Workshops & Presentations

We offer workshops for healthcare industry educational conferences. Our workshops are designed for gift shop managers, auxiliary leaders, and directors of volunteer services with gift shop responsibility who want to operate their shops more profitably and professionally.

Workshops include lecture and hands-on exercises, and participants will learn how to create financial operating and merchandise buying plans that they can use in their own shops. All workshops are based on our training guide, "7 Steps to a Highly Effective Gift Shop."

Bringing a strong background in the best practices of the retail world, Linda Williams has given presentations and workshops numerous times for the health industry's educational conferences.

*Workshops can be edited to presentations to fit your available time.

Presentation Services

Healthcare Association Clients

• American Society of Directors of Volunteer Services
• Association of Healthcare Volunteer Resource Professionals
• Health Care Association of New York State
• Illinois Hospital Association
• Kentucky Hospital Association
• New Hampshire Hospital Association
• New Jersey Hospital Association
• Ohio Hospital Association
• Kansas Hospital Gift Shop Managers Convention
• Southeastern Directors of Volunteers in Healthcare Organization
• Virginia Association of Healthcare Auxiliaries and Volunteers
• Minnesota Association of Gift Shop Managers Symposium
• Minnesota Association of Healthcare Auxiliaries
• California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems
• Pennsylvania Association of Healthcare Auxiliaries
• Pennsylvania Association of Directors of Volunteer Services
• Michigan Association of Healthcare Gift Shop Managers
  Workshops
• Michigan Association of Healthcare Auxiliaries
• Georgia Association of Director of Volunteer Services

Setting Strategic Goals for Gift Shops
45 minute presentation.

Managers with specific goals achieve more than those without, yet most hospital gift shop managers have little or no guidance in how to set effective financial goals.

This presentation teaches five basic concepts that are the foundation of every successful retail business. Gift shop managers will learn how to create specific measurable goals for themselves and their volunteers so that they will better meet the financial expectations of the organization, as well as the merchandise and service needs of their customers.

Turn More, Earn More
45 minute presentation.

Today’s gift industry is struggling and over-saturated, and today’s consumer isn’t filling curio cabinets with figurines or stacking the side tables with resin reproductions. Customers are downsizing and simplifying their lives. Even though the news sounds gloomy, it doesn’t have to be. Today’s successful gift shop buyers are creative, smart, and have a different way of looking at their business and their customers.

This presentation teaches buyers how much merchandise is enough to achieve healthy sales goals without compromising profit, how to develop backbone departments that will deliver the maximum amount of return on inventory investment, and how to recover from "post-Beanie Baby stress syndrome" and begin reinventing their gift categories.

Creating Certainty in Uncertain Times: 
Surefire Strategies for your Business to Survive and Thrive.
1 hour session

For many healthcare gift shop operators, both large and small, the past year’s sales and profit performance has been a wake-up call to look beyond the ways they’ve always done business and create a new model for their gift shop operation.

This presentation teaches strategies to recover from the current economic downturn and regain market share!  Gift shop operators will learn not only what to do, but what not to do to survive and thrive in today’s competitive retail environment.

“Friendly Measures:  Five Productivity Measures to Improve Sales and Profits.”
1 hour session

The foundation of every successful retail business is to meet the financial expectations of the organization.

Managers with specific goals achieve more than those without, yet many healthcare gift shop managers have little or no guidance in how to set and measure retail performance goals.

This presentation teaches five basic measuring concepts that are the foundation of every successful retail business.  By learning how to create specific measurable goals, monitor the goals consistently and take appropriate action before the end of the fiscal year, gift shop managers will better meet and even exceed the financial expectations of the organization.

Benchmarking for Success-
Turn Your Data into Revenue Driving Intelligence!
2 hour session

Many healthcare gift shops operate at 50% or less of their sales and profit potential because they are “flying by the seat of their pants” rather than “driving” their business toward a successful goal.  Benchmarking industry standards is the best way for shop operators to maximize sales and profit potential, and to get the best return on their inventory investment.

In this workshop, you will learn how to create a financial operating roadmap that will equip you to plan, measure and improve profit performance.

You’ll be provided with industry benchmarks you can use for your own gift shop to:

• Calculate your shop’s maximum profit potential.
• Identify and correct the three key profit stealers.
• Measure and increase profit productivity.
• Measure your shop’s financial performance against good, better and best examples.
• Make the best use of limited selling space.

By turning the data you already have into revenue driving intelligence, you will be better equipped to:

• Improve revenue.
• Reward high achievers.
• Take corrective action to objectively resolve performance issues.
• Greatly reduce the financial risk to your organization. 

This workshop is important to gift shop managers and buyers, but crucial to those with financial oversight for their shops (Director of Volunteer Services, Auxiliary Gift Shop Chairman, and Auxiliary Treasurer).