Phil Wrzesinski, Speaker, Author, Educator

Full-Day Workshops  (7-hour day)

Sample Topics:

Branding, Advertising and the Media (BAM): This full-day workshop will explode your knowledge of advertising and marketing while helping you find the message that will have the largest impact on your market. It starts with an uncovery process that helps you refine your brand and brand message. Once you know your message, you’ll evaluate all types of media including how they work, and more importantly, how they don’t, to help you find the best fit for your business. You’ll learn how to harness the power of Internet and the various social media. You’ll learn how to deliver your message in the most effective way for your market. You’ll also learn how to market your business on the cheap with eight different techniques that drive traffic without busting the budget. Finally, you’ll learn how to get free publicity from the local media. At the end of the day you’ll have a master’s degree in advertising that really works from an entrepreneur who spent millions of dollars of his own money to test these techniques.

Creating a Culture of Success: This full-day workshop covers everything you need to hire, train and nurture a Team for your business that rocks it every single day. You’ll learn the best way to find and hire new talent. You’ll learn how to set up a training program that creates consistency and excellence. You’ll learn the skills professional team builders use to work their magic at corporate retreats that you can use right in your store. You’ll learn how to create a culture that puts customers first and raises the bar of service beyond even your best customer’s expectations. At the end of the day you’ll have a blueprint of the perfect team and the tools you need to find, train and keep them.

Half-Day Workshops  (3-hour session)

Sample Topics:

The Ultimate Selling Workshop: This workshop takes the best elements from The Meet-and-Greet, Closing the Sale with Assumptive Selling, and How to Push for “Yes” (Without Being Pushy) and wraps them up into one power-packed session that includes training activities for your staff, hands-on activities that drive home each point, and a map to guide you to better selling. You’ll learn how to build long-term relationships, get the most out of every transaction, and even how to attract the best, most profitable customers to your store. 

This is How Ads Work In this workshop you’ll walk through all types of media including how they work, and more importantly, how they don’t. You’ll learn how to harness the power of Internet and the various social media. You’ll learn how to deliver your message in the most effective way for your market. You’ll also learn how to market your business on the cheap with eight different techniques that drive traffic without busting the budget.

Turning Your Staff Into a Work of Art In this workshop you’ll learn how to change your store’s focus from business-centric to customer-centric so that you can deliver a level of service that exceeds even your best customer’s expectations. You’ll learn how to find and hire new talent that puts you head and shoulders above your competition. You’ll learn how to train your staff in a way that makes them want to learn more, do more, and be more. 

Retail Math for the Mathematically Challenged Cash is King in retail. If you don’t know the math, you won’t know where your cash is hiding. This workshop teaches you the math you need to know in an easy-to-follow method to help you understand the financial health of your business and unlock the cash hidden in it. You will learn how to manage your inventory better, raise your profit margins without negatively affecting your sales, and put more money in the bank. 

Selling the Right Way From Beginning to End Salespeople are not born. They are created. Most often the reason people fail at selling is that they aren’t equipped with the right tools. Some are only trained on the opening. Some are only trained on the closing. Some only learn how to handle rejection. Some have only been taught gimmicks or tricks for getting people to buy. This workshop skips the tricks and gets right to the heart of the matter, teaching you techniques for building long-term relationships with customers that bring them back to your store again and again. You’ll learn how to Meet-and-Greet your customers, how to decipher the problem they are trying to solve, how to Curate their selection, and how to Close the Sale for good. You’ll learn how to Push for Yes when they first say No. Most importantly, you’ll learn techniques to train yourself and your team into the superstar salespeople you’ve always wanted.

(Note: Some of these topics are retail-specific. Many have crossovers into all small business segments. Whatever your industry, I can tailor something to meet your needs. I have done everything from 10-minute TED-style talks to keynotes to multi-day academies on a wide variety of topics for all types of small businesses. Contact me if you are looking for something different or if you are ready to pull the trigger.)

Breakout Sessions  (30-60 minute sessions)

Sample Topics:

Attracting and Selling to Millennials They are the largest generational group in the United States. They will control the spending for the next couple decades. They are more likely to shop local than even the Baby Boomers. But do you know how to attract them to your store? Do you know how to win their hearts (and subsequently their wallets)? This presentation will show you what makes them tick and what makes them walk. You’ll learn the keys to be the store they choose time and time again.

Attract, Hire, Train, and Retain Millennials Don’t believe what they say about this generation being lazy, self-absorbed, and entitled. Some of the hardest workers I have ever met have been Millennials. Find the right ones and treat them the right way and they’ll run through walls for you. This presentation shows you how to find them, train them, and motivate them to do their best. You want young go-getters on your team. This presentation shows you where they are.

Ten Mistakes That Sideline the Sale Looking for a new and fresh approach to raising the bar on Customer Service? This presentation will take you through ten common mistakes we all make, some we mistakenly think is offering better service, and how to correct them. You’ll learn better approaches, better phrases, better ways to turn your customers into fans and get them returning more often, with their friends in tow.

The Meet-and-Greet: Building the Relationship They say it is cheaper to keep a customer than to keep finding new ones, yet many retailers miss out on the crucial first step for creating long-term relationships. This presentation will show you when, where, and how to make that lasting first impression that turns your customers into your new best friends.

Close the Sale with Assumptive Selling Once the relationship is built, you have to go get the sale. This presentation gives you the skills to not only close far more sales but to also add-on the proper way to make your cash registers sing. You’ll learn new techniques that make customers happier to spend more with you. Plus, you’ll learn fun ways to teach and practice these skills with your front line staff.

How to Push for “Yes” (Without Being Pushy) No one likes a pushy salesperson. Yet sometimes customers need that nudge to get them to pull the trigger. This presentation shows you how to identify the most common objections and how to turn each No into a Yes time and time again. You’ll even learn how to turn Showrooming customers back into your customers. 

Get Your Customers Talking About You Word-of-Mouth is the most powerful form of advertising. This presentation shows you four simple, yet effective ways to generate word-of-mouth and get people to brag about your business to others.

Making Your Ads More Effective Whether you do print, broadcast or social media, this presentation shows you how to craft a stronger message that will get noticed and move the needle. Your advertising and your business will never be the same.

Main Street Marketing on a Shoestring Budget Not every business has tens of thousands of dollars to spend on advertising. If you have a limited budget, these seven techniques will get traffic through your door at minimal or no cost to you.

Raising the Bar to Go Viral Your Great Customer Service is no longer enough to get customers in the door. This presentation walks you through all the touch points you have with your customers and shows you how to raise the bar beyond Great to WOW them and make them come back for more – while they tell the world how wonderful you are!

Pricing for Profit Most businesses leave thousands of dollars on the table because they don’t understand the principles behind how to properly price their products or services. This presentation shows you how you can raise prices and increase unit sales by harnessing the power of perception. Learn these techniques and you’ll start making more money the very first day.

Financials You Can Understand You don’t have to be an accountant to understand your accounting (but it helps). This presentation breaks down the Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss (Income) Statement into understandable segments so that you can read them, understand them, and use them to manage your money.

Cash is King, You are the Adviser This presentation for retailers shows you more intuitive ways to manage your inventory levels to make sure you have the cash to pay your bills. You will learn how to structure an Open-to-Buy program, what numbers you need to be measuring, and simple tips that will improve your cash flow.

Selling in a Showrooming World The world of smart phones has taken showrooming to a new, brazen level. This presentation teaches you one eye-opening truth about these customers and shows you how to deal with showroomers the right way so that you can win back some of that business. You’ll walk away with insights and techniques that will raise your conversion rates through the roof.