News From Auto, Jewelry, Retail and More...

Guest Blog Post by Spots 'n Dots, The Daily News of TV Sales

Fifteen years ago, Cadillac was the top-selling luxury vehicle in the U.S. and it wants that title back. General Motors intends to double the brand’s U.S. sales volume to 294,000 within the next couple of years. To do that it will introduce 10 all-new or significantly updated vehicles within the next three years, Don Butler, Cadillac's vice president of marketing told the Wall Street Journal. The brand has a steep climb ahead of it. According to the WSJ, Cadillac sold 76,229 vehicles in the U.S. in the first seven months of 2012, behind Lexus

at 126,367; BMW at 147,801 and Mercedes with 159,412......For the quarter ended July 31, Zale Corp., operator of Zales Jewelers, Gordon's Jewelers and other jewelry stores, reported a loss of $19.7 million. Sounds bad, but that’s about half of the loss of a year earlier. Revenues rose 7.9% and same store sales were up a very healthy 8.3%--the seventh straight quarter of growth in that category......

It’s expected that U.S. regulators will loosen restrictions on advertising by hedge funds this week and Reuters says many are beginning to look at whether and what kinds of advertising they should do. Michael Mahaffy, CEO of Point Capital Aligned Wealth LLC, a hedge fund that launched earlier this year says, "We are looking to raise money, and the ability to source new investors that are beyond our traditional networks is appealing." Other funds like Whitebox Advisors LLC, Minneapolis, will be looking to establish their brand as a leader in the industry. "I am hellbent on creating a global brand and the only way to do that is through advertising," Anthony Scaramucci of fund of hedge funds SkyBridge Capital, told the Wall Street Journal.......

The very promotional JoS A. Bank Clothiers saw its second quarter revenues rose 12.9% and same store sales jump 6.1%. Online and catalog sales were up 39.3%. The company sees the potential for 800 stores and will open 50 this year and next.

McDonald's Still Dominates Fast Food...

A Guest Post from Spots ‘n Dots, The Daily News of TV Sales

...BUT CHICK-FIL-A MAKES MORE MONEY PER UNIT
It’s not surprising that McDonald’s stands above the rest of the quick serve restaurant industry like a Colossus. It has more units than any chain except Subway (14,098 for McDonald’s vs. 24,722 for Subway) and brings in three times more revenues each year than Subway, its closest competitor ($34 billion vs. $11 billion). But there is a category in which it falls short, at least it did in 2011. Its revenues per store were 2.5 million, very good for the industry, but behind the $2.893 million brought in by every Chick-fil-A restaurant--and that chain does not even open on Sundays! Subway makes only $469,000 per store per year.

QSR Magazine takes the pulse of the quick serve industry each year and publishes a breakdown of the 50 top chains. As noted above, Mickey D’s and Subway were on top for last year. Beyond those two chains, the list gives a pretty good snapshot of those brands that were growing and those that were not, at least last year.

For instance, Starbucks, with 10,821 locations, $9.75 billion in revenues and $1.14 million in revenues per store, actually lost 310 locations in 2011. Wendy’s and Burger King were numbers 4 and 5 on the list, having switched positions from the year before. Both trailed McDonald’s in every category. Wendy’s brought in $8.5 billion in 2011, it had 6,594 locations and averaged $1.456 million in revenues per store. BK’s 2011 revenues were $8.4 billion, from 7,231 locations with a take of $1.248 million per store. Burger King has seen a bit of a renaissance this year, but in 2011 it closed 33 units while Wendy’s was opening 18. Taco Bell had fewer locations that BK, 5,670--36 more than in 2010--but it took in more revenues per store, $1.284 million, for a total take of $7 billion in 2011. Also making the top ten for 2011 were Dunkin’ Donuts ($6.5 billion in revenues, $850,000 per store, 7,015 locations, +115 units in 2011); Pizza Hut ($5.5 billion, $875,000, 7,600, +58); KFC ($4.5 billion, $949,000, 4,780 locations, -275 units); and Chick-fil-A ($4.051 billion, $2.893 million, 1,606 locations, + 69 units).

In the top 50, Little Caesars (#23, $1.48 billion, $465,000 per unit) added the most new locations--305--followed by Five Guys Burgers & Fries (#25, $950 million, $1.156 million) with 182. Quiznos (#26, $921 million, $345,000 per store) closed the most units, 334, between 2010 and 2011.

Evolved Brand Management on Law Talk Radio

Our own Jeanne Frazer was featured last night in a one-hour episode on Law Talk Radio. The session was titled Evolved Law Firm Brand Management, but has tips and ideas on branding for all businesses. The session was recorded and is available on demand. Listen to Jeanne's tips on Evolved Brand Management. If you have feedback or questions, please let us know and we'll do our best to answer them!

Help for Event Planners

Event planning is all about the details. And keeping track of those details can be a challenge – not to mention very time consuming! This month, The Expert Speakers would like to pass along some of the tools that we have either used ourselves or heard about from others that might make your job easier. Here goes!

1. Super Planner (http://howardgivner.com/super-planner-iphone-app#content) is an inexpensive mobile application specifically designed for event professionals. It helps track food and beverage counts, room configurations, staffing needs, AV, and more. This app won the 2011 Special Events Magazine’s Gala Award for Best New/Innovative Event Product/Technology.
2. Track references to your event using Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts). It’s free and allows you to set up multiple alerts on the keywords or phrases you’d like to track. Note that you can use key phrases by enclosing the phrase in quotes and exclude certain words by using a minus (-) sign before them. You can also check out the Alerts feature on Social Mention (http://www.socialmention.com).
3. Add a live stream of mentions about your conference to your website using Social Mention’s Real Time Buzz widget. (http://socialmention.com/tools).
4. Accept credit cards at your event without a bank merchant account using your mobile device. Square (http://www.squareup.com) that provides a card reader that turns your mobile device into a credit card machine. They charge a per-transaction fee plus a percentage of each transaction.
5. If you need to share large files with other planners, try DropBox (http://www.dropbox.com). This tool offers free file sharing for up to 2GB of data or professional plans are available. This tool gets around many company email limitations.

We hope that some of these tools will help make your job easier. Check back at the end of July for a few more ideas! And remember, if you need a speaker, call The Expert Speakers at 919.850.0605.

The Importance of Value

I was talking with a VP from a small financial company yesterday. She mentioned that she had considered attending a three-day industry conference in July but had decided against doing so, even though she felt that she should attend for the networking opportunities. When I asked why she had decided not to go, she said that the session descriptions were not very detailed and she simply couldn’t justify time away from her busy job without proof of the value of the event.

The reality is that most business people are extremely busy and must prioritize – this still applies for even short networking/business events. Personal development and training opportunities tend to be pushed down the priority list to begin with. Add on top of that an event where value has not be communicated, and it is tough to justify a decision to attend the event and pay not only the registration fee but the travel expenses. And when you consider getting three days behind and having to play catch-up when you get back to the office, the conference suddenly seems less appealing.

The lesson learned here for anyone planning an event is that communicating value can be the most important thing you do. While many companies have cut budgets for events and travel, most are willing to pay IF the employee is able to justify the expense in terms of benefit to the company. And if you are looking at attending an event, I recommend before you even ask about going that you outline the benefits that you (and the company) will receive if you are allowed to attend the event.

Do you have a good event story to tell? We’d love to hear about your conference and event experiences!

Spreading the Word

Do you have an upcoming event or seminar planned and you need to get the word out? It can be a challenge to get the news of your event in front of folks who might be interested in attending. This is especially true if your budget is limited! So, what are some options for garnering attention?

1.      Good old-fashioned press releases can still be very effective – if the media happens to pick yours up. Some newspapers do have event calendars and will include your event there. Note that some papers will only publish free events at no charge; expect to pay if you want your fee-based event included.

2.      Online PRs geared toward SEO are also an option—though these generally have a price attached to them based on the topic and distribution.

3.      Add the seminar to your Events page on Facebook and post about it (free). Ask fans to tell their friends. If you have the budget, run ads in Facebook targeted at the demographic you are trying to reach.

4.      Include your event on your website with the appropriate keywords and make it easy to register. Then include a link to the page in your e-newsletter in a short article with details about the session.

5.      Find a group whose members would have interest in the topic and ask them to promote it to their members. (LinkedIn is a good place to search for groups.) Optionally, partner with someone else whose interests are similar.

6.       Add the event to meetup.com.

We know how hard it can be to get news of your event in front of the right people, but keep trying! You may have to test several channels to find what works best for you. If you have found a great solution, we'd love to hear from you. Good luck!

Dealing With Feedback

When our speakers address an audience, we always ask for feedback. That doesn’t mean we always get it, but when audience members do take time to respond, we use that feedback to try and improve. Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life that people who respond to surveys or fill out responses frequently either love you or hate you. Those who don’t feel strongly either way sometimes think their responses won’t matter or simply don’t want to bother.

It is important when you do receive feedback that you visibly act upon it. Even if someone is unhappy, if they see you working to fix the complaint they reported, they are much more likely to give you a second chance. More importantly, they are less likely to speak negatively of their experience to friends. It is critical, however, that you do not brush off criticism as if it doesn’t matter.

Negative feedback can be very difficult to hear. Most people have a tendency to take such comments personally and lash out. If the responder provided a name, or if you can tell by the comments alone who the person is, you should never approach them in a confrontational manner. If they did provide their name and you do want to speak with them further, think ahead about how you might approach them. Always begin the discussion with, “I really appreciate your feedback and am working to improve…”

One of my favorite stories to tell goes back to when I first started speaking. I presented at a session beginning at 9 a.m. and collected feedback forms at the end of the session. Everything was positive except for several comments about not providing breakfast. The solution: donuts and juice every time! If you have received feedback that was memorable or was especially funny, we’d love to hear about it. Send us your story at info@theexpertspeakers.com.