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.