully eroded your business for over a decade is one to study. The restaurant industry is unique to its supermarket cousins in many distinct and enviable ways. Like a football team who may be bigger or faster, restaurants possess traits that will allow them to dwarf supermarket growth long into the future unless more is done.

Harold’s background as a supermarket operator and now as a restaurant owner has allowed him to make the close comparisons and to suggest some of the clues as to why the restaurants have grown so consistently at the expense of the supermarket industry.

9) Creating A Great First & Lasting Impression

The first and last impressions of your store have almost nothing to do with your products or your prices. In fact, a large part of your store’s image is formed out in the parking lot and around the checkout area.

So, what message is your store sending? Friendly or apathetic? Clean or cluttered? High priced or competitive? Fun or boring? The images go on and on. But do they complement your desired marketing strategy? You do have control over the image you’re sending but are you conveying your desired image?

This session will look at fabulous and fatal first and lasting store impressions and offer suggestions on how to deliver appropriate and desirable messages to your customers.

The issues addressed will benefit owners, industry executives, and store managers.

10) Uh Oh! Here Comes The Super Center! What's Next?

It has been said, “If you are forced to make major operational changes in the face of an imminent, new competitor, especially a super center, it is probably too late.”

Our research has identified 10 key qualifiers which must be adroitly managed in order to survive a Super Center’s onslaught!

This session is a quantitive self-assessment. It will measure the likelihood of survival when the Big Box chooses to nestle in your neighborhood. So, before it’s too late, learn where to spend your time, energy, and money in an effort to develop a truly defensible market position.

The issues addressed will benefit owners, industry executives, and store managers.

11) 10 Top Retailers… 10 Top Tactics to Top Last Year's Sales

How do they do it…and keep on doing it? Walgreens, Publix, Southwest, Costco…seems they never have bad (sales) news to report.

The common denominator among these perennial leaders is that they all have the enviable advantage of “owning” (at least) 5 Strategic Points of Difference that are solidly positioned atop the minds of their customers. This session will highlight each company’s 5 Strategic Points of Difference and demonstrate how they are used to “wow” their customers.

The goal of this seminar is to inspire the attendees to develop their own Strategic 5 Points of Difference and to give them the tools to do it in the days, months, and years ahead.

Target Audience:
Senior retail managers, service merchandisers, and manufacturer’s representatives will be entertained and enlightened by the retailing principles showcased in this seminar.

12) In Search of Freshness (Store-wide)

How do customers define 'Fresh'? What are they looking at when they judge a store "really fresh" or "not exactly?" Hundreds of interviews have yielded some key flashpoints in a store that impact its fresh image the most.

Learn about these flashpoints and ways to merchandise them to your advantage in your quest to differentiate yourself from the competition.

13) The Top 10 Most Common Store Design Mistakes
And How to Fix Them

It’s been said, “Build it and they will come.” But will they stay? And more importantly, will they come back?

Designing a store is a complex process that should blend the thoughts of management with the demands of today’s customers. Why then, are there design features in stores today that drive customers crazy and or out of the store?

This session attempts to identify 10 common store design mistakes and ways to remedy them.

This session is most appropriate for store owners, company executives, store designers, and store managers.

14) 10 of the Best Private Label Promotions Ever

One of the most talked about strategies to compete in retailing today is through an aggressive Private Label Program. Bottles, boxes, cans, and jars are all the same in all the stores UNTIL you put YOUR name on it. A "signature line" of products that no one else has. A "legal monopoly".

But what are the most effective ways to promote a Private Label Program? this session will showcase 10 of the Best Private Label promotions ever. Some are imaginative, others are text book basic. All work with high powered results.

This session is ideal for store managers, buyers and category managers, and all top executives responsible for driving private label sales.

15) Merchandising Magic II

Millions of customers enter our stores each week. Advertising, habit, and impulse bring them in but what makes them stay? And what impacts their behavior while inside the store? In short, why do they buy what they buy and how can we get them to buy more? Trying to figure this out with reliable data to back it up is like herding cats.

Nevertheless, we observed over 1,000 customers in several stores across the United States in an attempt to learn some answers to these questions. Can we influence shoppers to stay longer, cover more sq. footage and buy more?

Learn how a customer traffic study will change the way you merchandise your aisles and grow sales. We’ve discovered some simple tactics that can positively impact your customers’ movement through the store and their buying behavior. Come see what we’ve learned.