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How Are Retailers Staying Afloat and Thriving in a Time of Disruption and Change?

Retail keynote speaker Brian Carter’s highly entertaining, customized and research driven keynotes for retail owners, executives and other leaders answer the big question: “How do you attract today’s customers and employees and create bigger profits and loyalty?”

Brian Carter’s Motivational Retail Keynotes & Breakout Descriptions

Contact our office for program details, availability, and pricing.

SOCIAL SECRETS OF MODERN RETAIL

How to Attract More Customers and Keep Great Employees in the Social Media Era

Traditional marketing is no longer the only way to reach retail customers, drive them into your store and stay in touch. Customers have flocked to the Internet and social media, and many powerful, new marketing tools are freely available. So, how do modern retailers profit? What works and what’s just a waste of time? What’s the easiest, most effective way to more sales? And who should do the work: Freelancers? Employees? Ad agencies? Or even the business owners themselves?

In this entertaining keynote, bestselling author Brian Carter shares answers, insights and tools that help retail store owners and marketers get bigger results. Based on hands-on experience and an in-depth 10 year study of thousands of North American retailers who have used the Internet and social media to drive revenue and profits in dozens of industries, Brian shares:

  • Proven digital opportunities that increase your retail foot traffic, door swings and sales.
  • Time-tested solutions with Google, social media, blogging and influencers.
  • How you can reach the right people- anyone, of any age- with social media.
  • What everyone needs to know about local business marketing.
  • Exactly how the fastest growing retail stores drive 10x more sales than their competitors.
  • A Fortune 500 social media strategy that can boost any retail store’s sales.
  • What to avoid: over-hyped fads that waste time and just don’t deliver.
  • Today’s biggest sales and marketing problem and how to solve it.
  • The surprising truth about viral marketing, and how successful companies use modern marketing to achieve and sustain strong sales growth.
  • How to know where to invest your marketing time and money, both now and in the future.

With 19 years of hands-on Internet marketing experience and a background in improv and stand-up comedy, Brian delivers motivation, humor and practical takeaways ensuring every audience member leaves with the tools and solutions they need to succeed.

ERUPTION NOT DISRUPTION

How To Bulletproof Your Retail Business And Attract More Customers & Employees, Even In Difficult Times

Disruption happens: Amazon shut down Borders (and many other retailers). Netflix rewound Blockbuster. Uber drove San Francisco’s Yellow Cab off the road. Many retailers struggle to attract and retain the workforce they need. In this refreshing, entertaining and inspiring program, Brian reviews the technology, social and economics trends that are changing retail, why some retailers go out of business and how the best retailers are growing and succeeding today.

Program Highlights

  • How to focus on growth and momentum in the face of uncertainty.
  • How to increase customer trust to boost long-term loyalty, regardless of price.
  • How to recruit and retain tons of ideal employees.
  • New ways to listen and adjust to changing customers and connect more strongly with them.
  • The tools, technologies and processes top retailers are using to capitalize on change and build a better future.
  • Where to go to find and stay up to date on trends and insights about how to make the customers and employees of today and tomorrow happy.

RETAIL: What’s Really Working Today? 

  • LISTENING makes customers happy and is one of the first steps to a great sale. Listen and empathize if you want more sales and loyal customers, because when you talk about yourself too much, your likability disappears and so does the prospect. You know those bores everyone avoids because they keep telling the same old stories from 1995- starring THEM- and they never show any curiosity about your life? They’re fun for about 5 minutes, and then you’re looking for the exit. Don’t be the jerk everyone avoids- listen and have a dialogue, and you’ll create a better experience and happier customers- plus you’ll hear about any actual problems and have a chance to solve them.
  • LIKABILITY makes the connection and is a major loyalty factor. If you tell someone you hate their hometown, sports team or fashion choices… they probably won’t like you and they’ll buy from someone else. But if you can appear likable and approachable, you create a better retail experience. Salespeople and leaders who know how to project likability have a huge advantage. The Rare Group found that 83% of customers were loyal to brands because of trust, and- even more- 86% were loyal because they liked  the brand.
  • TRUST creates more customers and more loyal customers. Trust is important for a first experience of your retail store. And if you’re selling to the same people repeatedly, it’s critical! To be trusted long-term, you have to be likable and empathetic. 83% of customers are loyal to the brands they trust- so just be yourself, be honest and have integrity- the stuff we learned in kindergarten. It’s that simple- and it works both in person and online.
  • TECHNOLOGY is now one of the biggest keys to retail success. Technology has become critical to most top-performing retailers’s success. When you embrace the power of today’s devices, databases and tools, you can reach more shoppers and get more customers- more easily, more quickly and more profitably. This is important both in how you implement tech in your store, and how you use the Internet and social media.

Key Retail Facts

  • More than half (54%) of retailers say the customer experience is their most important area of focus, way ahead of cross-channel marketing (16%), data-driven marketing (14%), mobile (11%), and programmatic buying/optimization (4%). (Adobe)
  • The average gross margin in retail is 50.96%
  • North American retailers average 429 transactions per month.
  • Retailers have an average of 488 customers in their database; ranging from 284 to 1,122 depending on category.
  • 75% of consumers are more likely to buy from a retailer that recognizes them by name, recommends options based on past purchases, OR knows their purchase history. (Accenture)
  • 41% of consumers expect store associates to know what they have purchased online, but only 19% experience this.
  • 71% of consumers are frustrated by impersonal shopping experiences.
  • Currently, eCommerce sales only account for about 8% of total retail sales in the United States.  E-commerce now accounts for 13% of total retail sales when factoring out the sale of items not normally purchased online, such as fuel, automobiles and sales in restaurants.
  • Companies that use technology and data to personalize experiences see revenue increase by 6% to 10%.

Why Choose Retail Keynote Speaker Brian Carter?

When you hire the right speaker, your audience leaves energized, entertained, educated and alive with possibilities.

Brian has worked with some of the most successful retailers in the world. He has more than 15 years online and offline retail experience and has conducted programs for market-leading companies and organizations including Carpet One, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, Husqvarna, Keystone Automotive, Flooring America, e-Tail Connect, the International Housewares Association, the Independent Jeweler’s Organization, the California Grocers Association, Airport Review News and Union Bank. The Brian Carter group has conducted an intensive five-year study of the most effective retailers both online and offline across 22 industries to learn what makes them successful.

Brian understands that you know more about your challenges, successes, and people than anyone else. He will work with you to customize the program(s) for maximum impact.

“I’m so glad you were our keynote. You were the perfect choice.”

Derrick Wheeler

Microsoft

"I got more out of Brian’s keynote presentation at a recent conference I attended than all the other sessions. Knowledgeable and FUN, he provides actionable takeaways that I can use immediately for better results. Kudos, Brian, I will be following you on social media."

Heather Floyd

Valley Telecom Group

"Brian not only knows his stuff... he's also one of the funniest speakers I've ever seen."

Wells Fargo

“Brian is an engaging and entertaining speaker.
Timely and fun!”

MD Revolution

“Outstanding! Easy executable steps made everyone comfortable and intrigued.”

James McDonald

Keystone Automotive

“Very impressed with Brian's content and ability to deliver an impactful message in a fun and interesting way. We had a blast."

Life Technologies / Thermo Fisher Scientific

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