Retail conference to inform, inspire

MRA’s 5th Annual Retail Education Conference is fast approaching.

On March 5, retailers and retail experts will gather at Soaring Eagle Resort in Mt. Pleasant to share new ideas, strategies and insights for prospering in Michigan’s challenging economy.

This year’s conference will feature new speakers and past favorites with valuable, new topics.

Mike Crosson, of M Crosson Associates, a popular speaker at past MRA conferences, will return with a new seminar entitled “Give Your Customers A Mini-Vacation.” Crosson will explore the concept of retail tourism by showing how any retailer can give customers a fun, relaxing, memorable shopping experience.

In “The Procrastinator’s Guide to Succession Planning,” two new speakers will bring humor and insight to the problem of planning for business succession. Richard Gibbs, of Gibbs Wealth Management Group, and Dennis Blender, of Blender Consulting Group—each with years of experience helping family-owned businesses—will show how to overcome the hurdles that cause business owners to put off this daunting but necessary task.

Other conference speakers include: Mitzi Taylor, of Not So Basic Training, who will explain the importance of treating customers as partners instead of the enemy; and Susan Negen, of Whiz-bang Training, who together with her husband, Bob, have published an insightful new book, Retail Marketing in the Internet Age (see review, left). Negen will lead two different sessions, one on building a top-notch staff and the other on how any retailer can harness the power of the Internet and e-mail marketing to grow his or her business.

A registration brochure with detailed information on the conference was mailed to all members in mid January and can be dowloaded from our website here.