Rick Segel, CSP, a seasoned retailer of 25 years, owned one of New England's most successful independent woman's specialty stores. He is the marketing expert for Staples.com, a contributing writer for numerous national publications, and a founding member of the Retail Advisory Council for Johnson & Wales University. Rick is the Director of Retail Training for the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. He is the creator of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts Awards of Excellence Program (RAMAEs) that has recognized over 50 of the most innovative retailers in the state.
Rick is currently serving on the Boards of Directors for five corporations and associations. After authoring and developing The Retail Technology Assessment Survey and The Retail Store Assessment Survey, online assessment applications designed for small to medium sized retailers, he created The Retailer's Advantage, a membership website devoted to helping independent retailers improve their businesses.
Rick holds the CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) designation from the National Speakers Association, an elite rank held by only 7% of professional speakers. Rick is a past President of the New England Speakers Association and he has been a featured speaker in 49 states, on four continents, delivering over 1900 presentations.
Rick has authored nine books, two training videos, and a six‐hour audio program. Retail Business Kit for Dummies, published by Wiley, Inc., became the #1 selling retail how‐to book in the United States in January 2002 and is now in its 2nd edition. Laugh & Get Rich: How to Profit from Humor in any Business, published by Specific House, has been critically acclaimed as a must read for its insightful outlook at our entertainment based society, and has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. The Essential Online Solution: The Five Step Formula for Small Business Success, published by Wiley, Inc. is a primer for business owners on creating ecommerce success. He is also the author of Rick Segel’s Retail InventoryControl Solution: Open to Thrive and The 5000 BEST Sale & Promotional Names & Ideas Ever Compiled, co‐author of Retailing in the 21st Centuryand most recently, he authored WOW Them into Your Store: The Art and Science of Creating Powerful Promotions and Sensational Sales and Becoming the Vendor of Choice: The Secrets to Powerful Retail Relationships, both published by Specific House.
Rick also has much experience with the media and has appeared on TV, radio, and in many print articles. His down to earth, humorous, streets‐smart approach to business makes him a crowd pleaser wherever he goes.
Speech Topics:
1) Service Is Selling and Selling Is Service
Service and selling are interchangeable, yet many of us tend to separate these two functions. When we are servicing well, we are selling well. And when the customer is being sold the proper merchandise, they are being serviced well. Selling is not a word to be avoided--it is the heartbeat of our businesses. We provide exceptional customer service in order to generate sales. But if customer service personnel can’t recognize sales opportunities, then we are missing one of the key elements of our service initiatives. Learn how these skills come together to create the ultimate customer experience.
Rick Segel uses his front line retail expertise to add the “sell” into servicing with fun, memorable and easy to use selling cues.
o Learn fun based techniques that serve as a vehicle to customer delight
o Learn ways to interchange the selling and servicing principles
o Learn the principle of “Effective Suggestive Selling”
2) Maximizing The Customer…A System That Will Turn Everyday Customers into Fanatic Followers
Customers love to buy but hate to be sold. Maximizing the Customer ™ enables the store personnel to acquire the skills to make multiple sales while having the customer appreciate their efforts. However, in times like these where we will be seeing fewer customers, we also need to develop techniques that will position the customer as a true business asset. The strategies are as basic as asking the customer where they have shopped and what they have been impressed with to utilizing the customer on advisory boards. The techniques also include surveying the customer and learning how to generate customer referrals.
You will learn:
o How to turn customers into referral generating fans
o The techniques of soft, suggestive selling
o How to effortlessly create free mystery shoppers who can become a wealth of competitive ideas
o How to tap into your customers’ own business savvy
o The G.R.E.A.T. System of Selling
3) Effective Suggestive Selling
The days of the high pressure “shake the customer until all the money comes out” way of selling is over. No one wants to be sold anymore, but they all want help in buying. This program redefines selling into a non-threatening suggestion driven soft approach that will increase store morale and improve sales personnel’s attitudes while the customers are buying more than ever before. It is for both the experienced pro and the newest rookie, designed in Rick's classic laugh and learn style.
o Increase sales effectiveness
o Learn the multiple sales mindset for extraordinary results
o Boost the fun and reduce fear of follow up
o Discover ways to quietly WOW your customers and keep them coming back
4) Customer Service…Who Needs It?
Service is the ultimate differentiator. But good service represents different things to different people. This program will explore not only those different perceptions and the universal expectations, but will also help you see how the customer defines customer service. This program is about service but the results are all about attracting and keeping customers and clients for life! It includes:
o Learn why service is selling and selling is service
o Learn the effect of the likeability factor in customer service
o Learn how to handle the most challenging customers and turn them into fanatic followers
o Learn the 60 Second Formulas for Service, Selling, and Management that will change the way you look at service forever
o Learn the Key Buying Motivations that are the basis of customer service