LEVEL UP YOUR EXPERTISE

Terrance K. Resnick and Leon B. Resnick, Resnick Succession Group
This seminar focuses on strategies for the most difficult challenges facing independent business owners in preserving and transitioning their companies. Topics include the importance of understanding various legal documents, valuations, and liquidity planning, and the differences between them. You’ll learn how to fully understand your existing planning, or how to address your objectives effectively if no planning is in place.

Gina Schaefer, A Cool Hardware Company
Learn the key tenets of building a positive corporate culture and the lessons learned from diverse and inspiring sources. Discover how to foster a culture that starts from the top and permeates throughout your organization. Explore how to implement internal branding, how to infuse trust and transparency, and which data to track and act on.

Arel Moodie, Reed Oak LLC
Learn how to transform your customer development approach into an unstoppable force by meeting customers where they are and leading them toward what’s possible. You’ll leave this session with a clear framework for loyalty-building experiences, insights into how to help customers achieve shared goals, and meaningful experiences that customers cherish.

Skiler Lehman, Corbin Prows, and Jenna Magnuson, Do it Best Group
Discover how to grow your sales by leveraging the strength of the True Value brand through coordinated marketing and ecommerce execution. This session highlights how brand campaigns paired with omnichannel planning work together to attract customers and convert awareness into purchases. You’ll learn how to better position your business using True Value programs, maximize the value of the True Value name, and build a stronger online and in-store customer experience.

Dan Reed, Sherwin-Williams
Learn the right questions to ask your paint customers to ensure desired results and prevent issues before they happen. Explore how to handle common paint complaints, guide customers through existing problems, and offer top suggestions on surface prep that will surely lead to great results.

Jenna Schmitt, Elizabeth Duncan, and Jacob Chandler, Do it Best Group
Discover powerful ways to elevate your business with our integrated training team. Unlock proven strategies and cutting-edge tools designed to help your store thrive in a competitive marketplace. Gain insider access to programs like College of Retail Education (CORE) and Leadership Development Institute (LDI) and get an in-depth look at our new online learning platform. Don’t miss your chance to invest in your team’s and your store’s future.

Curtis Gillman, Legacy Retail Advisors 
‍Succession planning is more than choosing a successor. Learn how operational, emotional, and financial preparedness—along with developing leaders and reducing owner dependence—can strengthen your business today and ensure a successful transition tomorrow. This session will place particular emphasis on developing bench strength, reducing owner dependence, and preparing both outgoing and incoming leaders for a successful transition.

Arel Moodie, Reed Oak LLC
‍Humans aren’t chaotic, but predictable, and we all progress through sequential stages of development. This session provides a roadmap for you and your team’s growth and a proven framework for uniting teams through every challenge. You’ll gain the confidence to lead them to achieving their goals, no matter what stage of development they’re in.

Stefanie Couch, Grit Blueprint
While the big guys bet on scale, smart independent operators use AI to run leaner and punch above their weight. Learn how to put AI to work from the yard to the front office. Discover how it sharpens pricing and inventory, strengthens marketing, and turns leads into customers. You’ll leave with the prompts and playbooks to compete harder and build a company that’s impossible to overlook.

Regan Vorndran and Nick Flores, Do it Best Group
Suggested ordering is one of the most powerful time-saving capabilities built into your POS system. When your inventory and processes are set up correctly, it can dramatically reduce the time spent on building orders while improving in-stock position and inventory accuracy. In this session, we dive deep into the key processes and inventory practices that allow suggested ordering to work the way it was designed.

Jennifer Zerwer, Do it Best Group, and Tim Quebedeaux, Retail KPI & The Garden Center Group Service Provider
Optimize the hottest 8-12 weeks of the spring selling season using transaction data metrics and industry trends across 25 categories. Discover how much to order, how to price right and promote, and create the most successful outdoor gardening category for your region. Leave with key takeaways to implement immediately as well as important garden center business segment updates.

Kim Peffley, Nation’s Best Holdings
What if your team could better understand customers within 30 seconds of interacting with them? Learn practical tips and tools to quickly identify customer styles—by observing pace, tone, body language, and the first words they use—and adjust your approach in real time. The result is a more personalized shopping experience that builds trust, improves services, and drives sales. Gain simple, actionable tools your team can use immediately to better serve customers, increase sales, and create interactions they won’t forget.

Erin Stimmell-Clark, Do it Best Group
This panel session is made up of store owners who are experienced in the multi-store journey. Interview questions cover the decision process from beginning to end, such as what went well, bumps along the way, surprises, preparation, and change. Listen to their stories from the road—from the leap to success.