Seven weeks!!! Count them, seven weeks until Natural Products Expo East. Well, if you are anything like me you are slowly watching summer fade into the past and looking forward to fall. Your customers have shifted their buying patterns from picnic supplies to healthy school lunches and tailgating necessities (Go Buffs!). I think that fall is my favorite season. Did you know that in Boston in October it is ‘Leaf Peeping Season’? Ah, look at that, yet another reason to come to Boston this fall!! (As if holiday order fulfillment isn’t enough.) Anyway, here in Boulder, our team is getting ready for our last and final site visit before the event to make sure everything is perfect for you. If you are an exhibitor, there are a lot of deadlines coming up to assure you have a successful event (look out for those emails that our myriad of wonderful vendors and exhibitor service people will be sending) and, no matter who you are, if you haven’t bought your ticket yet check out Jet Blue’s latest airfare sale- the Jet Out of Town Sale- and get to Boston in a timely and cost-effective manner (just don’t get too intrigued by those cheap fares to the Bahamas). It only lasts a few more days.

But, foregoing the Bahamas…Carolee Colter has graciously volunteered to guest blog a bit about her Human Resources session as a part of the Wednesday Retailer Workshop. Don’t just take it from me- this will be a session not to miss. So without further adieu…here’s Carolee:



As a consultant, I have the good fortune to travel around North America working with the retailers who are the heart and soul of the natural products industry. Independently owned local businesses and community-owned food co-ops have kept alive the passion and commitment to organics, health and sustainable agriculture that drew me to this industry way back in the ‘70’s.

One of the things I love about our industry is how much we promote people from within into management positions and give them a chance to grow on the job. But how can you learn to manage people if you’ve never been a manager before? And as your company grows and your job grows, how can you increase your skill set to rise to the increasing demands?

I was excited to learn that this year Expo is offering an opportunity to learn management skills and meet peers at the all-day workshop. The Wednesday Retailer Workshop has something for everyone on a store management team. There will be breakout sessions on sales, merchandising, marketing, operations—and one on human resources that I’ll be teaching. Specifically, this session will feature how to recruit workers and retain them.

For recruiting we’ll share innovative techniques that have worked for participants and other retailers for reaching potential workers, and we’ll focus on how to vigorously promote what makes your store special as a place to work. We’ll also discuss getting clear on what you’re looking for and detecting whether an applicant has it.

Once you’ve hired them, how can you keep them? Retailers are grappling with record levels of turnover, often among their newest employees. We’re encountering new workers with entirely different attitudes toward work. Did you ever think you’d be muttering what they used to say about us? — “Kids today have no respect!”

Study after study has shown that the most valued workplace benefit today, especially among younger workers, is opportunity for education and advancement. In this workshop we’ll focus on how to motivate employees through ongoing education, mentoring and the sense that they are part of an industry with career potential. But we’ll also look at other factors that make a difference in keeping your staff, no matter what generation they come from:

• Identifying high performers and expressing appreciation

• Asking for input and listening with respect

• Rewarding contributions to the business.