Forte Buying Group gives its members new material, chances to learn at summer meeting.
Jeff Valles and Tom Cohn have delivered strong content at Forte Buying Group meetings for a long time. Valles – Forte’s director of membership services – believed the group’s summer meeting was going to follow a typical schedule; seminars, workshops and receptions. But in the end Valles felt the July meeting in Rosemont, Ill., was the perfect time to shake things up.
“There has been a dramatic shift in retail during the past five years. Forte is convinced you can’t continue to go to market using the same tried-and-true approaches that the industry has leaned on in the past,” he said. “Instead of doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results, we wanted to look inward to better understand how peers within Forte are responding to a new market paradigm and to learn from one another what’s working and what isn’t.”
Forte focused on the practical functions of technology and social media for its members’ businesses. The second day of meetings at The Westin O’Hare opened with wholesalers and kitchen and bath showroom operators filling up the hotel’s State Room. The conference room was overrun with attendees for the “Using Tablets in the Showroom and Beyond” seminar, which had to be moved to a larger hall in order for everyone to have a seat.
Recently, Forte created a partnership with its manufacturer members. Those companies gave Forte members greater access to its electronic catalogs and price lists and, in turn, Forte researched apps that make those catalogs and price lists easily accessible and user-friendly for showroom salespeople. Now, salespeople can show potential customers different styles, colors and specifications right at their fingertips with an app that Forte thoroughly vetted and recommends.
“Printed materials are limited and out-of-date soon after the ink dries,” Valles said.
Howard Frankel, president of Central Plumbing Specialties in New York City, agreed.
“If you get them into our store we can help control the information level and let them see as much as they need to see,” Frankel said. “That focus helps us so we’re not competing in our own store.”
Originally, Valles hoped the tablet seminar would be more theory on how to best optimize the catalog app, but it morphed into a group workshop. More tech-savvy Forte members chimed in on how they’ve learned to use tablets in their professional and personal lives, and tried to show less-advanced tablet users how effective the devices can be.
Frankel brought his iPad along for the meeting, but admits he isn’t the most astute operator. Still, he understands how the Internet is changing the way he does business.
“It’s a much more challenging environment. Information technology issues are more a part of the job now,” Frankel said. “Our Web design is done out-of-house, but every day we think of ways to make it better. I came to this conference to learn ways to maximize the value of our website. I understand that if we are not moving that way eventually we will become obsolete.”