27 affiliates of Management One spent Thursday through Sunday last week in Tucson, Arizona attending the annual meeting of all Management One affiliated consultants. Many exciting ideas and processes for retailers sales growth, improved profits, etc were put forth, created, or shared- much of which will be passed on to our many retail clients.
During the meeting many affiliates were honored and recognized for their accomplishments. The most notable achievement was received inducted by James Hallman as he was inducted into the Founders Club for Management One. The Founders serve as an Advisory Board to the Management One directors as they endeavor to continuously improve and provide the very best state of the art management tools and resources for all affiliated consultants to bring to the aid of clients. James said, ‘I am proud to be associated with this network of affiliates throughout the country and in Europe, and serving in the Founders Club will allow me the opportunity to both receive and provide more insight and direction for the future.” We welcome the many contributions that James will offer and congratulate him on this lifetime achievement.
James also received the first Client Retention Award for having retained the highest % of clients over the past year, which just happened to be, as you are well aware, one of the toughest years in history for retailers. James kept more total clients than any other affiliate in the group during the year. The meeting and the focus for this coming year will be on client retention and service. The competition for this first retention award was stiff as John Adams and Ken Rodriguez challenged in second and third place.
In addition, the first sales contest was held and the winners were Dan Jablons and David Leib of Retail Smart Guys and also Alan Roseman and John Adams who teamed together for the contest. Cash awards accompanied the sales contest winners.
Dennis Levine, another member of the Founders was recognized for his 20 years of dedicated affiliation to Management One. Dennis was the first affiliate to join Management One and he has been a steady contributor through the years. Dennis and John Adams are both serving as mentors for new affiliates in a new program to bring affiliates to the team with the training and support needed to assure each client will get the best information and guidance possible.
Overall, the mood and tone of the meeting was much lighter and much more upbeat than this time last year reflecting the rebound our clients have made. The best performing stores are beating their numbers from 2008 and, while no one’s crystal ball is perfect, our feeling is that economically the bottom has been hit, and now we can stabilize and grow forward. Where during most of 2009 we were focused on defensive measures, now is the time to go on the offense. There are fewer competitors but the competition out there in every market will be more intense and effective. There is large pool of qualified and experienced labor to draw from, and customers are much more confident and more willing to spend more often for what they want. We are poised for a great year!