Auto Insights: NADA 2015 Study Tour highlights

ShineWing Australia Partner, Brett Fowler and Associate Director, Steve Edmonds recently hosted 37 delegates at the NADA conference in San Francisco, USA.

2015-05-11

This annual event attracts over 17,000 attendees over four days. The NADA conference is the world’s largest international gathering place for automotive industry representatives, supporting an industry that turns over new vehicle unit sales of 16.5m and used vehicles unit sales of 42m annually. 

During the four day event, attendees have the opportunity to participate in a number of workshops and sessions organised by NADA University. These workshops were structured to cover topics relevant to all aspects important to business including best practice and ideas covering:

  • Dealer/executive

  • Digital marketing

  • Fixed ops

  • Human resources

  • Legal and regulatory

  • Variable ops

These sessions complemented various dealer franchise meetings, super sessions, and key note speakers headlined by Jay Leno, Jeb Bush and survivor of the Mt Everest tragedy Dr Beck Weathers.

One of the subjects that took the spot light was digital marketing. This subject gains increasing prominence every year, particularly in digital advertising, data analytics and the use social media by automotive retailers. If you are interested in learning more about the NADA workshops for the automotive industry, click on the links below:

Another key feature of the conference was the trade show. The NADA trade show extended across floors in three convention centers (with over 850 exhibitors) and covered the following subjects:

  • Advertising/marketing/promotion

  • Aftermarket/accessories

  • Business consulting/accounting

  • DMS/CRM providers

  • Facility design/improvement/furnishings

  • Finance & insurance

  • OEM/manufacturers

  • Parts, service and body shop

  • Remarketing

  • Social media/communication

  • Training and education

  • Vehicle inventory software/valuation

  • Vehicle reconditioning 

  • Website hosting and strategies.

The trade show and the exhibitors are supported by the NADA App, NADA TV (broadcasting live daily), and a newspaper produced daily for the four days of the conference. 

During the four day conference, ShineWing Australia hosted delegates with varied automotive backgrounds and geological locations. Delegates were able to attend the NADA University sessions of their choice, as well as the trade show and other specific learning and networking functions offered in the study tour package.

A highlight of the program was the dealership visit which included both a volume and luxury brand in the CBD of San Francisco. Delegates had the opportunity to spend two hours viewing the dealership operations with key management personnel, including the General Manager (Dealer Principal). Following the tour, delegates had the opportunity to partake in a question and answer session. Topics discussed include the following:

  • Facility developments

  • Marketing budget allocations and techniques

  • Social media advertising/monitoring

  • Customer experience concepts

  • Gross profit challenges

  • New car gross profit reductions

  • Franchisor requirements

  • Customer service indicators

  • Sales processes

  • Capped price servicing and service retention

  • Process efficiencies  

Delegate feedback rated the dealership visit as most valuable, followed by the NADA University sessions with takeaway ideas to generate efficiencies and increased profitability. Delegates have been provided soft copy summaries of all session notes and have the opportunity to register with NADA University for detailed session notes, DVD’s and information about ongoing training offerings.

For further information visit http://universityonline.nada.org/ ShineWing Australia will be partnering with Sanford Travel for the 2016 NADA conference, which will be held in Las Vegas from 31 March 2016 to 3 April 2016. For more information or to register, please click here.

 

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