For the first time in its history, National Pavement Expo will visit Cleveland, OH, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (and the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame), among other sites. In its 32-year-history NPE has visited Nashville; Charlotte, NC; Tampa and Fort Lauderdale, FL; Atlanta, GA; and Memphis, TN, but this will be the first time NPE has been held north of the Mason-Dixon line.
The 2018 NPE will be held Feb. 7-10 at the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland in downtown Cleveland. (A pre-NPE Boot Camp by Brad Humphrey, Pinnacle Development Group, will be held Feb. 6.) The convention center is connected to the 600-room Hilton Cleveland Downtown, which is among the hotels NPE will be utilizing.
The 2018 NPE follows NPE’s 2017 conference and trade show in Nashville, which was the largest and most successful event in NPE’s 32-year history. The 2018 educational conference will feature 54 sessions including the day-long pre-NPE Boot Camp and 11 in-depth workshops. The remaining 42 sessions are 90 minutes each. Of the 54 sessions 39 are new and several will be updated with new video.
Among the new 3-hour workshops are:
Coaching Winners: Your #1 Leadership Priority, Brad Humphrey,
Pinnacle Development Group’s Brad Humphrey has always preached about the close relationship between leadership and coaching skills, and in this new session he ties the two directly together. “Find a great coach, and most likely you will find a great leader,” he says in his session description, and his 3-hour program builds on that. Humphrey teaches that “effective coaches are those who learn that their influence is based on their ability to gain the trust and respect of their team, even when the decisions are not always popular,” and the session will outline how to make that happen. Among the questions Humphrey will answer are, how is leadership different from management? What critical coaching skills do leaders use to motivate performance? And how can you use leadership and coaching skills to improve morale and performance in my own company? Wednesday, Feb. 7; 9:00 a.m. - Noon
How a Question-based Sales Process Will Get You More Work, Guy Gruenberg
Sales drive business and relationships are the backbone of sales. In this workshop Guy Gruenberg, Grow Consulting, will outline and teach part of the Consultative Sales Process that is designed to help salespeople initiate and develop relationships with their customers. Gruenberg will explain the process and why it works, teach techniques salespeople can use themselves or teach their sales team, and help attendees compare the results of a question-based processed with whatever sales process they are currently using. Wednesday, Feb. 7; 9:00 a.m. - Noon
Team-building for Contractors: How to Avoid the “Silo Syndrome,” Giselle Chapman
Long-time NPE team-building specialist Giselle Chapman, Chapman Business Solutions, consults in many industries where internal “teams” often don’t work together and, occasionally, even work at cross-purposes. That gives Chapman a unique insight and problem-solving background to help contractors make sure their teams work together. Office, sales, field, management, equipment maintenance and other contractor teams need to coordinate their efforts to help every contractor achieve its goals. Chapman will help each team reach their “production potential,” introduce what she terms a Team Wisdom Inventory, and provide tips to help create a team-focused environment. “If any individual team works only in its own ‘silo’ they block the coordination of all teams and the company can’t achieve the job quality, customer satisfaction – and profit -- every contractor pursues.” Wednesday, Feb. 7; 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Introduction to the Power of Job Costing, Jeff Stokes and Matt Slawson
Years ago few contractors recognized the importance of job costing – and fewer still actually tracked their costs. But more and more contractors are tackling job costing – for one thing it helps you set your prices and achieve your best margins – and this new session will provide a “how to” overview of what job costing involves and how to get started. Both from Next Level Contractor System, Jeff Stokes and Matt Slawson will explain how job costing data affects scheduling and customer satisfaction, how to collect and report job costs, how job costing data assists in proper estimating, and how job costing can earn you more profit per job – among other advantages. Thursday, Feb. 8; 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
How to Structure Sales Compensation to Motivate Salespeople – and Generate High-Profit Sales, Jeff Stokes, Next Level Contractor System
In his second 3-hour workshop of NPE 2018, Jeff Stokes, Next Level Contractor System, tackles a question every contractor faces: How do you compensate salespeople to both motivate them and generate high-profit sales? Stokes says the answer is a sales structure that rewards the right behaviors of sales personnel and he’ll present an approach “that includes effective incentives to motivate sales personnel and create positive competition, how to align behaviors of sales personnel to achieve higher sales and profit, and specific ‘Action Steps’ to implement an improved compensation plan that is right for your size company.” Friday, Feb. 9; 1:00 p.m. -4:00 p.m.
For details on the 2018 National Pavement Expo, Feb. 7-10 at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, visit www.nationalpavementexpo.com.
