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EVENTS
44
Managing Director Adrian Butler
kicked off the ‘Transformation is
now’ themed pioneering cross-
category event opening by
asserting the fact that he wants
resellers to “have confidence in our
commitments”.
Butler’s address included an update
on VOW’s strategy and focus areas for
2017, focusing on the value of wholesale,
how the industry can counteract threats
from giants such as Amazon, latest market
trends and growth areas.
He also provided an update on VOW’s
performance and the Group’s financial
results, as well as outlining how the
wholesaler had spent 2016 getting in
shape and is now set to kick of 2017 with
renewed vigour and focus.
Having seen unprecedented levels of
price increases post-Brexit – over 200 core
brands have increased on average by six
per cent, Butler suggested that dependent
on the mix, the increases could be up to 20
per cent in some instances. “It’s market-
wide,” he said, “You have got to pass the
price increases through.”
Keynote speakers
The event included a packed agenda of
content. The morning’s keynote speakers
included ‘The Telephone Assassin’ Anthony
Stears, who shared ideas designed to
get businesses talking again and stop
people from hiding behind emails and
social media. His insightful presentation
centred on helping the audience find new
ways to get in front of more of their ideal
customers and getting more business from
their existing customers.
The session covered top tips on how to
avoid rejection, get past the gatekeeper,
perfect a pitch and quickly build rapport
over the phone.
Geoff Ramm’s lively ‘Celebrity Service’
keynote speech challenged the audience
to think smarter and create better, leaving
them with the mindset to continually stay
ahead of the competition. His delivery was
both energetic and entertaining, as he
took delegates on a journey of memorable
customer service and marketing ideas.
Ramm outlined what is different about
Celebrity Service, arming delegates with
a number of different techniques to apply
in their own businesses to open up new
opportunities.
Ruth Marshall-Johnson from The
Future Laboratory discussed key workplace
trends and shared insight into what is
driving transformation in the workplace,
including how Digital Mindsets, Bleisure,
the New Worker and Womanomics are
having an influence. She explained why
it is important to embrace new forms of
workplace flexibility and use highly visual
communication to cut across all divides of
the workforce. Practical examples and an
Innovator’s Toolkit to enable delegates to
respond to the impact of these trends on
their businesses, were shared on the day.
VOW’s Green Light event which took place on December 2 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole,
NEC, played host to around 400 reseller delegates
VOW Green Light
Exhibition
Attendees also took the opportunity to
visit the exhibition where more than 80
exhibitors including headline sponsors
ExaClair, ACCO and Fellowes, promoted
new products and the latest innovations to
help resellers kick start plans for 2017.
As an event exclusive, Polaroid Play
showcased its brand new Polaroid Play
3D Pen that will be commercially available
from February.
The very first VOW Immersive
Experience which aims to capture the
imagination with a conceptualised
display of workplace environments took
centre stage at the exhibition. Designed
to demonstrate new category and
product ideas to drive sales growth, the
walkthrough stand with a showroom-style
layout featured reception, washroom,
kitchen, office, meeting room and
classroom environments, with products
relevant to each area.
Focus sessions
Focus sessions taking place in the
afternoon included a session by Matt
Trimmer on how resellers can transform
their Google Analytics and AdWords.
Trimmer is the Principal Consultant and
Managing Director of ivantage, a leading
provider of hands-on, in depth and
detailed training for digital professionals.
He is listed on Google.com with only 14
others authorised to train exclusively for
Google’s Seminars Success programme.
Today, he is one of the world’s leading
experts in Google Analytics, Google Tag
Geoff Ramm
Anthony Stears,
‘The Telephone
Assassin’
Ruth Marshall-
Johnson,
The Future
Laboratory
Continued...
