March 26, 2002 Barry A. Sabol, PhD. '74, speaker President Strategic Consumer Research, Inc. "Dr. Sabol graduated from Thiel with a degree in psychology. After attending graduate school, he worked for an advertising company and is currently the president of Strategic Consumer Research." - Meghan Kremm, senior, accounting and business administration major "Dr. Sabol spoke about how to make and keep a successful retailer. He gave several suggestions on how he thinks this can best be accomplished. 1.) Location - don't have too many, don't have a bad location. 2.) Advertising - Get your name out; get your product or service known. 3.) Have the right product at the right time and have enough of it. 4.) Have great service. 5.) Listen to your customers." - Cheryl Williams, senior accounting and business administration major "Dr. Sabol presented to us a lecture on important keys to success in retailing. He discussed the three tiered retailing pyramid which consists of price of entry, differentiation, and then icing. He explained that the key to success in retailing lies in the second step which is differentiation." - Alan Shepard, junior, accounting and business administration major "He told a story about a company building and trying to sell a portable 80 pound battery that only lasts for 2 hours. This helped me realize that all business people are not rational or logical. He also told us that just because people are above you does not mean that they are competent or even smarter than people below them." - Laura Yaple, junior, accounting and business administration major "Some lessons I learned were: 1)Learn to listen to your customers, 2)Try to be different and offer what people want, 3)Keep your advertisements simple and to the point." - Ryan Yeager, senior, business administration major