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management, national account management, and labor relations.
Having opened two stores of his own with help from others Larry understands what new store
owners and managers need to know, what the pitfalls are that they face, whom to go to for
supplies and inventory, and what to seek in a store lease.
Larry's extensive network of associations with store owners and his visits to stores across the
U.S. and Europe give him a unique perspective on the variations that exist in successful store
designs and operations.
In 1994 many if not most Mail & Parcel Center Stores were still operating with a cash register
and manual rate charts at a time when UPS was just about the only alternative to the U.S.
Postal Service. With the opening of his second store Larry implemented an automated system
that addressed both shipping and point-of-sale (POS) applications using the PostalMate
software from PC Synergy. Today Larry is certified by PC Synergy to train users on their product.
Larry joined the national trade association of the Mail & Parcel Center industry, Associated Mail
& Parcel Centers (AMPC), and became a regular contributor to their monthly journal. He was a
featured speaker at three of their national conventions.
the Mail & Parcel Center industry after having used such facilities from coast to coast when he
managed the EDS – General Motors account team at Racal-Milgo. He opened his first store in
the Fall of 1994 and the second store in the Spring of 1995. In addition to the two retail stores
Larry began pursuing shipping business outside the confines of a retail store by positioning
himself with trust officers and attorneys in the Dallas area. Today Larry is the preferred vendor
for several large banking institutions for the packing and distribution of large estates. By the
time he sold his stores annual sales exceeded $550,000. Larry started two stores, built up the
business, and sold them which gave him valuable experience in all phases of the life cycle of a
small retail store.
Larry's extensive background in labor relations lead to the development of his Employee
Handbook that he used in his store operations and then later began offering to other Mail &
Parcel Center stores as well as to other industries. This book is designed specifically for the
small retail store operator who wants to ensure that the employees understand their
responsibilities and the expectations of management. The Employee Handbook will help you
to avoid labor issues that often plague small business owners.
Larry’s sales background lead to the writing of The Art of Renting Mailboxes. Each year he
visits or calls at least 30% of the other Mail & Parcel center stores in the Dallas – Fort Worth
Metroplex to enquire about mail box rentals. He believes that active selling is what makes the
difference in this industry. This book was originally developed as an in-house training manual
for new employees to provide a systematic and easy to understand approach to selling mail box
rentals to potential customers. The Art of Renting Mailboxes will help you increase your
monthly revenues in this very important profit center.
While recognizing the importance of packing, shipping, and mailbox rentals in any Mail & Parcel
Center store Larry also recognized the importance of developing other profit centers. He took
his cue from some of the more successful department store companies that constantly ask if
each square foot of retail space is producing revenue and if not how that can be accomplished.
His book Supplemental Profit Centers provides a look at additional ways to add needed
revenue to the cash drawer each and every day. More than simply a list of ideas, Supplemental
Profit Centers provides the kind of information Larry wished he’d had when he first started
including the names and addresses of vendors, marketing ideas, and ways to measure the
potential of each profit center.
Currently Larry is working on a new book, Did I Make Any Money Today? This book will show
the typical store owner how to review daily, weekly, and monthly reports in order to understand
the results of the business. The thrust of Did I Make Any Money Today is not to teach one
accounting, rather it is to teach one how to better manage a business. This book should be
available on the Vision Alliance Network web site by the Summer of 2005.
Dr. Chip Bell, a noted author and speaker in the area of customer service, has used Larry and
his management style as an example of the proper way to build customer loyalty through good
customer service.
In the Spring of 2002 Larry sold his first store to begin devoting more of his time to consulting
and to shipping large and unusual items. In the Fall of 2003 he sold his second store. During
the Summer of 2002, 2003, and 2004 he worked as the Operations Manager at an Etruscan
archaeological excavation in Italy known as the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project. Larry has
been a featured speaker at three of the AMPC annual conventions and has had numerous
articles published in the AMPC monthly magazine. With the speed and ease of modern email
coupled with the use of digital cameras and fax services, Larry is able to provide a wide range of
consulting and training services in a very cost effective manner to clients across the country.
Whether you need help with the entire project from beginning to end or assistance in specific
areas, Larry can tailor his services to your requirements. He combines his love of sales with
his background in economics to help people build businesses that serve their communities
well while keeping a weather eye on the books and the bottom line.
Larry was graduated summa cum laude from Golden Gate University in San Francisco,
California, with a B.A in Economics. He was also graduated from the Defense Language
Institute – West Coast where he studied the Polish language, history, and culture. Larry served
four years in Germany in the U.S. Army Security Agency where he was involved in the collection
and analysis of information for the National Security Agency. Currently Larry is working on a
Master of Liberal Arts degree with a concentration on classical Roman history at Southern
Methodist University. His broad educational base led to management positions with
Southwestern Bell Telephone Company and AT&T, then later to sales management positions
in the data communications industry.
In the early 1980s Larry was a pioneer in the implementation of retail sales at Southwestern
Bell Telephone Company with their PhoneCenter Stores. Many of Larry's experiments including
a cuing line theory application to predict the number of customers each hour, designer
telephone sales strategies, and customer satisfaction programs were adopted and
implemented throughout the entire company.