Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dominick DiMichele. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dominick, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Is your team able to work remotely? If so, how have you made it work? What, if any, have been the pitfalls? What have been the non-obvious benefits?
When working with multiple events across the country, we realized early on working remotely would be the best fit for us. Being able to have representatives contribute from their location without having to come to a centralized office would allow us the flexibility to locate the best fit for our teams without geographic restrictions. Following 2020, major leaps in the work-from-home industry have allowed us to expand well beyond our original processes so much that 2019 feels like the stone age. At this point, if there is something you need to better allow your business to work remotely, there is usually a perfect solution that can be found with a simple Google search.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Since attending my first concert at 15 years old, I recognized I had developed a passion for live events of all kinds. From the event ticketing side, I saw an opportunity to be able to assist local promoters with online ticketing at a time when most event tickets were still being purchased by phone or in person. We started by printing tickets and mailing them to customers which brought substantial challenges which were were able to learn from. Over the years, DirectTix has evolved to 100% digital delivery and being able to provide a tremendous amount of feedback to event promoters regarding their ticketing process as well as additional revenue opportunities for them. Our goal was to make the ticketing process as painless as possible for the promoter while providing a large value-added consulting piece as well.

N.E.S. Bridal was founded in 2010 with the goal of creating opportunities for local businesses by using live events as a delivery mechanism. The first N.E.S. Bridal Expo was held in Scottsdale, AZ in April of 2011 and we are proudly entering our 10th year of producing bridal shows. Our goal has always been to provide events in which “everybody wins”, meaning show attendees are able to find amazing vendors for their weddings while at the same time providing the opportunities for local businesses to grow by meeting attendees face to face. Over the last 10 years we are proud to say that our shows have become one of the most attended and respected in the country.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Early in my career I worked in sales for a large Fortune 500 company as a sales representative. In this position we were trained in hyper-agressive sales tactics, to treat each sales call “as a fight”. We were trained to never take no for an answer, never give up, always “hit back” and never, under any circumstances, hang up the phone first if you did not make the sale. We actually had to have people hang up on us if they did not buy something. I eventually became so good at this that I became the Sales Manager in 5 locations in 2 states.

As I matured over time I began to realize this was not the way I would approach my sales team if it were my company. We began to see unhappy and confused customers along with extremely high customer turnover. This issue became so severe that entire new departments had to be created to address these customer concerns post-sale.

This was the biggest lesson I had to unlearn when starting my companies. I decided that the sales process would be a problem solving and opportunity creating event for the potential client. If we wouldn’t be able to provide the proper opportunity for the potential client, it would be ok to shake hands and maybe revisit it another time. At first this was a difficult issue, but it didn’t take long to realize that if we made each of our customers as happy as possible and to deliver on their expectations, we could have long lasting relationships.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
Lisa Frazee became the Sales Director of N.E.S. Bridal in October of 2019. We had been friends for a few years and I had been aware that my previous partner was planning on leaving the organization that October. For a few months Lisa would tell me (over some drinks… actually quite a few drinks) that she had no problem with the responsibilities of the soon-to-be open role and she would consistently tell me she would be very successful if she had the opportunity. I eventually yielded to her persistence and she took on the responsibility of the position. She quickly adapted to the position and made contributions to the organization that could only be made through fresh eyes. Her ideas and suggestions were implemented and Lisa’s First bridal show at N.E.S. Bridal was the most successful we had ever had up to that point. After that show, the next was even more successful. The rest is history. Having that type of partner is invaluable in any organization.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nesbridal.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/scottsdalebridalexpo