Thanks to everyone who joined us for our September Hardware Innovators Monthly Webinar: 10 Revenue-Producing Events Every Hardware Store Should Host Before the End of the Year.
Whether you attended live or couldn’t make it, we’ve got you covered. Below, we’re recapping some of the biggest takeaways from the session, including how to turn community events into opportunities to strengthen customer relationships, engage Business & Pro accounts, leverage vendor partnerships, and drive measurable revenue.
And if you’d like to continue receiving insights, tools, and strategies built specifically for hardware retailers, sign up here to stay connected with future Hardware Innovators webinars and resources.
Events Create Opportunities Beyond Foot Traffic
A great store event brings people through the door and creates opportunities that can continue long after the event ends.
When Marketing, Business & Pro, vendor partners, and your store team work together, events can strengthen community connections, build customer relationships, create new business opportunities, generate valuable content, and drive measurable revenue.
The opportunity is to make every event work harder for your store by connecting community, relationships, and revenue as part of a larger strategy.
10 Revenue-Producing Event Ideas
From community-focused events to contractor and Pro opportunities, Rand shared 10 event ideas hardware stores can use to create connections, bring customers into the store, and support revenue:
- Halloween Family Festival
- Ladies Night
- Black Friday VIP Event
- Small Business Saturday
- Santa Pictures
- Holiday Contractor Breakfast
- Winterization Clinic
- Holiday Gift Expo
- Customer Appreciation Day
- Business & Pro Appreciation Lunch
Free Webinar Assets:
Build an Event Strategy
Successful events start with a plan.
Rand broke down how Marketing, Business & Pro, vendor partners, and the store team can each play a role in making an event successful. From promotion and invitations to vendor coordination, photography, registration, setup, follow-up, and analytics, assigning clear ownership helps turn an idea into a repeatable process.
Rand also shared an eight-week event planning timeline that starts with planning, followed by marketing, Business & Pro outreach, vendor coordination, store preparation, final promotion, event-day execution, and post-event follow-up.
The goal is to create a system your team can use again and again instead of starting from scratch with every event.
Measure What Your Events Create
Attendance matters, but it’s only one piece of the picture.
An event can create value across multiple areas of the business. Rand shared a Revenue Event Dashboard designed to measure results across:
- Marketing: Attendance, reach, reviews, website traffic, and email growth
- Business & Pro: New accounts, quotes, revenue, and follow-up meetings
- Vendor Partners: Participation, giveaways, demo attendance, customer meetings, and co-op investments
- Revenue: Event revenue, average ticket, gross margins, ROI, and revenue influenced
Tracking these results gives your team a clearer picture of what worked, where the opportunities came from, and how to make the next event even stronger.
Your 90-Day Challenge
You don’t need to plan an entire year of events tomorrow. Choose three Q4 events and start building the strategy around them now.
Meet with your vendor partners, assign your planning committee, establish measurable goals, launch your marketing, and track the results.
Then: review, improve, repeat.
Missed the Webinar or Want to Revisit It?
Watch the recording, download the checklist, and start thinking about which events make the most sense for your store and community.
Remember: a successful event doesn’t end when the last customer leaves. The relationships, follow-up opportunities, content, new accounts, and lessons learned can continue creating value long after event day.
Book a Free 15-Minute Strategy Call and let’s talk through your biggest opportunities.