SACO — “I’m the only speaker in the world that teaches businesses and communities how to become destinations. I’m the only guy.”

That’s business consultant Jon Schallert’s “unique positioning” — the term he uses to describe the distinct value add he brings his customers.

Roughly 30 Biddeford and Saco business owners and professionals gathered to hear Schallert speak at a training session at the PeoplesChoice Credit Union in Saco on Jan. 29. They were there to learn how to sharpen their unique positioning and other tips for taking their business to the next level.

Schallert got his start in business as a Smurf salesman, and then later worked for the holiday card giant Hallmark. But it wasn’t until he started his next venture, a solo consulting firm for other businesses, that he made a name for himself.

The year he launched his company, 1996, he visited 87 communities where he would talk with 10 to 15 businesses in each location. Everywhere he went he would find a business or two that was doing something right — whether that was a health food store with a unique sign in Albany, Oregon, an ice cream shop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, that capitalizes on the lore of having an unexploded Civil War-era shell lodged in its store front, or a purposefully no frills, cash only hamburger joint in Hollywood Beach, Florida.

He did the same thing the next year, and the following, which over time has added up to a staggering number of businesses he’s visited.

Every establishment offered a lesson or an insight of what to do or not to do, knowledge he consolidated into his 14-step “Destination Business” process, a method for attracting a customer base from outside of your immediate area and capturing more market share.

The event was put on by the community and business development organization Heart of Biddeford. HOB Executive Director Delilah Poupore said that she and HOB Board President Joe McKenney had seen Schallert speak at last year’s Main Street Now Conference and were very impressed. “We have to have him here,” Poupore remembered thinking.

The session was fitting given that Biddeford itself has generated some buzz as a destination in the past few years, notching write ups in the Portland Press Herald and even Condé Nast Traveler. York County’s largest city also recently hired the state’s former economic development czar, George Gervais, to serve as its new director of economic and community development. These days, Poupore estimates that Biddeford’s downtown businesses generate tens of millions in revenue each year, even though most of them have fewer than 10 staff members.

The event opened with remarks by Mayor Marty Grohman, himself an entrepreneur, who thanked the businesses for being the lifeblood of the community.

Representatives from downtown Biddeford businesses like New Morning Natural Foods, Time & Tide Coffee, and Suger were there. Even businesses from farther away, like the Bath-based cookware store Now You’re Cooking, were represented.

Briana Campbell, one of the founders of Time & Tide, said she hoped to learn ways to boost her own sales and revenue, but was excited for other businesses in the community to pick up new tips too. “It’s really about driving people into our downtown. … If we all get the same tools, it can have a massive effect,” she said.

Schallert spent a good portion of his presentation on concrete suggestions for business — like taking advantage of direct mail campaigns and offering tips for interacting with the media, always weaving in examples from his vast rolodex of businesses from around the country.

He also didn’t shy away from scrutinizing some of Biddeford’s businesses.

Prior to the event, Schallert had stopped by places like Nibblesford Cheese Shop and Lucky Pigeon to get a sense of what the community has to offer.

He told an anecdote about thinking of buying T-shirt from Lucky Pigeon — a gluten free brewery that opened in 2021 — but deciding against it because he was confused about its branding. The shirts have “GF ME” over an outline of the state of Maine on them.

“It’s probably important to let people know what GF ME is, because I didn’t know,” he said. That’s a missed opportunity for the business to distinguish itself. “You have to tell your story every single time. You have to make it obvious every single time.”

“Your brewery, on first impression, looks like every other brewery. But it’s not. You have to make sure that comes through,” he added

Britt Bartlett, the tasting room manager at Lucky Pigeon, told Schallert and the crowd that keeping the “GF” part of the business understated was a deliberate choice. They don’t want non-gluten free people to be turned off by the fact that the beer is gluten free, he said.

When asked if Bartlett had minded that Schallert singled out Lucky Pigeon, he said not at all. That’s what he had come for, and was pleased with the back and forth and what he would have in the way of ideas to take back to his team.

Marie Grasser, the “Cheese Executive Officer” of Charcutemarie LLC, a company that makes charcuterie boards, said that she was also pleasantly surprised by how much she got out of the presentation. “It’s important as business owners to not get in your own way and have a broader perspective on the things you’re doing,” she said.

Attendees got the full rundown of Schallert’s 14-step plan, and then later had an opportunity to ask him questions directly during a Q&A. The event closed with one-on-one business help sessions.

“In the past few years, I don’t know if I’ve seen a community that has as much potential as you guys have,” said Schallert right before the group broke for lunch.

Maybe he says that at every training session, but as the only guy in the world who teaches businesses how to become destinations – at least he can make that call from a place of authority.

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