Area business owners and community leaders have a unique opportunity to hear nationally known destination marketing expert and small business strategist Jon Schallert on Oct. 15. Schallert will share his 14-step strategy to becoming a “destination business” during a one-day program at Menominee Casino Resort Conference Center.
Schallert will present his business improvement session, “Increase Sales and Profits as a Destination Business,” from 8-11:15 a.m. The presentation will be followed by a marketing roundtable from 12:30-1:30 p.m. and one-on-one consultations for local businesses.
The workshop is presented by the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce, Shawano County Economic Progress Inc. and Shawano Country Vision 2017. The cost, which includes lunch, is $49 for Shawano County businesses and chamber members and $79 for all others. Sponsorships are also available.
For registration or information, contact the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce at 715-524-2139 or chamber@shawano.com.
Schallert’s sessions teach independent business owners how to turn their businesses into consumer destinations that attract customers from many miles away, past other competitive outlets. Schallert’s workshop also shows businesses how to get local consumers to spend more money locally and how to stop “retail leakage.”
Schallert’s consulting firm, The Schallert Group Inc., is noted for providing competitive tools to independent business owners that are typically used exclusively by large corporate chains to dominate a marketplace.
“The challenge for any business today, regardless of its location and surrounding demographics, is to create such a compelling offering that it is repeatedly visited by consumers,” Schallert said. “For a business to be a true destination, it must also draw customers both locally and from out-of-town.”
To illustrate how even businesses in demographically challenged areas can transform into destination operations, he provides numerous real-life examples from retail stores, restaurants, service-related businesses, professional practices and Internet websites. His examples include his own experience at Hallmark Cards, where he was part of the reinvention of the Hallmark Card Shops, rolling out the destination-store concept in 5,200 stores nationwide. The successful strategy increased traffic in stores, the distance from which customers traveled to shop in the stores, the amount of time they spent in the stores and the total amount of their purchases.
Schallert will share techniques for increasing sales, profits and customer traffic; implementing customer services that matter; social networking beyond Facebook and Twitter; improving business appearance; marketing and advertising; employing new media tactics not commonly used yet by small businesses; and getting free publicity.
Schallert promises participants will “walk out with a whole laundry list of things to do that will give you an advantage over your competitors.”
“To be able to see and learn from a speaker of Jon Schallert’s caliber so close to home is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Kathy Hansen, owner of Body Essentials in downtown Shawano.
Hansen has attended Schallert’s Destination Marketing Boot Camp in Colorado two times. His boot camp fee is $1,400, plus travel and lodging expenses.
“I believe any business person who attends this workshop will leave with the knowledge to become more profitable,” Hansen said. “I credit what I have learned from Jon’s knowledge and expertise as a big part of why my business has continued to grow.”
Schallert has been working with independent business owners since 1983, and contributes his business strategies to national publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Entrepreneur Magazine. He speaks and consults with thousands of entrepreneurs annually.
For more about Schallert, visit www.jonschallert.com.