fbpx Last month, I had the privilege of attending the National Shoe Retailers Association’s (NSRA) Leadership Conference  in San Antonio, TX. There I listened to several different speakers, interacted with a diverse crowd of shoe store owner, and enjoyed a delicious meal on the river walk. The Battle of (Ir)Relevancy One of the themes of the weekend was the battle of relevancy and irrelevancy in today’s changing world. Jim Dion, internationally known retail speaker and trainer, started off the speaker series of the conference asking how everyone was shifting their thinking. With technology fueling disruption, it’s never been easier to lose the battle to irrelevancy. To prove it, take a second to think about a local business that has recently closed or even one of Macy’s several stores. No matter the business’ size, no one is safe if you chose to ignore the changing landscape. Fortunately, technology has also given businesses the opportunity to experience growth. Meet Mark Denkler and his wife LaRonda, owners of Vince Canning Shoes. As small footwear boutique owners, they’ve faced many of the challenges that most independent retailers face today. They used RICS reporting tools to help them see upcoming trends and how they could impact their future performance. As Jim said during his lecture, “Where you spend your time, you spend your money.” The Denklers embodied this with their business strategy and is one of many reasons they won NSRA’s highest honor of 2016, the Retailer of the Year Award. Take a moment and think about where your business is at today. What’s relevant? What’s not relevant? People who don’t track performance fear the reality of that performance. It’s one of the reasons why people don’t utilize personal budgets. I challenge you to ask yourself, where does your store stand?