From dealer meetings, workshops, keynote speeches and hundreds of suppliers to visit on the expo floor, the NADA Convention & Expo can be an overwhelming few days for dealers.
Trade show floors are filled with suppliers showcasing their latest products in colourful and interactive booths, along with motorcycles, games and giveaways, live auctions, cool cars and even companion dogs in training, all aimed at helping attract potential customers.
Canadian auto dealer caught up with some Canadian dealers and suppliers to find out how this year’s event was going for them.
An NADA veteran, Bob Verwey, President of the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association (TADA) and Owasco Volkswagen, says he has developed a strategy to take advantage of his NADA experience.
For starters, he recommends dealers download the special NADA convention app to help them choose the sessions — and the speakers and instructors — before they arrive. That way they have a game plan for the show. It’s also important to arrive a bit early so they are ready for action when the show starts.
This year, Verwey focused his learning on the fixed-ops side of this business. “I believe there’s not enough energy put in fixed-ops. That’s where I came from,” he says.
Verwey also ensures his team meets during the event to recap any learning they’ve picked up during the day so the information can be shared. They have a good time, but work hard at the show, he says.
He also says it’s critical to have a review when the team gets back to the dealership to ensure they develop a plan of action to implement the new learning, otherwise they would have wasted time and resources at the event. “If my managers want to go back next year, they need to prove what they’ve learned,” says Verwey.
Another Canadian dealer, David Richardson, Business Development Manager with Charlesglen Toyota Scion in Calgary, Alta. says it was his third NADA, and he and his GM have been keeping busy. “It’s a good time to meet other people and find out what other dealers are doing,” says Richardson.
Richardson attended a variety of OEM meetings, and then balanced his time between the expo floor and the workshops. He also took in the retail forum event hosted by Automotive News and was impressed with the calibre of the speakers.
For Tim Beach, General Manager, Charlesglen Toyota Scion, it’s his 5th NADA event. He enjoyed a workshop on developing profitable parts managers, and toured the expo floor, sourcing out new technologies. “It’s good to leave the dealership for a few days and reflect on the past and look ahead to the future,” says Beach.
Beach, an auto industry veteran of 23 years, says he also enjoys the social and networking aspects where he gets to meet with suppliers outside of the normal business relationship back at the dealership.
Ian Cruickshank, Vice-President of Sales with Speed Shift Media, based in Vancouver, B.C. says he has enjoyed his NADA experience. “For us it’s been great,” he says. “There is so much happening,” says Cruickshank.
Cruickshank says he advises dealer partners that they need to get across the border and see what’s happening in the U.S., one that is often two or three years ahead of the Canadian market.
His company offers a range of dynamically driven display advertising solutions that serve up contextual ads to consumers that are linked to existing vehicle inventory from dealerships.
After a long day of workshops and working the show floor, dealers congregated in the Esplanade Hall to hear Bill Fox, newly-crowned NADA chairman, deliver an uplifting message to dealers that dealers will continue to survive and thrive in the ever-changing industry.
His address was followed by a presentation from Jay Leno, who started off by showing a video of NADA executives touring his famous automobile collection, and then moved into delivering joke after joke.
After that, delegates fled the convention hall for a host of parties and social events spread out across the city. All part of the NADA experience!
Visit www.canadianautodealer.ca and www.canadianautomotivevideo.com for more of our NADA 2015 coverage.
