Trade Shows Are Important – And FUN

By Myril Shaw, Dealer Profit Services

Industry events and trade shows are the best, most effective ways for dealers and suppliers to communicate best practices and critical needs with each other on what might be called “neutral turf”. 

The best dealers come to these events expecting to learn new things, get new ideas, meet new suppliers and find new ways to make more money., and more importantly, more profit. The best vendors invest in these shows in order to meet, greet and teach the leading dealers about how they can help those leading dealers increase their profits, provide greater customer satisfaction, and create competitive differentiation. 

It is far too easy to write these shows off as “boon-doggles”, time-wasters, money-wasters and worse. They are not! Both the vendors and the dealers who participate are at the top of the industry. Both participate because they are the best and they want to communicate with the best. Both make significant investments to be at these events and both want and expect to get something valuable from their participation. The fact that both of these important parties continue to participate over a long period of time is a testament to the fact that both sides gain. You need to join the gainers. 

Anyone who believes that they don’t need the knowledge and interactions that can be gained at these industry events is missing the point. Everyone gains at these. Dealers gain from whom they meet and the opportunities that are offered. Vendors gain with their interactions with real potential customers who will tell them what they do or do not like. If you are one who thinks that you have nothing else to learn, my suggestion is to come to an event and look around. 

Perhaps you are right and you do already know it all. I believe that it is more likely that you will have an eye-opening experience and that you will leave with at least one new idea and one new action. As I deliver presentations, I always set out goals at the beginning of my presentations. One goal is that everyone leaves having learned one new thing. Another goal is that everyone leaves with something that is immediately actionable. You should view these industry events in that light. 

Can you leave with new knowledge and can you leave with something actionable. I would submit that if you come in with the correct intent you will leave with both. That is why it is important for you to attend the industry events (and join 20 Groups.) We are delighted to be a major sponsor at two boating industry events this year. Both are critical to the industry and both are vital to dealer and supplier attendees. We are excited to be a Leadership Sponsor for the Boating Industry Top 100 Dealers. These are the best dealers in the industry and we applaud them. Our mission is to help other dealers arrive, or at least approach these ranks. The Boating Industry Top 100 Gala is being held in Orlando at the conclusion of the Boating Industry Elevate Summit, Nov. 22 - 24 You can see more details at https://boatingindustryelevate.com/ This event is intended to be informational for the leaders of both dealers and suppliers in the boating industry. We are excited to part of this and to share information with leaders of both the industry suppliers and dealers. We will be presenting on the show floor at 1:00PM on Saturday. Come and see…at the very least you will get a Nerf Football…and you may get a lot more. Be there, visit with us - we will have a comfortable space to sit and visit. 

The MRAA is all about dealer education and improvement and we are thrilled to be an Education Champion Sponsor for the new MRAA Dealer Week Event (which you may be more familiar with as MDCE in the past), Dec. 8 - 11 in Tampa. See details at https://www.dealerweek.com/ This will be an outstanding event. It is a show focused on dealer education. We could not be more delighted to be a major presence. The education tracks will be second to none. The Exhibit Floor will be a great place for dealers and top tier suppliers to interact. The education sessions will provide amazing insights for all dealers. We will be doing a live interview on the show floor which will also be available online later. We will also be supplying content to their blog. We will also have a booth with room to sit and chat, recharge (literally and figuratively) and get to know us and what we can do. Come see us…and learn in Tampa at the MRAA Dealer Week. Take a minute and see what we have to offer in terms of education and support at our latest Boating Industry Magazine blog post at https://boatingindustry.com/blogs/2019/09/18/10-fi-related-issues-that-could-cost-you-money/ 

Oh, by the way, these events are FUN. You meet new people, learn new things, drink new drinks, eat new food and generally just get a chance to experience life outside your store with other people looking to learn, engage and RELAX. Come on people, who doesn’t want to do that?!?! We’ll be there…we may even have treats in our booth, and we are definitely open to “outside events”. Sign up, come on, we look forward to meeting you! Oh…and we will have attractive give-aways at our space in these shows.

Dealer Profit Services, LLC can help. Whether you want someone to take over your F&I and just drive profit to your store, help you some of the time, need some quick advice or just provide F&I Training/Consulting, we are here to help you. Contact us anytime at info@dealerprofit.com or give us a call at (470) 326-0966.