The Strategic Management Forums are two-hour breakout sessions with a combination of standup instruction and facilitated group discussions in which you will develop tactical materials that can be implemented in your business. This year, each forum will focus on a different strategy that relates to the various elements of the One-Page Strategic Plan. At the end of the conference, these strategies will be brought together to help you organize and strengthen your business’s plan. As a result, you will leave CEDIA Management Conference with the motivation and tools it takes to build a stronger, more profitable, and more connected business.
CEDIA Certified Instructors and senior CEDIA Volunteers will moderate these forums to ensure that every participant receives the highest level of education and leaves the conference with innovative ideas and solid takeaways.
Creating Teams: A Blueprint for High Performance Employee Productivity
Facilitator: Keith Cottrell - Electronics Design Group, Inc.
Every successful business structure encompasses strong individual employees, teams, and team building. Solid teams and systems are the foundation of high performance organizations and developing those teams is a process that takes effort and consistent discipline. Such team development requires dedication and hard work, but is extremely rewarding to those who are willing to pay the price. The purpose of this session is to provide an overview of what is involved in building and maintaining high performance teams. In this forum you will learn:
• The definition of a high performance team and how it differs from a traditional work group
• The three elements of high performance teams
• Four types of teams
• The stages of team development
Effective Down Market Promotions
Facilitator: Molly Gibson - Overflow Marketing Inc.
Adapt your sales message into compelling promotions that inspire action even in a downward economic environment. You’ll learn first hand how to reconfigure your message so you successfully connect to today’s hybrid-minded consumer. Learn how to read shifts in customer purchasing to effectively repackage your brand into marketing campaigns. As a result you will gain increased target audience visibility and sales opportunity.
• Define your personal brand to effectively target the right medium to market your business
• Create persuasive campaigns by reflecting who you are - not just what you sell - at every point of customer contact
• Reflect change starting with - your logo and tag line, emphasis of your website, and the benefits of bundling your services
• Strengthen your on-going relationships with customers to increase add-on business and solicit referrals
From Shareholder to Stakeholder: Building Teams with Vision and Purpose
Facilitators: Gigi Dryer - Sonance & Steve Firszt - Fast-Forward Business Coaching
You don’t want to own a job; you want to own a business. This requires empowered employees who embrace teamwork and productivity, and who are motivated to help your company achieve its goals. During this dynamic workshop, you will discover and explore:
• The difference between entrepreneurs and employees
• How your company’s values and purpose help attract – and keep – the right people
• The importance of goal-setting, goal-sharing, and regular review
• What, Why, How, and When: Coaching for success
• Rewards: Much more than just a paycheck
Maintenance Agreements Equal Monthly Residual Income and Equity for Your Business
Facilitator: John Baumeister - Baumeister Electronic Architects
Maintenance agreements are not extended warranties or service plans. A maintenance agreement, with a set monthly fee paid by the customer, covers system preventative care, trip charges, and system performance diagnostics. These agreements are created by the integration business in the event their system fails or does not operate at peak performance after the customary 90-day period expires. It is important to maintain these systems at peak performance while simultaneously letting the client know what is covered and not covered after the system installation is complete – limiting your liability for post-sale service calls typically expected by the client at no charge.
• Benefits and costs of providing maintenance agreements
• What is typically covered and what is not
• How to price and sell maintenance agreements
• How to execute a maintenance agreement operationally
• Additional sales opportunities post system completion
The One-Page Strategic Plan
Facilitator: Marilyn Sanford - La Scala
Are you running your business, or is it running you? Every business should have a business plan. Yes, even a one-man operation. In this session you’ll learn the importance of proper planning and how to build a plan that you’ll actually use and that will actually work. The One-Page Strategic Plan will introduce you to a planning model that guides you through a strategic planning process, taking you from the big picture down to the next right move. It provides step-by-step guidelines for practical procedures to efficiently implement a strategic plan in your business. You will leave this session with the foundations for developing your strategic plan.
• Introduction to the One-Page Strategic Plan
• Keys to aligning your team around a common purpose
• An interactive session that introduces you to a practical process for strategic planning in your business
Sharing Sales Strategies
Facilitator: Matt Carter - Encore Technology + Design
Is there a definitive approach to the art of selling? Of course not. With so many subjective elements involved in a sale, it is challenging to choose the right selling process for your business. Personalities, expectations, performance, price-budget, and more will all be discussed in this engaging session which is designed to help conference attendees develop an effective consultative selling process for their business. At a time when competition for the luxury sale is not another CEDIA member, but rather the jeweler, travel agent, and exotic car sales person, Sharing Sales Strategies will provide you with walk-away ideas you can use today.
• Develop new sales techniques and strategies
• Learn how others implement non-traditional sales into their projects
• Glean some unusual techniques to the art of luxury selling
• Understand the opportunities available for selling into emerging markets
