Mike Hockett starts consulting firm, which has partnership with retail trade association

Longtime retail trainer and consultant Mike Hockett was a familiar face at ICRS, but in a new role. The former CBA staff member was in Denver as head of his own new consultancy.

Along with Chief Operating Officer Dorothy Gore and Director of Finance Becky Kennedy, Hockett was let go in May by CBA as part of a restructuring intended to "reset" the association for the future.

Hockett then began his Colorado Springs, Colo.—based Strata Consulting, serving as president and senior consultant. CBA entered into a contractual arrangement with Strata, as several of his company's consultants—including Bill Flandermeyer, Jo Ann Panter and Beverly Miller—led workshops at ICRS.

Hockett "continues to play an integral role" in serving retail trade association members, utilizing CBA Consulting Services and the CBA Custom Inventory Accelerator," association officials said. "Through this partnership, CBA will continue to offer training and business solutions that meet the needs of retailers."

A month before he left CBA, Hockett was part of the Christian Music Retail Conference—held during the Gospel Music Association's Music Week—as he gave a talk on how to train music sales staff.

Hockett has more than 30 years of retail experience in the areas of training, technology, operations and store management—working for various companies, including Family Christian Stores, Lemstone Books, Sears and Dollar Tree.

"Small- to medium-size businesses need affordable consulting," Hockett said in an introduction to Strata’s new Web site. During nine years with CBA, he "developed a concept to make consulting affordable. I found independent contractor consultants with retail experience and experts in other types of business to provide consulting on an as needed basis."

Hockett is co-developer of CBA's Custom Inventory Accelerator, an inventory tool that maximizes long-tail backlist through localized product assortments. This tool helps retailers identify crucial backlist product by category or department to meet local customers' preferences and demands.

The tool incorporates budget realities so retailers gain optimum return on inventory investment with available dollars. Some test stores doubled category sales with Hockett’s consulting and the Accelerator tool.

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