Charting a course: Thomas Winninger to assist business leaders in strategizing at AIE conference.

While the Association of Imaging Executives (AIE) Leadership Conference offers attendees the chance to visit with colleagues, much of the time will be spent at work. At the conference, held June 27-29, in Minnetonka, Minn., attendees will hone their skills and take home a plan after a 2-day presentation with best-selling author and market strategist Thomas Winninger.

The goal is to help attendees get comfortable with a strategic model they can apply to their businesses when they return home. Winninger says the group will spend time in an interactive format strategizing around trends. The format will alternate between Winninger presenting and then strategizing with attendees.

"What is the No. 1 changing need of our premium customer today?" Winninger asks. "Attendees will need to come up with the need and answer" during the session.

What do customers want?

While Winninger will examine several trends, he says the No. 1 trend is customers want one-stop shopping.

"Business owners should be looking at a seamless delivery system, making it easy for customers to solve--at one location--the majority of their needs," he says. "Price sensitivity, however, drives the majority of businesses, and owners often strategize their businesses around that."

One-stop shopping is more than simply offering a wide variety of services. First, owners must offer the right mix of services.

"The mistake most retailers make is they're too busy carrying stuff and not carrying the stuff that solves the recurring needs of customers," he says. "For instance, ifI buy a computer from you, but you don't have the printer to meet my needs, my satisfaction goes down and my price sensitivity goes up."

Second, the business also must make customers aware of all it offers. "If I, as a customer, find out later you offer something I would have purchased had I known about it, that diminishes my satisfaction," he says.

Meeting the most frequent need

Conference attendees will analyze frequent situations customers request of businesses. Once they have that information, business owners need to equip employees to meet those requests. That includes building point-of-sale language and a question-and-answer format around that solution.

For a lab, for instance, a photographer may explain the kind of sittings they do and the problems they're having. Once the owner determines the process solution, they can build language for the customer service staff in a question-and-answer format.

"The frequency of the opportunity tends to build the momentum of the opportunity," says Winninger. "If the majority of people come in for a specific need, then my greatest opportunity for profitability is around that frequency. Most business owners tend to go after anything, or they look at what is the biggest frustration rather than the frequency. If lighting is the most frequent problem for customers, then, as a business owner, you can get good at handling it."

If the first step for a business owner is to address frequency, the second is to look for gaps in the marketplace where customers' frequent needs are not being serviced.

Winninger cites Target as an example of a retailer that has excelled in this area. "Why is Target so strong? Typical value-based retailers do not provide unique, European items or designer items," he says. "Years ago, Target decided to get designer product lines they could own and had lines made exclusively. They offer a limited selection and early seasonal changes. The typical retail store has not picked up on these strategies.

"As a business owner, ask yourself, 'What should we be doing/selling that we're not doing?' Plug that hole first," he says.

Who are your customers?

While most business owners know who their customers are, they should define the communities they serve, says Winninger. He says there are three communities.

"The primary community is the most loyal customer, and they are not necessarily price sensitive. The second group probably shops elsewhere for comparison, but likes your business for many reasons," he says. "The third group cherry picks and comes only when you offer a unique item or a sale.

"Decide you can't serve the third one anymore. You can't love someone who's not going to love you back. It can be a challenge, because they are certainly the loudest group," he adds. "And because they shop four or five places, they are around more and are perceived to be a customer."

Winninger recommends owners look at he annual value of a customer, although he believes many don't take the time to do this. "If you take the lab work and equipment sales, and add them by customer, you should able to get a feel for what a customer is worth annually. That makes you smart in what you can devote to different groups."

Select a group, rather than a single customer, and determine what you can do for that group.

"Stores tend to deal with a single customer and use that for all their best customers," and one size doesn't necessarily fit all, he cautions.

Looking at the retail model, the successful businesses share some traits, says Winninger. "The most successful build communities, communicate and relate to their customers, gather information, get to know their customers, send out ezines, direct them to articles, invite them into the store for something other than just purchases, build advisory groups around best customers, and maintain relationships.

"Today, it's so much easier--and less expensive--to communicate with customers, that owners should be doing it more often. Otherwise, customers may just forget about you."

About Thomas Winninger

Thomas Winninger is the founder of Winninger Visionscope, a Minneapolis, Minn.-based think tank. He is author of the best-selling books "MarketQuake," "Price Wars," "Full Price," and "Sell Easy" and his just-published book "BULLSEYE! Think Smart!" His market strategies have been featured on CNBC, "First Business," "The Boardroom Report," Venture, and Success Magazine; and he is published in more than 300 other trade journals, publications, and newspapers.

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In addition to the main presentation, "MarketQuake 2020: Capturing the 10 Trend Forces that Impact Your Future" from Thomas Winninger, the AIE 39th Annual Conference, held June 27-29, in Minnetonka, Minn., features facility tours and an optional golf outing at The Wilds Golf Club. Attendees will arrive on Tuesday, June 26, and head out early the following morning for two facility tours. Wednesday will be capped by dinner and receptions, and the main session runs all day Thursday and concludes Friday.

Attendees will spend the morning of June 27 touring/ifetouch Inc., the largest provider of professional portraits in North America. Following lunch, the next stop will be Graphic Systems Inc., which has been a leading provider of large-format photographic and digital graphics for retail and point-of-purchase promotions.

The AIE website www.pmai.org/aie features up-to-date conference information.