This year’s IFMA Marketing & Sales Leaders Forum will kick off day one with a series of BONUS Education Sessions. This will be a content filled morning that you don’t want to miss! Be sure to arrive early, the first session begins at 9:30a on August 7th.
Read below to learn what each standout session will divulge, and get to know the speakers!
(9:30a) No Sale Left Behind: A Tale of Maximizing Sales with the Forgotten Operators
Big foodservice operators often mean big sales potential. But what about the bread and butter accounts – the small fries that collectively make a significant impact on your sales numbers? Join us for a compelling story about using an unconventional Inside Sales strategy to drive substantial sales with these smaller operators. By responding to these leads with customized follow up that connects the right people right away, we’ve driven product trial and converted these small operators into loyal fanatics while growing a significant revenue stream. On top of all that, it’s all measurable with REAL sales data and operator insights like none other. This story is worth listening to.
Speaker: Stephanie Earleywine - Director Business Strategy, RealTime Solutions®
Stephanie Earleywine has been in the role of Business Intelligence at RealTime Solutions for the past 8 years as a Director of Business Strategy. Since she began her career in foodservice 18 years ago, she has developed a wealth of industry knowledge from her experiences in foodservice marketing, brand management, manufacturing and distribution. Earleywine is a self-professed data geek with a passion for numbers and intelligence. She is constantly searching for insights and identifying trends that help drive growth in the foodservice industry.
(10:30a) Consumers that Drive the Pulse of the Industry
The underlying force of the foodservice business resides with a very important consumer group that are referred to as the food influencer. This sector of consumers has the highest impact on the entire foodservice landscape. From driving menu creation and change, to sourcing trends and even driving the popularity of brands and restaurant businesses. This group is the fabric of what leads the foodservice operators to incorporate change and new solutions every day. More important this group is having an adverse impact on the foodservice community as a whole with demands that may be unsustainable in the future. In this session we will analyze the trends, the social and digital vehicles that drive the trends as well as the solutions that are able to secretly guide the new food influencer of today.
Speaker: Paul Barron - CEO, Foodable Network
Paul Barron has been building foodservice media and consumer science companies for 25 years. As CEO of Foodable Network, the next era in Food Media for professionals and foodies alike, he is forging a new model of how consumer insights and the restaurant industry are intersecting. As an award winning author on consumer science in his book, the Chipotle Effect, he has identified a new consumer psyche that is changing food today. Armed with his decade of research he launched Foodable Labs as a data incubator in 2009, the first food industry social media index that identifies food trends, consumer trends, emerging restaurant brands, operators and chefs. Foodable Labs now boasts the largest index in foodservice at 172K brands, 2.5 Million foodservice decision makers and over 300 million global food consumers.
(11:30a) Artificial Intelligence is Here, and It’s Really Not That Scary (yet)
AI, machine learning, deep learning… go beyond the buzzwords and ask yourself, “is my business ready for the revolution?” Datassential shares its perspective on AI and its short and long term implications for the food industry in this eye-opening education session. You’ll also learn about Datassential’s Haiku™ platform – which puts AI in your hands to improve product innovation, menu forecasting, and much more. AI has landed, and it’s going to be revolutionary.
Speaker: Jack Li - Haiku Master, Datassential
Jack Li spearheads Datassential's custom insights and new products initiatives. Jack has led hundreds of research studies for foodservice manufacturers and distributors across a broad array of topics. Jack holds an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA and is a 2003 recipient of the IFMA Sparkplug award.
Click here for more information and to register!