Scheduled for April 26-28 at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta, the four-year-old event has made waves throughout the industry due to its constantly expanding training coverage and clear focus on providing value to inside and outside sales professionals in the independent aftermarket.
Additionally, GenNext and CVSN note the DTE is an invaluable resource for independent operations to keep pace with their dealer and national chain competitors, both of which offer similar programs for their own locations.
“We need to train our people to keep up with these power groups. That’s why we built the Distributor Training Expo and that’s why we continue to expand it,” organizers say. “We want to educate the entire independent distribution channel.”
The aftermarket supplier community is unquestionably on board. Supplier sponsorship slots sold out for the event in December and two dozen suppliers plus HDA Truck Pride and VIPAR Heavy Duty are confirmed for this year’s event.
The event’s Gold Sponsors — who will provide four 40-minute classroom sessions and feature an expanded booth presence at the event — are Automann, Bendix, Eaton, Federal-Mogul Motorparts, Kit Masters, Meritor, Minimizer and Tectran. Silver level sponsors will host two 40-minute training courses and also will be present during the event’s booth training periods. Silver sponsors are BBB Industries, BettsHD, BorgWarner-DelcoRemy, Dayton Parts, Dorman HD Solutions, Hendrickson, Illinois Auto Truck Co. Inc., PAI Industries, Phillips Industries, SKF, STEMCO, Timken, Triangle Suspension, Truck-Lite, Trux Accessories and WABCO.
DTE organizers say each sponsor will bring new and unique training materials to this year’s event. More than 90 percent of the training materials prepared for the event are new in 2019, and organizers add each supplier attending the event is eager to share its newest products and sales tools with the distributor audience.
This year’s DTE also will feature a keynote speaker for the second consecutive year.
Dr. Albert Bates, known throughout the aftermarket for his engaging presentations at other industry programs, will present “Not Just Sales, Profitable Sales,” a pointed presentation designed to educate distributor attendees on how to ensure every sale is a profitable sale.
Bates says only 10 percent of businesses produce a truly great profit because all too often business leaders and sales people don’t truly understand what drives profits. He jokes, “it isn’t sales.”
During his DTE presentation, Bates will share what he believes are the keys to true profitability that distributor attendees can immediately integrate into their operations.
The event registration fee for distributors is an-inclusive price of $549. This includes airfare to and from the event, hotel accommodations, shuttle service to and from the airport, all meals, the entire training program and all associated training materials provided during the event. Distributors are allowed to send up to eight associates to the event. When compared to the alternative of no training at all, or the years it would take to receive the same amount of training through on-site supplier events, DTE organizers say the event should be a no brainer for every business in the aftermarket.
“There is no other event in our industry where your sales associates can receive this much quality training from this many suppliers in this amount of time — or for this price. “We have built this event to maximize the return on investment for our distributor attendees,” organizers say.
For more information, and to register for the event, please CLICK HERE.
