Friedman seminar deal

Harry Friedman is the American author of the best-selling retail training book No thanks Im just looking (now on its fourth printing). He has given sales seminars to 350 000 sales people.

So how good is he? Corporate seminar bookers who book Friedman for bespoke sessions get their money back if their sales teams dont improve results by at least 15 percent.

Check out www.thefriedmangroup.com for a load of testimonials from major US and European retailers.

However, slightly closer to home BikeBiz can reveal that Debbie Demeritte of the Wheelie Serious group of London bike shops is a big fan of Friedmans and has flown staff out to his US seminars.

She says hes like an American Evangelical preacher, You get caught up in the fire!

I first read No thanks, I’m just looking nine years ago and it inspired me so much that my copy is now dog eared and tired. It is the one and only book I pick up when ever I get freaked out and down. Like why

the hell do I do this? kind of moments. I read it and I wake up knowing

exactly what originally inspired me to make retail my career. Since then I have been actively involved in all of the Friedman training programs.

The UK arm of The Friedman Group is now offering an extra incentive to book places on Harrys UK tour. If an IBD (or a friendly supplier on behalf of a favoured IBD) books three or more seminar places they will get a copy of No thanks, Im just looking (£29.95 retail) and a box of four audio tapes of Friedman in full flow (£120 retail).

The day seminars cost £175 a head and are aimed at retail managers with talks on What to do when your staffs sales drop, go up or level off and Is your store famous for its customer service culture?

More appropiate for IBD staff are the three-hour evening sessions. There will be hundreds of people at these sessions so dont expect any one-on-one tuition but for sheer inspiration, a Friedman seminar has got to be seen to be believed.

Topics covered in the 6.30-9.30pm sessions include How to close a large percentage of shoppers while adding on for bigger profits, Overcoming your customers most common objections, Demonstrations that make people say Ill take it, and Reducing buyers remorse and creating a base of customers that buy from you again and again.

The courses are in London (30th Oct), Birmingham (31st Oct), Manchester (6th Nov) and Leeds (7th Nov).

Email: tfgascot@aol.com

Or call Geoff Hardy on 01344 843 430.