In years past the NADA Convention and Expo has been called the “big show,” but NADA 2009 was expected, by some in the industry, to be nothing more than a smattering of industry folks walking around with slumped heads bumping aimlessly into each other while burdened with an overall sense of resignation. Not to be readers! In fact, despite these challenging times, I was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) to experience quite the opposite. Yes, overall numbers were down from years past, but we knew that going into New Orleans, who as a host city, made us all feel very welcome and played willing and gracious hosts.
Dealers who attended, including the relatively healthy number of exhibitors who supported the event, were without a doubt, cautiously optimistic and ever more determined to survive the downturn. Those that stopped by our booth, or the many that we chatted with in the exhibit hall, were all unified in their belief that we will come out of this sales slump and, when it happens, we will be in a position to thrive and sell more cars. There appeared to be a sense of resolve from attending dealers that they simply must battle thru this period, despite the terrible stats confirming the fate of so many of their peers last year. On a positive note, Bill Clinton during his often humorous address, said, “I think we ought to make cars in America and I think we should sell them here. So hang in there.”
There was a genuine desire from those dealers that attended to find ways to reduce expenses, increase efficiencies, and ensure they had the right vendors to help them along that path. One dealer I spoke to said it plain and simple: “I’ve got no choice; I have to make this work.” And if incoming NADA chairman, John McEleney has anything to do with it, his mission during his term will be to help make that happen for the whole industry.
Only time will tell what the future holds, but for us, the show had many positives for those that attended. In fact, every year, we visit literally hundreds of exhibitors to see what is new and exciting. In years past, SEO vendors dazzled dealers and last year, the “buzz” was pre-owned inventory management. This year, the exhibit hall was packed with vendors intent on helping dealers maximize used car profits with new tools, solutions, and marketing tools aplenty.
While walking and talking to vendors, we came across a few things we thought you should know about. MPi, a provider of profitability solutions for service departments, released the World Class Process Implementation service, (WCPI), a full suite of tools service managers can use to boost sales, gross, and net profits. Its four-tier approach helps dealerships maximize use of the MPi World Class Inspection (WCI) program and EDGE system by letting them develop and execute inspection processes, word tracks, and measurement/coaching reports to enhance bumper-to-bumper vehicle inspection and customer-pay sales. Dealer.com introduced CarFlix™ HumanVoice Videos, a new technology that automatically and instantly creates high quality videos with real human voices from pictures and data in a dealer’s inventory system. Dealers can produce professional videos within minutes of vehicle information being loaded into an inventory system. Pretty cool! In addition to those solutions, CentralDispatch released JTracker for Carriers™, the new software application that tightens the vehicle transportation supply chain between dealers, auctions and carriers. This comprehensive carrier management system enables car carriers to improve operations and benefits all parties involved through more efficient vehicle transportation, making transport faster, safer, and less expensive. While the new features will be used by CentralDispatch carrier members, they directly benefit dealers and auctions by increasing the efficiency of vehicle transportation.
Please check out the solutions of those mentioned above and we’ll see you next year!