fbpx It is hard to believe that the summer months are over already. It is time to start preparing for the fall! Here is what you have to look forward to this month:

Labor Day

Labor Day is officially on Monday, September 5th, but most people spend the entire weekend celebrating. Many retailers choose to have big Labor Day Weekend sales, and it is something you should consider doing too! Make sure you advertise your sales and get the word out to ensure you get people shopping in your store. This is a great opportunity get get rid of some old summer inventory!

First Day of Fall

The first official day of fall is Thursday, September 22nd. A great way to celebrate would be to have a fall party in your store! Have apple cider, caramel apples, or other fall treats for your shoppers to enjoy. You could even plan an event to be held outside of your store. You could go to a local park and rent a bonfire pit and roast smores with your community! Happy fall! We are excited to announce that we have made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America for the fifth year in a row! This year, we are ranked #4143 with a three-year sales growth of 67 percent. We were distinguished as one of seven Indiana-based software companies to make the Inc. 5000 list. “The Inc. 5000 list stands out where it really counts,” says Inc. President and Editor-In-Chief Eric Schurenberg. “It honors real achievement by a founder or a team of them. No one makes the Inc. 5000 without building something great – usually from scratch. That’s one of the hardest things to do in business, as every company founder knows. But without it, free enterprise fails.” We are very excited about this accomplishment and strive to continue this success. “We are proud of our continued year-over-year growth and I especially want to thank our team, clients, and industry partners who’ve all helped make RICS a thriving organization.” – Jason Becker, CEO Check out Inc.com or read the Inc. 5000 Press Release 2016. In honor of the Summer Olympics, we hosted a celebration with our own events and competition! On August 4th, the day before the Opening Ceremony in Rio, everyone in attendance was split up onto teams. USA, Great Britain, Brazil, Russia, China, and Germany were all represented. It was a great opportunity for members from different teams within RICS to work together, get to know each other better, and go for the gold! We started the afternoon off with a few Olympic events including a relay race, discus throw, Bunker dash (a race around the office), hula hoop contest, and flip cup tournament. With big storms coming through an hour before, the skies luckily cleared just in time to get outside and complete these events. Team USA came out on top, creaming their competition in most of the events. They were awarded a bottle of champagne to celebrate and Visa giftcards! Once the rankings were announced, some people played cornhole, while others mingled and enjoyed beverages and snacks. This party was a great opportunity for our employees to connect with people they may not interact with on a daily basis. Having team-based competition was also a good way to mix people up and have them work towards a common goal. Hosting events that get people away from their desks are always good for boosting employee morale. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant. Some ideas for company events on a budget are to have everyone bring a snack or drink to share, a competition in the office, or a bake-off. Looking for ways to boost your company’s culture? Check out this blog post.  

Everyone knows how important social media has become for retailers. It is one of the best tools for promoting your store, interacting with customers, and keeping your finger on the pulse of the community and trends. With so many social media outlets it makes it even more important to keep your design and imagery consistent.

Take some time to honestly assess your social media presence. How many sites do you use? Where are most of your followers? What content gets the most attention? What are your competitors doing? How can you improve your pages?

Coordinate your Designs

The first step is to keep a consistent look and feel over all social media outlets. Sites like Twitter and Facebook allow larger cover images at the top of your page. Cover images are often the first impression potential customer have of your store. Use this space to promote a new product line, a specific season, or keep it simple with a great photo of your store. You don’t necessarily have to have the same image on every site, but make sure they are complimentary. The goal is to give social pages the same vibe as your physical store.

All social media sites allow a custom profile picture. Make sure you use a clear, high resolution version of your logo. You want it to be clear this is your page. If available, include links to your website, an address, your phone number, and hours of operation.

Think About the Photos You Share

Pictures should be a huge part of your social media posts. It’s always easier to build an audience and keep people’s attention with good and creative photos. It may be time to brush up on your photography skills or hire freelancer who can help. Here are a couple of sites that help break product photography down in more detail: 8 Product Photography Tips for Beginning Shop Owners > 11 Tips for Effective Product Photography >

August is almost here and summer will soon be slowly winding down. Read our post to find out what events and holidays are going on in August that your store can plan for!

The Olympics

The summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5-August 21. Wouldn’t it be fun if your store followed along with the games? If your store has televisions, you could tune in to the Olympics so your shoppers can watch while they shop. You could even have friendly and fun competitions on the weekends that your customers could participate in. You could pass out gold, silver, and bronze medals in the form of coupons to encourage your shoppers to come back in the future. The possibilities are endless!

Senior Citizens Day

Honor the senior citizens in your community on Sunday, August 21st and encourage them to come shopping in your store! Offer special discounts for different items they might like. Have some tea, coffee, or other light snacks for them to enjoy while they shop.

Markdown Season

August is usually a time for markdowns to try to get rid of all of the summer inventory to make way for your fall collections. Keep this in mind when ordering new inventory and have a strategy to get old inventory out your door! Check out this guide for markdown best practices.

Tax Free Weekends

Each state has a different Tax Free Weekend, so be sure to check out our infographic to find out when you should plan for it. Keep in mind that not all products will qualify to be tax exempt. If you are a RICS user, you can look at this help article to find out how you can setup your Tax Free Weekend in RICS. While there aren’t too many holidays and events in July, there is still at least one major reason to celebrate this month!

Independence Day

As you know, Independence Day is on Monday, July 4th. Many people will use the Monday holiday as an excuse to celebrate all weekend. You could organize a 4th of July parade with other local businesses and neighborhoods, host a 5k, have a barbecue, or even just decorate your store with all of the red, white, and blue you can find. You could do something fun for the kids when it gets dark out and have sparklers or glow sticks.

Early Bird Back to School Shopping

Some schools start back up again in early August, so many people will be doing their back-to-school shopping in mid to late-July. Make sure your store is properly stocked with inventory and you’re ready for the influx of parents and children shopping in your store! Once your customers are in your store, you should have your back to school section clearly marked so they know exactly where to go when they enter. Let them know of any fall trends or best sellers that you have in your store. See you next month! With the Indianapolis 500 and Memorial Day behind us, it is time to welcome the month of June with open arms. Let’s talk about some different events that are going on this month that your store can use to your advantage!

Father’s Day 

Sunday, June 19th is Father’s Day and should be spent with all of the important fathers in your life! To encourage friends, families, and loyal customers to spend time with their fathers, you could close your store on Sunday. Instead, celebrate in your store on Saturday! Have a dad’s day sale and give your male shoppers a special discount. You could even serve beer in your store, have a barbecue, or some yard games outside! Make it a memorable day for everyone.

Summer Solstice

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year – meaning that it is the day of the year we see the most daylight. This year, the longest day of the year is on Monday, June 20th. What a great excuse to invite people to your store to hang out and celebrate! No need to have any sales, but you should definitely have something fun going on at your store or sponsored by your store to get the community involved. You could sponsor a 5k, host a BBQ, or partner with other local businesses to enjoy the longest day of the year. That’s all for this month! See you in July.   The design of your website may not be on the forefront of your mind, but maybe it should be. Most small retailer’s sites have been rushed, were a last minute project, or an outright afterthought, but did you know it is often the lasting first impression potential customers have of your business? Here are some tips to help make a good impression with your website. Did you know that returning customers spend 2/3 more money at your store than first-time customers? That is why it is so important to give your customers reasons to come back in your store. You have to exceed customer expectations in terms of your use of technology, customer service, and sense of community, to stand out among your competitors.

Technology

Use modern retail technology to your advantage by collecting customer data at your point of sale. You can use this information to personalize the shopping experience to make note of and remember things about your customer for the next time they walk in your store. You can also use their purchase history to make suggestions on other items in your store they might like. Some other ideas on how to use technology are to create a mobile app for your shoppers or even have tablets in your store to help them find what they’re looking for.

Customer Service

Excellent customer service is something that will always impress your customers. Make sure you train your employees to provide a positive and memorable experience for anyone who walks through your doors. Since most shoppers expect great customer service, make sure that your store does something unique to make you stand out from your competitors. Some ideas include curbside pick-up, delivery service, act as a personal shopper and offer suggestions, and send personalized gift cards for your top 50 shoppers.

Sense of Community

Some of the best stores are also community hubs and host and organize different events to the public. This will encourage your loyal customers to come back, while also getting your name out there to new shoppers. There are many ways to create a sense of community in your store. Some suggestions are to organize a weekly run club, partner with other neighboring local businesses, host a happy hour, or serve drinks and snacks in your store. No matter what you decide to do, make sure you get the word out! For more tips on how to optimize your in-store experience, click here.   RICS Software is excited to announce that RICS and Locally have recently partnered to offer clients an integrated solution for displaying local inventory online. Displaying local inventory online allows for a wider audience, increased visibility, and a higher likelihood of new customers! RICS has recognized the growing importance of an online presence for all retailers and believe that this partnership will be valuable in an effort by retailers to stay ahead of recent retail and ecommerce trends. Locally has several offerings that retailers can take advantage of such as, displaying inventory availability on Locally.com, integrating with an existing e-commerce site, and even displaying inventory availability on a brand’s website. RICS automatically sends up-to-date, on-hand inventory quantities to Locally for distribution to the online marketing and selling channels you want to participate in (e.g., a brand website or your own Facebook page). To learn more about Locally’s offerings, contact Locally at retailers@locally.com. To enable the integration between RICS and Locally, contact accounts@ricssoftware.com. The month of May is among us and people are getting more and more excited for summer and warmer weather to arrive. Find out what holidays and events are happening this month and how you can use them to your advantage!

Cinco de Mayo

As you probably know, Cinco de Mayo is on Thursday,  May 5th. However, you may not know what the significance of the 5th of May is. This day commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. Although this is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, the United States uses it as a day to celebrate Mexican culture and heritage. Some Cinco de Mayo traditions that you could implement in your store on this holiday are a small-scale parade, mariachi music, or simply decorating your storefront and offering refreshments.

The Kentucky Derby

The 142nd renewal of “The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports,” also known as the Kentucky Derby, is on Saturday, May 7th. The race distance is 1 1/4 miles long and is run on the racetrack at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. This is a great opportunity to host a viewing party at your store! Invite your community to come shop, sip mocktails or mint juleps, wear their fanciest sun hats, cheer on your favorite horse, and watch the race. Giddy-up!

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is on Sunday, May 8th and is the perfect time to celebrate all mothers! Invite mothers and daughters into your store to have some special shopping time together. Don’t forget to offer discounts!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is on Monday, May 30th and is a federal holiday and is the semi-official start of summer. Since schools and banks will be closed, you are sure to get more foot traffic into your store. Make sure you display your newest merchandise and show off your summer collection. Give customers the price that will induce them to make a purchase. Happy May!   Are you a western wear store owner and looking for ways you can get your employees to sell more? If so, you have found the right place! The more effective your salespeople are, the better off your business is. While you should start by looking for these qualities when hiring your sales team, you can continue to train them so that they master the art of selling. In order for your staff to successfully convince shoppers they need a certain product, they have to believe in what they’re selling. Make sure they are passionate about western wear before they join your team. You can get your employees to buy into your merchandise by sharing samples with them or offering extreme discounts. For example, offer a discount on cowboy boots so your employees can learn first hand how comfortable or durable that shoe is. This will allow them to genuinely tell your customers about the boots and why they need to buy them. Not only should your staff be invested in what they’re selling, they should also be knowledgeable. By showing what they know and educating customers on products, your employees are likely to sell more. When shoppers become informed, they are more inclined to trust your employee’s expertise and opinion, hopefully leading to a sale! Make sure your employees are not only familiar with your products, but also understand about your customer’s trades, so they can suit their specific needs. To best assist a customer, you need to know exactly what they are looking for. You can only do this by actively listening to them. If your staff isn’t listening to your customers, then they aren’t learning and developing relationships with them. In order to create a loyal customer base, you need to make sure your staff is getting to know your customers, educating them, and giving them a reason to come back in. Learn additional ways to improve your western wear store here. As a business owner, you think you have a solid pulse on what your inventory looks like on a day to day basis. But if you are relying on pen and paper inventory management or even an excel sheet to manage your inventory, you’re missing out on business-changing insights. And possibly making yourself more susceptible to mistakes. Data is a huge component of running a successful business. When you’re not able to track it efficiently, you’re missing out on saving time and money in your business. So why is inventory management software so much better than keeping track on a single sheet? Ensure accurate tracking. When you’re only working off of a single sheet and entering everything by hand, you’re opening yourself up for manual mistakes. Maybe this system works when you only have ten pieces of inventory, but most stores are housing hundreds, if not thousands of goods. And if you’re using pen and paper, you’re most likely spending hours every week trying to validate your inventory numbers. If you have multiple locations, your chance for error goes up as you might be moving inventory from store to store and have a hard time reconciling the numbers. Inventory management systems not only save you time by automatically reconciling inventory against goods sold, but it also can save you money by reducing inventory costs. Buy smarter with historical data. Maybe you’re great at looking back through hundreds of sheets to determine which products are your top sellers and which season is their peak. But for most retailers, that’s not the case. Without hard data that shows you your best and worst performers over a period of time, it’s hard to determine what inventory you need to buy in the future to continue sales growth. Inventory management systems provide you the data you need to form insights that will help you forecast and buy smarter- helping you reduce inventory costs by having the right inventory, in front of the right people, at the right time. Pivot quickly with real-time decision making. When you aren’t using a system that intuitively tracks in real-time, you can never be certain that your sales data is always up-to-date. This prevents you from having an accurate sense of what is going on on your sales’ floor and missing the opportunity to quickly adjust tactics for better turn rate on your inventory. A real-time inventory management solution allows you to track what’s happening in your stores anywhere, anytime. Enjoy multi-user access. When you keep track of everything on a single sheet or document, it prevents multiple users from being able to access the document at one time. That means that it’s easier to forget to record a sale or update the inventory sheet. Moving to a cloud-based system allows multiple users to ring sales that are automatically accounted for in your back office. This ensures you’ll always have a pulse on how much inventory you have because everything is up-to-date and accurate. As a retailer, you know how incredibly important it is to stay on top of sales at all times. With pen and paper management, you have to physically be in the store to make sure your data is accurate and up-to-date. But switching to a real-time, cloud-based inventory management system allows you to always know how your business is doing no matter where you are. Considering making the switch to an inventory management solution? Check out our Checklist for a New Inventory Management System. It finally feels like spring has arrived! But you know what they say… April showers bring May flowers… so you better be prepared and bring your umbrella around everywhere you go! Find out what other holidays and events you should prepare for this month:

April Fool’s Day

You better watch your back on Friday, April 1st! Although it is an unofficial holiday, April Fool’s Day is a long-standing tradition where people play (mostly) harmless pranks upon one another. Did you know that Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (1392) contains the first recorded association between April 1st and foolishness? Last year someone brought a box of Dunkin’ Donuts into our office and filled it with raw broccoli! What are some of your favorite April Fool’s Day pranks?

Tax Day

This year, the deadline for filing your taxes is Monday, April 18th.  Tax Day is pushed back three days in 2016 because Washington D.C. is celebrating Emancipation Day on April 15th this year (it is usually celebrated on the 16th, but it falls on a Saturday this year, so it got pushed forward a day, which pushed Tax Day back a couple of days). Now you know!

Boston Marathon

The 120th Boston Marathon is always held on Patriots’ Day, which is the third Monday of April. This year it also falls on Monday, April 18th. The Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and is one of the world’s best-known road racing events. You can celebrate the Boston Marathon and the kick-off to marathon season by having a viewing party in your store or offering discounts on your running gear and accessories. Click here to find out more official information about the Boston Marathon.

Earth Day

Looking for ways to make a difference in your community? Celebrate Earth Day on Friday, April 22nd! The first official Earth Day was on April 22, 1970.  Click here to find a plethora of other ways to get involved and help our planet. You could consider organizing an event to get your community involved in making the world a better place – and getting your store’s name out there while you’re at it! At the very least, you could have a sidewalk sale to encourage your customers to be outside.

Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day

Did you know that Thursday, April 28th is “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day”? Well, now you do! This program “encourages girls and boys across the country to dream without gender limitations and to think imaginatively about their family, work, and community lives.” The theme for this day in 2016 is “Sparking Aha! Moments.” Consider bringing your kids to work with you on this day so they can learn more about what you do, what it is like to have a job, and how you balance work and family. It is a great learning experience for all! Happy April! Marketing is essential for repeat business and loyal customers. If you have a POS and inventory management system, you should already have all of the data you need to assist your marketing efforts, so use it to your advantage! By collecting customer data at the point of sale, you can create a personalized and targeted marketing strategy that will help you attract customers.

Know Your Audience

Knowing your client base will help you to make your customers feel special and appreciated. You can start by forming relationships with them as soon as they walk into your store. Get to know them the best that you can and make note of important information so you can have a solid understanding of each customer. Having a capable POS and inventory management solution ensures you’re able to collect information right at the point of sale, making it an easy process for your staff. Make sure you are collecting both the basics and detailed information. You can then analyze the data you collect to create segmented marketing campaigns, identify top customers, send birthday coupons, etc. When you know who your customers are, what they want, and what they are interested in, you have a better chance of providing them with a multi-channel shopping experience they can appreciate.

Personalization

Using the data you’ve collected from your customers, you’re able to run reports that can segment your clients based on that information. You can filter by criteria like location, gender, shopping behavior, birthdays, etc. Use these segmentations to create meaningful campaigns for your customer that will actually appeal to them. Another way to get customers back to your store is by offering coupons and advertising them. This will not only catch your customer’s attention, but will also help you move out inventory you want to get rid of. Marketing is an important part in attracting new customers and retaining current customers. In order to stay competitive, you have to be collecting customer data, offering a personalized experience, and rewarding your customers. With the help of your POS and inventory management software, you’ll be able to do just that and track your own success! For the full guide to marketing with your POS, click here. You’ve put your heart and soul into your business to create an inviting atmosphere, but what happens when you’re not on the sales floor? Hiring employees who have the same vision and work ethic as you is incredibly important to your bottom line. If you don’t have the right employees in place, they might be falling short of your expectations and in turn, costing you sales. So how do you put the right people in place? Read on to find out three things to look for when hiring your sales team.

Are they passionate about what you’re selling?

In retail, people who are passionate about the products they are selling sell the most. If they don’t believe in what you’re selling that might prevent them from encouraging additional sales and helping customers find the right add-ons to their purchases. When interviewing sales associates, make sure they have some interest in the products that you’re selling. Someone who enjoys running will probably be more interested in talking about the benefits of compression socks in a specialty run store than someone who hates running.

Are they a good cultural fit?

Outside of being interested in your products, it’s important to determine if they fit in the culture you’ve created. This is important from a business and customer standpoint. If you hire a person that doesn’t get along well with the rest of the team, it might create a riff among the staff and discourage the upbeat environment. For customers, an offbeat salesperson could create a different experience from the last time they visited your store. This might not seem like a big deal, but what if the customer interprets the second experience as bad? You might have lost a returning customer.

Are they reliable?

When you’re running a business, it’s imperative that you can count on the people you’ve hired to help you. If you’ve hired a person who is often late, doesn’t try to meet their sales quota, or speaks negatively about your store, you risk losing a lot more than sales. But how can you tell in an interview if someone is truly reliable? For starters, their arrival time to the interview can give you a glimpse into their future reliability as an associate. But past that, asking for (and calling) references can help you determine what kind of employee they have been in the past. Hiring your staff, even part-time staff, is a huge investment on your part. If you hire the wrong associates, you mind find yourself losing time from training and losing money on lost sales. It’s important to determine what the top qualities are that you look for in your sales team and vetting out those who don’t have those qualities during your interview process. Check out more tips for retailers in this free guide! Can you believe that March has already arrived? It seems like just yesterday we were ringing in the new year. By now we’re getting quite sick of the cold weather and we’re ready for spring to come! Be sure you’re starting to get rid of your old (and cold!) inventory to make room for your spring collections. Click here to find some tips for getting rid of your winter collections. Let’s talk about all of the different events that you can celebrate in your store this month:

St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day is on Thursday, March 17th and is the perfect opportunity to get customers in your store to celebrate the luck o’ the Irish! Decorate your store with lots of green, four leaf clovers, leprechauns, rainbows, and pots of gold! Some fun ideas to get people in your store are to have fun runs, serve green beer, discount all of your green apparel, or hide a leprechaun somewhere in your store for customers to find and win a prize! Don’t forget to play traditional Irish music in your store.

First Day of Spring

The first day of spring is on Sunday, March 20th. There is no better way to celebrate the new season than to get outside and appreciate the sunshine! Host a picnic or invite your local community to a potluck near your storefront. If you’re still looking to get rid of some of your winter inventory, you could have a “spring cleaning” sale in your store to encourage your customers to come and take a look of your deals.

Easter Weekend

Although your store might be closed or you might have a decrease in traffic on Easter Sunday (March 27), you could use the week leading up to it to celebrate the holiday. You can find lots of fun Easter decorations and everyone loves Easter egg hunts! Happy March! The cat is out of the bag! RICS is excited to announce that Jason Becker  was recently appointed as our new Chief Executive Officer. After spending just over 3 years as RICS Software’s Chief Operating Officer, Jason’s appointment as CEO was made official as of December 2015. Given his tenure with RICS over the past 3 years, it was a natural fit for Jason to take on this new role. He’s been an intricate part of the RICS executive team and has created a culture of developing meaningful relationships among employees and clients. Jason leads organizational strategy and execution including marketing, sales, services, and product. Jason’s professional experience is in organizational strategy, leadership, design, and change management. You can read about his new role at RICS on Inside Indiana Business. He serves on the Board of Community Health Network. Jason holds a B.A. from DePauw University and an M.A. from Northwestern University.  He lives in Carmel, IN with his wife and twin boys. The Running Event 2015 was a great opportunity to hear from a variety of retailers in the running specialty industry. Most of their advice was applicable to all retailers, so we thought we would pass it along! They offered tips that covered a range of topics around buying, marketing, and selling. Buying Making sure you are buying the right products, at the right places, at the right time, for the right customers is an important part of running a successful retail business. In turn, it is essential to form relationships with your vendors, reps, and customers in order to be an effective buyer. Each of these relationships will benefit a different aspect of your business. Another important part of buying is having the appropriate data to help inform your buying decisions. Marketing Having a marketing strategy in place that attracts customers to your store will help you be a more profitable retailer. Knowing your audience, aligning with belief-based brands, and offering a memorable customer experience will all help to increase your revenue. When your customers have a good experience, they’re going to want to share it with others and become advocates. The selling process starts before a customer enters your store and continues long after they leave. What strategies do you currently have in place? Selling Selling is where you see the return on your investment and in order to sell well, you need to be equipped with reliable technology and invested employees. If your staff feel valued and believe in what they’re selling, they’re going to be much more successful. Learn other ways to get your staff to sell more here. Being able to educate your customers about your products is another way to sell effectively while creating relationships and loyal customers. With Millennials holding the spending power, it is important that you can reach them through multiple channels, whether that’s an ecommerce site, mobile site, social media, email campaigns, etc. To learn more tips for retailers from retailers, check out this guide! Accessory sales may seem like an intimidating add-on for your employees. But it doesn’t have to be! That’s what four retail players set out to discuss in a panel at TRE. The talk covered different topics relative to the sales of accessories (or essentials) including strategy, training, and culture. Read on for a recap of one of the topics covered! The panel included: “What in your opinion is the best way to set the stage for successful accessory sales?” Brent: First, call them ‘essentials’ instead of accessories. As the owner, get your head around that there isn’t a limit to what you can do in essentials. You have to decide that you’re going to make essentials a part of your sales strategy. Once you do that, buy that way, plan that way, and create space in the store for that. Milton: Get employees to buy into the product. If employees don’t believe in the product they are selling, they’re not going to be able to effectively market it to your customers. Ask vendors for samples to share with employees, that way you can get their buy in before you decide to sell it. Karen: Knowing your market and customers is crucial. Understanding what products you can buy for the problems your runners encounter will make a big difference in what you sell. If your store has runners coming in who say their feet hurt, have the products on hand that will solve their problems. Brian: Train your staff to believe that they’re increasing your customer’s quality of life. When team members believe they are truly helping a client, they’re more willing to listen to your customer and create a relationship with them. In turn, they’ll be able to offer helpful solutions to your customers and sell more.   If you’re a specialty run retailer, chances are you’ve heard of The Running Event (TRE). Every year, thousands of specialty run retailers meet in Austin to meet up with fellow retailers, attend educational sessions, and get a chance to check out the newest products on the market. With all of the exciting activities lined up at TRE, it may be hard to feel like you can make time for all of them. So how do you make the most of your time at such an expansive trade show? Check out our list below that will help you make the most out of your time at The Running Event this year! Review the Sessions Before You Arrive When you signed up, you were asked to specify which sessions you wanted to attend. Hopefully you took some time to review each session to ensure you selected sessions tailored to your needs. Before you arrive, take the time to review the information on each session you’re attending again. Map the sessions to the goals you have for your business, so you’ll be able to take in the information and apply it to your own business. This will help you be in the right mindset for each session. Preview the Exhibitors Most of the fun of trade shows is checking out what all of the exhibitors are doing in their booths. But with such a large event, it’s easy to just wander the floors and miss out on the opportunity to actually find a new tool or product that could really impact your store’s performance. Take time (maybe on the boring plane ride) to review the vendors listed in the pre-show guide. Each vendor has a little information about their business and what to expect from them at TRE. Make a list of the top booths you want to hit while you’re there and make sure you make time to stop in at them during the trade show hours. Follow the Hashtag Even if you’re not a huge social media fan, the benefit of following a show’s hashtag is undeniable while attending an event. You’ll be able to tap into contests, sessions you weren’t able to attend, and connect with attendees. Don’t be afraid to check out the hashtag #TRE15 this week and while you’re at the show next week. You might be able to make a new friend, win a contest, or get tips from other sessions you missed! Check Your Inbox Chances are, you’re already connected with some of the stores and exhibitors attending. Many exhibitors take advantage of being face-to-face with current and prospective customers by sending out special deals, promotions, and contests. Make sure you check your inbox every morning, who knows, maybe you’ll find a coupon or offer for a free gift you don’t want to miss! Come Prepared to Talk With so many post show events, morning runs, and time on the trade show floor, you have plenty of opportunity to chat with other attendees and exhibitors. Don’t be shy. Come ready to talk at TRE, you never know what connections you might make and who might be able to introduce you to someone important. To find out more about The Running Event, click here. If you are attending, make sure to visit the RICS team at Booth 1530!