Independent Thinking Podcast
A podcast on, and for, the Independent retail channel, created by Nationwide Marketing Group.
Episodes
Drew and Jonathan Scott are best known for their work renovating and selling homes across a variety of shows on HGTV. The Property Brothers recently turned their attention to one particular room in the home – the bedroom – with the goal of helping consumers improve their sleep.
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July 16, 2024 • 39 mins
Nationwide Marketing Group's Service Leaders Network recently hosted its fourth Virtual Service Conference, a unique event that provides training, education and networking opportunities for every aspect of a servicing dealer's business. We sat down with Mark Pollitz, director of service for NMG, to see what he and the servicing community learned from the recent event.
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July 9, 2024 • 34 mins
As the first states start to roll out their interpretations (and rules) around the Inflation Reduction Act, we sit down with NMG's own IRA expert Frank Sandtner to understand the implications.
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July 2, 2024 • 34 mins
When he was a part of the NMG team, Mike Manthey was a driving force behind the group's data initiative. Now, as a part of the King's Great Buys Plus team, he's leveraging NMG's data-powered tools like PriMetrix to help grow and evolve the business while also exploring new markets.
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June 25, 2024 • 36 mins
There are many different elements that help to build (or develop) a company's culture. How much emphasis you place on certain areas can ultimately help set that culture. For Martin Appliance in central Pennsylvania, education is one area that they've decided to invest heavily in – and it's paying off in a major way.
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June 18, 2024 • 38 mins
There are so many factors that go into the overall success of any independent retail business, but it's those one or two special areas that you excel at that truly take your business to the next level. For Lee Burns, CEO & Founder of Mattress Direct, it's been his commitment to an exceptional (and innovative) in-store experience.
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June 11, 2024 • 15 mins
Carlos Warlick, owner of CW Technologies in Southern California, has one of the craziest AV industry origin stories out there. After getting his start by doing intern-like work at a big music studio, he found himself pimpin' rides well before Xhibit was doing his thing on MTV. That parlayed into a successful and growing custom integration business that he runs today.
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June 4, 2024 • 18 mins
Josh Trevithick founded his custom integration company, PROJECT: automate, a little over two decades ago, but he just recently joined Oasys Residential Technology Group – and he's already realizing the return on his investment. During the recent Oasys Summit, Trevithick sat down to talk about his early experience in the group and how he hopes to pay it forward.
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May 28, 2024 • 48 mins
Just a few weeks after being formally introduced as a consultant for Nationwide Marketing Group's Custom Integration division, Frank Sterns was with the group in Austin for the second-annual Oasys Summit. There, we sat down with him to talk about his first in-person experience with the group as a part of the team, and we dove into his career history and his vision for the group.
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In an industry where the battle for margins enhancement is ongoing, something like product protection programs should be a no-brainer to business owners. But how you – and your sales team – approaches product protection with your customers can make or break the pitch. Howard's is a great example of a retailer that understands what makes its sales team tick, and leaning into that to improve their attachment rates.
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Founded in 2009, BEDGEAR has quickly become one of the fastest-growing performance sleep brands in the world, and it's no accident either.
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May 7, 2024 • 26 mins
What if there was a way to benchmark your business against others in just about every aspect? That's exactly what NMG's new Cost of Doing Business study aims to solve.
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April 30, 2024 • 17 mins
Victrola is helping independent retailers capitalize on the resurgence of the record industry by offering innovative and modernized turntables. Don Inmon, head of product and brand there, dives into the category and their portfolio.
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April 23, 2024 • 18 mins
It was a truly action packed PrimeTime for the NMG Furniture, Bedding & Outdoor team. At the end of it all, we caught up with Jeff Rose, VP of the division, to talk about the new vendor introductions, the first-ever tour offered to Members of the World Market Center campus and other trends impacting the furniture, bedding and outdoor industries.
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April 16, 2024 • 14 mins
The TV market is a truly fascinating one to follow. Screen sizes continue to get bigger and picture quality continues to get more vibrant and clearer. But how much better can these displays actually get? We sat down with Bruce Walker, product evangelist at TCL, to get a – ahem – clearer picture of what's in store for TV technology.
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April 9, 2024 • 20 mins
A year in, we sat down with Chris Whitley to talk about the launch and growth of Ellipsys Commercial Technology Group and what's ahead for his expanding network.
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April 2, 2024 • 14 mins
You can't have a conversation about the retail industry without talking about the current status of the economy or where it's heading. We did just that with Velicia Sutton, managing director and general manager for Wells Fargo. In addition, Velicia dives into the world of inventory financing and shares how independent retailers can leverage this available benefit to free up cash to focus on other areas of their business.
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March 28, 2024 • 21 mins
Founded by Ken Dudley in 1978, Tip Top Furniture in Freehold, New York, has seen three generations of Dudley's take their place at the head of the family business. Currently run by Donna Mae, she and son Colby sat down for an interview during PrimeTime to talk about the keys to their multi-generational success and how they manage to merchandise a store that – at 35,000 square feet – can truly hold the entire population of Freehold.
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March 26, 2024 • 26 mins
While with us in Las Vegas for his first experience at a PrimeTime event, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Program Manager Dan Cronin sat down for a podcast. Cronin recounted his experience at the show, talked about the just announced Partner of the Year Awards (of which, NMG was an honoree) and much more.
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March 21, 2024 • 17 mins
The odds of a family-owned business making it past the second generation are never really great. So, the fact that Oaklyn, NJ-based Nastasi's is currently a fourth-generation owned and operated independent retail store is simply miraculous.
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