Learn from the best in the business and enhance your skillset at free Knowledge Central sessions on Friday, September 5.
Session details coming soon.
Whitney Bandemer, WB Consulting
Strong, productive teams don’t just happen. They’re developed by leaders who know how to connect with people. Explore how Emotional Intelligence (EI) can transform the way you lead, communicate, and bring out the best in your team. Whether you’re leading a team or an entire store, you’ll walk away with practical strategies to strengthen your leadership and build a team that works.
Rod Bristol, Profit Soup
Create a five-year plan based on an owner’s desired sale price and learn what is required in sales and profits to achieve it. Explore how businesses are valued through a store case study that demonstrates how growing sales and profit lift business value.
Michael Roise, Epicor
Discover how classifying customers by profitability, revenue, loyalty, and cost to serve (CTS) can drive smarter business decisions for your lumber yard. This session will explore how Customer Stratification leads to better inventory management and optimized pricing strategies–helping you maximize returns on your sales and service efforts.
Gregg Barratt, Communico
Learn how to establish strong, mutually beneficial vendor partnerships through clear communications, relationship building, setting realistic expectations, and proactively addressing issues.
Dan Reed, True Value
Learn about all the products offered by your paint factory and how you can utilize them to be more competitive and add profit to your store.
Scott Morrison, Do it Best
Discover how to streamline your lumber yard, home center, or manufacturing facility using proven tools and procedures. Explore practical strategies to reduce waste, improve workflow, and maximize efficiency. Walk away with the tools to create a more organized, efficient, and customer-friendly operation.
Cody Goeppner, NHPA
In the home improvement industry, tools and materials might sell the job, but it’s the people who bring customers back. This session explores the often overlooked yet highly impactful soft skills that transform new hires into high-performing, customer-centric professionals. Learn how to develop employees who not only represent the brand well but also enhance the overall customer journey.
Lindsay Boccardo, Lindsay Boccardo Training & Coaching
Leadership has changed dramatically–where we used to have top-down authority, we now see leaders creating conversations with those they are leading. Explore the expectations that different generations have around leadership and how listening and collaborating in teams are now the benchmarks of a progressive workplace culture.
Linda Swindling, Journey On Speaking & Training
Constant complainers take up resources, time, and mental bandwidth in the workplace. Changing even one complainer to a contributor can improve communication, boost morale, and increase productivity. Explore reasons why people are creating drama so that you can diffuse conflicts and address problems productively.
Randall Sheehe, Emser Tile
Design is a work of passion. Creating spaces that are as beautiful as they are functional does not happen by accident. This session explores design and color trends as well as provides an overview of installation basics including a how-to for shower systems and waterproofing.
Skiler Lehman & Corbin Prows, Do it Best
This session is NOT about why you need to have an online presence. This session is about strategies, tactics, and operational execution to be successful in driving online sales AND customers into your retail locations.
Rob Williams, Do it Best
Explore the current state of the market with lumber mill representatives during an interactive session that addresses member and retailer concerns through Q&A.
Thom Taylor, Epicor
Take control of your inventory with the powerful tools built into Epicor Eagle. This session walks through the full lifecycle of inventory management–from purchasing and receiving to shelf management, pricing, and location coding. Learn how to maintain a healthy balance of high-volume and high-margin items while identifying and managing dead inventory.
Dan Reed, True Value
Learn how to make your paint department a paint destination by learning how to sell paint, not just mix it. Explore how to utilize the “5 Ps of Retailing” to not only grow your paint sales but make your store a paint destination.
Linda Swindling, Journey On Speaking & Training
More than ever, business owners and leaders must know how to effectively negotiate in order to be successful. In this presentation, you will learn how to become a better negotiator and leader through research-backed tactics and proven strategies that work in real life. Harness the power of positive influence, persuasion, and negotiation.
Stefanie Couch, GRIT Blueprint
Learn to use technology to transform every aspect of your business. This session will explore the latest AI updates and enhancements, covering everything from streamlining operations and improving customer service to boosting social media strategies and training programs.
Mark Campbell & Corbin Prows, Do it Best
Join your Do it Best team to learn about the features and functions of Member Catalog.
Jenna Magnuson & Jessica Jancik, True Value
This is a great session for both Do it Best members and True Value retailers. When local ownership meets national branding, the result is a powerful combination of community connection and consumer trust. It allows independent retailers to tap into marketing power and nationwide credibility that would be difficult to build alone, while still meeting their community's needs. This presentation explores how the strength of a unified brand can drive individual store success and create a competitive edge in any market.
Leon B. Resnick & Terrance K. Resnick, Resnick Succession Group
Typically, the more successful business owners become, they also become more vulnerable. Learn about the 1/1/2026 federal estate tax law change that could have a direct impact on the wealth and future health of your business. Explore why profitable businesses fail, the importance of coordinating business succession plans with estate plans, liquidity issues, and more.
Chad Jordan, Eulerity
Learn easy-to-implement ideas for using digital marketing tactics to attract new customers and get repeat business. Discover secrets from digital marketing professionals that are NOT complicated to implement, including the Online “Gold Mine,” free methods for increasing online visibility, and next-level strategies for net-level results.
Dave Gowan, NHPA
This seminar will present attendees with highlights from the latest version of the NHPA Cost of Doing Business Study (CODB). Learn how the industry’s best-in-class retailers are consistently delivering stronger bottom-line results by better managing their operations and focusing on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Identify which KPIs can make the greatest impact and how to use the CODB to create a roadmap for improvement and the secrets of the industry’s top performers.