Conference Agenda

Thursday, September 6


7:00am

Registration Opens

Stop by our registration table to pick up your name badge and conference program. Grab a cup of coffee and a light breakfast as you check out our amazing partners!

8:15am

Opening Remarks
Tony Mancini, Group Director/Principal, SGC Horizon, LLC and Joy Kilgore, President, EBA PRIME

Be in your seat and ready to be impressed. The program officially kicks off with an enthusiastic "Hello" from your conference hosts, Joy Kilgore and Tony Mancini.

8:30 - 9:30am

Keynote Speaker, sponsored by NARI
Creating a New Sales Experience
Jeff Tobe, Founder, "Coloring Outside the Lines"

In this high-energy, interactive, humorous session, Jeff Tobe, challenges you to accept that a great product and great customer service are no longer the factors that distinguish us from your competitors. Now you have to manage our customers' experiences, before, during, and after the sale. Join Jeff to learn:

• How to get your customer more engaged with what you do
• Motives for making the shift from a service culture to an experience culture
• Techniques to effectively manage the change that comes with innovation
• The benefits to challenging your existing "sales philosophies"
• How to tweak individual "touchpoints" in your organization
• Methods to get more engagement and, therefore, more business

9:30 - 10:00am

Leading the Way: Confessions of a Sales Innovator
Dan Wolt, Founder, Zen Windows

In 1998, after 10 years in the window industry, Dan Wolt founded Zen Windows as an alternative to what he perceived to be a broken system. Of all the innovations he introduced – including a "no money down" policy and "quotes in 5 minutes" - none was more transformative than the switch to online sales, which began in 1998 and today has completely replaced the in- home sales process. In this session, Dan will explore how and why it works, and what it takes to completely reinvent the window and door buying experience.

10:00 - 10:30am

Grab a snack and take some time to talk with our amazing conference partners. Make sure to be back in the main conference area by 10:30 for a door prize drawing! All attendees are automatically entered, but you must be in the room to win!

10:30 - 11:00am

Game Changing Sales Technology
Andrew Zickell, Senior Leader, Business Development, CoreLogic

A discussion of digital technology, both existing and under development, that makes it possible to research and prepare a complete estimate for a roof and other exterior replacements without ever making a visit to the home.

11:00 - 11:30am

Secrets to Social Media Selling
Joaquin Erazo, Jr., President, Marketing Wing

Today social media has become part of our everyday lives. More than 2.5 billion people are currently using social platforms, and they are no longer mainly teens and millennials. In fact, more than 70% of Gen-Xers and Boomers are active on social platforms. In this session, Joaquin will share which platforms to avoid and which ones have been proven to create engagement through videos, photos, polls, articles, blogs, calls to action, and more.

11:30 - 12pm

Page One Results Ain’t What They Used To Be
John Farrar, Director of Industry, Google

As mobile search gains dominance, voice search is also growing. In fact, in just a few years, voice search has jumped from zero to more than 20% of all mobile searches, with no slow-down in sight. The consequences for digital marketing are far-reaching. In this session, Google executive John Farrar will explore how voice search and other disruptive technologies are already changing consumer shopping and buying patterns, and what it means for the businesses vying for their attention.

12:00 - 1:30pm

Fast Pitch Lunch

Join us for lunch on Thursday, September 6th. Vendors will have just two minutes to pitch their product to your table. Network with your peers as you decide who pitches best!
Sign up when you register for the conference, FREE for the first 150 attendees! A plated lunch will be provided.

1:30 - 2:00pm

Price Transparency: Risk or Resource?
Michael Anschel, Principal, Otogawa-Anschel Design-Build

Today's remodeling customer brings more information about your company to the sales meeting than ever before, and they expect you to provide the same degree of detail about their project. In response to changing customer buying habits, Michael Anschel abandoned the "bottom-line" approach to project pricing in favor of a line-item presentation system that improves his profit while instilling confidence and trust in his clients. In this session Michael explains how and why it works for both design-build and replacement companies.

2:00 - 2:30pm

Selling the Unexpected: Innovate to Differentiate
Mina Fies, CEO, Synergy Design & Construction

In today’s crowded marketplace, it takes more than a nice website and great before-and-after photos to grab your customers’ attention. Consumers are hungry for innovation, and addressing that need is what sets you apart from your competition. Join Mina Fies as she shares how her innovative approach to remodeling permeates her company’s marketing and sales strategies, and how it’s propelled the success of the brand over the past 10 years.

2:30 - 3:00pm

Breakout Sessions: Valuable Insights From Industry Experts

You have options! The breakout sessions are short, so find a seat quickly. These breakouts feature industry leaders who are experts in their topics.

3:00 - 3:30pm

Take a break. Grab a snack and chat with some of our valuable conference partners. Be back in your seat by 3:30 for another door prize drawing!

3:30 - 4:00pm

From Messy to Dressy: You Are What You Wear
Tara Luizzi, Founder/Wardrobe Consultant, Tara Styles DC

Soon you may be closing sales online in your pajamas, but today you still meet prospects face-to-face. How you look makes a difference, even when “untucked” has morphed from messy to dressy. It sounds old school, but first impressions really are lasting. You only get one shot, and what you’re wearing affects how people hear what you’re saying. Tara Luizzi will show how a “working wardrobe’ will serve as a tool you and your team can use to gain confidence, win trust, and project authority.

4:00 - 4:45pm

Time and Convenience: The New Differentiators
Brian Gottlieb, President, Tundraland Home Improvements

One way Brain Gottlieb innovates is by finding creative ways to eliminate the causes of customer dissatisfaction. His latest target is lead time – the lag between the sales close and the start of installation. For Brian, the "hurry-up-and-wait" sales cycle is a source of frustration for "we want it now" consumers accustomed to next-day delivery from Amazon.com. His "next-day-deck" initiative is breaking new ground in short-cycle product delivery, and elevating his company above his competitors.

4:45 - 5:00pm

Day One Closing Remarks

6:30 - 9:30pm

Extreme Sales Awards Reception & Banquet

Join us at the 2nd annual Extreme Sales Awards as we recognize outstanding achievement in Kitchen and Bath, Design-Build, and Home Improvement sales. Awards will be given in several categories, including Rookie of the Year and Rising Stars, culminating in the Extreme Sales Person of the Year Award. Bring your whole team for an evening of celebration and inspiration.

Cocktail reception begins promptly at 6:30pm. Tickets available for purchase on the conference registration site.

Friday, September 7


7:45 am

Join us for coffee and a continental breakfast as we start our conversations for the day.

8:30 am

Conference Resumes

8:45 - 9:30am

Executing Innovation
CEO, System Pavers

Larry Green, CEO / founder of Systems Pavers We all have innovative ideas and we all focus on choosing which of those ideas will be a winner. What often gets less of our attention, however, is how to go about implementing innovative ideas in a way that ensures their success. In this session, Larry will share insights he’s gained during the critical process of putting key sales innovations into practice. Changing old ways of doing things is difficult at best, but using the right formula can increase the likelihood for success.

9:30 - 10:00am

Reinventing the Sales Meeting
Chris Lavoie, VP Sales, Reborn Cabinets

As sales strategies change, so must sales meetings. In this session, Chris Lavoie draws on more than 25 years of experience in both retail auto sales and home improvement to explore sales meetings in light of a rapidly-evolving sales environment. He'll discuss the good and bad and sales meetings and provide perspective on why they are important to today's sales teams. Along the way, he'll share lessons learned from his personal successes and failures at leading sales meetings, and present innovative ideas that can help you ensure that your sales meetings are working as intended.

10:00 - 10:45am

Take your final break of the conference to finish up your conversations with our partners. Be back in the room, of course, for another door prize drawing!

10:45 - 11:15am

People-Centered Sales Training
Cindy Cipriani, Cipriani Remodeling Solutions

Cipriani Remodeling Solutions Selling is a process, but it’s a process performed by people who are animated by a complex mix of personal and professional goals, oscillating levels of confidence and emotion, and fluctuations between risk-taking and risk-avoidance. They need to be coached in ways that calm the chaos and harness the talents that make their performance more consistent and predictable. In this session, Cindy will show how her time-tested “Five C’s” approach — Clarity, Commitment, Challenges, Create, and Celebrate — can help sales people take their game to the next level.

11:15 - 12:00pm

Innovate or Become Irrelevant
Mark Richardson, Business Growth Strategist and Columnist for Professional Remodeler

Innovation isn’t just a trendy new business idea, it’s an essential mindset and a survival skill. Some entrepreneurs are born innovators, but Innovation is a survival skill that can be learned. Join Mark Richardson In this final session of the conference to discover how innovation can help you differentiate every aspect of your business, from people and processes, to products and presentation.

12:00 - 12:15 pm

Closing Remarks