The ATD Convention & Expo offers dealers a rare chance to meet face-to-face with executives of major truck manufacturers and features hundreds of exhibitors showcasing the latest equipment, services and technologies and dozens of workshops with the industry’s best trainers.
The 2017 ATD Convention & Expo will take place Thursday, Jan. 26 through Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017, in the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and will be held in conjunction with the NADA Convention & Expo.
The following is a list of workshops that will be held on the second day of activities, Friday, Jan. 27. The list does not include those that are more “auto-centric” as part of NADA activities.
Workshops to be held on Friday, Jan. 27 are:
- Achieve 100 Percent Fixed Coverage Before the Next Meltdown, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Learn to increase parts and shop throughput, compete effectively against independent shops and maximize effective labor rates and flat rate hours per RO while maximizing customer retention. Explore the top service department mistakes — or opportunities — that negatively impact customer retention and profitability, and discover solutions to implement immediately.
- Tap Into the LGBT Community and Their $830 Billion Each Year, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
The LGBT community is an increasingly strong minority group with tremendous buying power. This session will help you tap into that market by using statistics and market research, looking at proven effective ads and recognizing the importance of inclusivity and avoiding stereotypes.
- Effectively Targeting the One Percent with Digital Video, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
According to Google, the best way to gain brand recognition is by leveraging video pre-roll. Another key stat is that sixty three percent of the new car automotive intenders actively engage with video content. by Learn how to leverage video in pre-roll ads, email campaigns, personalized email lead responses and enhanced landing pages
- Unleash the Power of Connected Marketing, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
The number of places customers can find your dealership’s message is staggering, some you may not even be aware of. Learn step-by-step strategies to determine how to connect your message with customers wherever they find you, from buying offline media to what digital advertising works and why reviews matter.
- Top 5 Keys to Successfully Managing Any Dealership, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Learn to use a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis to better understand your current positon and where you can be for peak performance. Participants will leave with strategies to attract the right team members and educate and motivate them by clearly communicating expectations and effectively holding accountable.
- Federal Regulatory Update for Car Dealers, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
This workshop will provide an overview of significant federal laws, regulations, guidance documents and court cases that affect dealerships, and identify potential compliance strategies and resources for managing dealers’ federal compliance obligations.
- Human Habits and Powerful Brand Marketing, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Learn to create and market a brand that is a choice people make out of habit. We’ll explore the importance of marketing your culture through broadcast, online, in-store and recruiting efforts.
- The Secrets to Body Shop Profits: The Dealer Handbook, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Define the specific building blocks of today’s high-performance collision center to include: personnel requirements, motivational pay plans, factory-based production techniques, accurate parts management, optimized floor-plan, and examples of advanced processing tools to significantly increase efficiency, communication, productivity and profits.
- A New Era in Washington: What Happens Next? Key Legislative Issues and How Dealers Can Engage, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
NADA will provide an update on key dealer-related legislative and regulatory issues in Congress and cover how dealers and managers can engage with elected officials affect the process.
- Google Analytics: The Modern “Up Log” for Your Virtual Showroom, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Explore how Google Analytics metrics, charts and reports provide insights into your online marketing effectiveness. Learn to analyze consumer engagement on your website and identify areas for improvement; increase conversion of website traffic into sales; and the 10 most important website activity metrics for dealerships.
- Collision Department Myths vs. Collision Department Facts, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
This session will explain why all of the myths relating to owning a collision shop are false. Myths include: you can’t make money in a collision shop; you can’t make a profit with a $50 collision repair labor rate; and insurance companies won’t pay for original equipment parts. Learn about the profit potential in owning a collision shop.
- Performance-Driven Processes for Higher Service Absorption, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Increase customer satisfaction and maximize service and parts sales with performance-driven processes that increase uptime and accelerate repair cycle time. Action items include improved triage process; better feature/benefit selling; effective maintenance menus; compensating to motivate parts and service employees; holding your team accountable; and achieving higher tech productivity.
- Build and Retain a High-performance Team to Win Your Market, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
In this fast-paced and data-rich session, learn how a strong dealership employment brand combined with a consistent hiring process leads to higher performance, higher gross, reduced costs and dramatically lower turnover. New research drawing on HR practices across thousands of dealerships will be discussed, and attendees will be able to benchmark themselves against top-performing peers.
- Blinded Me with Science! Management Methodology, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
The scientific method (measuring, identifying problems, initiating solutions and measuring again) can have significant impact on dealership performance. This workshop will provide real-world examples of the scientific method in a commercial truck dealership and the resulting performance improvements.
- Unlock the Power of Tier 4 Marketing to Increase Profits, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Master the seven steps to creating a Tier 4 marketing culture: define goals, communicate goals, set expectations, provide training, empower your team, hold them accountable and execute effectively. A panel of dealers will show how they implemented these strategies to increase organic leads and dealership traffic and profits while reducing sales staff turnover.
- Increase Service Profits by Increasing Proficiency, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
A stall can only produce overhead; it takes a productive technician to produce labor sales and profits. See how increased technician proficiency and stall utilization can help you maximize service profits.
- Don’t Be Kicked to the Curb: Define Your M&A Process, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
This presentation will focus on the transaction process and include observations and guidance from real-world transactions related to buy-and-sell due diligence. After diving into high risk areas, valuation concepts, closing procedures and post-closing recommendations, we will provide knowledge necessary to manage a heavy-truck transaction through the buyer and seller lens.
- Driving Sales at Full Throttle in the Digital Age, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Make online sales programs more profitable than traditional initiatives, including the showroom floor, using scalable methods that are practical for any dealer, regardless of size.
- Five Strategies to Dominate Your Market, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
How has the retail marketplace changed for you over the past 10 years, five years– or even the last year? Discover five key areas to excel in to grow market share and increase profitability. Redefine “why buy,” leverage consumer insights to grow sales, build a better team and apply and innovation strategy used by Fortune 500 companies to gain competitive advantage.
- Conduct Powerful 10-Minute Training Sessions, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Learn easy steps to create and conduct team training to boost your team’s selling skills. After the workshop you will know how to develop time-efficient training sessions that target specific goals; this simple training format will take your training program to the next level. You’ll walk away with a structure and examples to modernize sales meetings so you can increase sales.
- Learning to Love Complaints: Turning Feedback Into Success, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
As more consumers use social platforms to interact, share information and get product updates, it’s essential that dealerships focus on shopper feedback. Good or bad, feedback influences consumers who are researching online, and it’s important to learn to use all feedback to positively impact your business.
- Stop the Hemorrhaging of Attrition and Increase Sales and Gross by 50 Percent, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
This workshop will identify the leading cause for the industry’s massive attrition problem and provide a strategy to properly recruit, train and retain sales professionals.
- Cause-Based Marketing & Audience-Based Advertising, 10:30-11:30 a.m.
In today’s marketplace, dealers can easily adopt the forward-thinking advertising trends of the world’s top-performing companies. Gone are the days of guaranteed ad reach during local TV news broadcasts and drive-time traffic radio. Today’s consumer operates online in a fast-paced, multitasking world of constant connection and intentional engagement.
