Last week, I snagged a press pass to the 2015 National Automobile Dealers Association Convention and Expo in San Francisco. That’s right, San Francisco, one of the least car-friendly places in the country, if not the world. Dealers would have to rely on buses to get to their hotels and a few landmarks. They would have to use public transport to go shopping. And they would have to contend with an area of the country trying to “disrupt” their business model with the likes of Tred and Tesla, both of whom didn’t have exhibits at the event.
It was a place where numerous dealership owners and managers would network with other dealers (), attend meetings with car manufacturers (“When is Volkswagen going to give us a 7-passenger SUV?”), learn in workshops how to generate greater profits and retain customers (“So I can’t just keep ‘em waiting at my desk for an hour?), purchase new equipment for the showroom and service bay (“How ‘bout three-thousaand for this ‘ere turntable with zero-percent financin’ for eighty-somthin’ months?”), and see Jeb Bush possibly announce his candidacy for president (“He’d better be better than Dubya.”).
Numerous people who’ve dealt would consider a venue full of car dealers the worst place imaginable. They might think it was entirely possible to walk out the convention center doors having bought a Lincoln MKS, a Scion iQ, a Cadillac ELR, and definitely a Dodge Avenger, all on 84-month loans with a 17.5% interest rate. They might think I had to wait hours to get anything done, like picking up my press pass or getting lunch, much like going through the finance room or waiting for the oil change.
Instead, since they’re far from home, dealers do their own activities, away from the customers. They could be doing anything from walking Fishermans’ Wharf to buying new service bays to learning about federal mandates on dealer advertising to getting their heart checked to taking a nap in their hotel room due to the jet lag.
One important activity that NADA holds are workshops for the dealers, which deal with sales strategies, customer retention, marketing plans, financial practices, employee motivational, and service bay optimization, among numerous other subjects. Usually, these workshops are helmed by people who either work for or owns an automotive consulting firm in the field that the session focuses on. For instance, a workshop on digital wholesaling of cars was given by a man who worked for an auction company while a workshop on “building a winning sales team” was helmed by the owner of a sales training firm.
I was really looking forward to shadowing some of these workshops to inform readers about new sales, marketing, service, and finance strategies to be employed the next time they set foot in a dealership. I was going to find out some new strategies that dealers were undertaking to improve their sales and profits. I would help The Truth About Cars live up to its name. Unfortunately and somewhat predictably, press people were not allowed into these sessions. (The reason given to me was that dealers might become uncomfortable with a member of the press in the room and not voice their honest opinions.)
Though I wasn’t admitted into workshops, I was surprisingly allowed to take part in the “NADA Lifestyle Experience,” intended for the spouses of dealers. The organizers provided activities like complimentary manicures, chair massages, COPD/lung function screenings, and having Bloomingdale’s exhibit the newest spring fashions. With the unforeseen free time I had, I took part in the video games portion of the activities where I set the highest score on the first try. Granted, I was easily the youngest there by at least ten years, and I stood out since nearly everyone else were dealers’ spouses. I didn’t set foot in those areas again.
As for the dread that dealers may keep on selling cars during the convention, have no fear. The shoe is on the other foot at the expo, as vendors showcase their products and services for dealers, enticing them to their booths with the promise of gift cards, free tablets, and in one case, entering a contest for a Rolex Submariner. Most of these exhibitors consist of finance, insurance, marketing, classifieds, servicing equipment, IT services, and accessory providers among others. I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were over a thousand exhibitors, all gunning for a shot at a dealer’s business.
Many of these vendors’ displays are immense. When I first walked into one of the exhibition halls, the Hunter Engineering Company (I only mention Hunter in detail since I have their flyer) had a full replica of a service bay on the convention center floor showcasing how quickly inspections could be performed on a car utilizing their equipment and sensors. Chrysler and Bosch had even larger service bay replicas with multiple cars and constant demonstrations of their products. It was clear that companies wanted a piece of the dealer service revenue.
Meanwhile, the companies that took care of finance, insurance, marketing, classifieds, and other products had mini-structures (some were two stories) constructed on the floor of the convention center. Companies like Reynolds and Reynolds, Ally Financial, and Autobytel were in that category, attempting to do as much business as they could, with structures about half the size of Formula 1 team hospitality structures. These companies had dedicated conference and waiting rooms as well as large television screens explaining what their firms did. Some firms even hired athletes like Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Dan Fouts, and Reggie Jackson to bring foot traffic to their structures.
After seeing all the business and meetings that occurred during the two days I visited the NADA Convention, I’ve seen how significant auto dealers are to the American economy. Other than the manufacturers and dealers whom we encounter directly when buying or servicing a car, I saw the countless other businesses both small and large that are an integral part of your automotive research and buying experience.
And most importantly, I managed to get out the doors of the convention center with my bank account intact and no ELR appearing in my driveway.
Satish Kondapavulur is a writer for Clunkerture, where about a fifth of the articles are about old cars and where his one-time LeMons racing dreams came to an end, once he realized it was impossible to run a Ferrari Mondial. He’s probably the only person in the world who’s driven both a Bentley Continental GT and Chrysler 200 around Laguna Seca.
I was hoping for more from this article.
Trust me, I wanted to provide it. Not being able to shadow those car dealer workshops was an immense disappointment. And there was actually a security person or NADA staff member in front of the door at each session.
I apologize foe not being more constructive. I was thinking that your write up could have provided more meat. I appreciate your difficulties however as someone who attends trade shows a lot the questions I get on my return are to do with where the greatest traffic flow was. Anything new and exciting. What trends did you notice. Would you recommend this over other shows of this ilk. Who was trying to make a big splash and did it seem there was interest. Did you talk to any of the foot traffic. What was their opinions.
Since it was my first time at NADA and haven’t really done trade shows, I didn’t quite know what to look for and had one day for the expo. The big thing was those dealer conferences I couldn’t get into. I’m sure there would’ve been some meat in those.
I didn’t have a chance to speak to the exhibitors since many of them seemed to be in “sales mode.” I had to have my press badge on, so talking to me would’ve probably detracted from customer-seeking time.
Not the most constructive comment, but I agree.
I think there’s an unresolved question about whether our author truly came to understand that he was at a trade show where vendors show their wares to dealers and not a car show where automakers show their wares to the public. I’d be very interested to hear more about the vendors that seemed to get the most traffic, and some insight from people who attended as to what they were interested in other than an expense-paid trip to SF.
I realized it was a trade show, but unfortunately I was there only two days, and the expo wasn’t open during one of those days which stretched my booth coverage really thin. Hopefully, if there’s a next time for covering the NADA convention, I’ll cover that bit.
“I was hoping for more from this article.”
Maybe. I enjoyed it. Perhaps you all are thinking of his evil twin “SaNtish”.
Yep, not really much I didn’t know already. Maybe he should have dressed up as a clown that wanted to buy a clown car. But the spirit is there.
I don’t think I would’ve lived to tell the tale then…
Really not very in-depth at all. Should have come by my booth, I could have given you the hookup.
By the way, did you ever get up to the Metreon in the Yerba Buena Gardens? Much better food than what they were selling in Moscone, but no one ever seems to tell anyone that they’re right on top of the North Hall.
Which booth were you in? I was seriously thinking about approaching one of the booth people on Friday, but a lot of them seemed to be in sales mode, trying to find prospective customers, so I largely stayed away from them.
And you’re absolutely right about the area that has better food. I was amazed at the amount of people getting food inside Moscone when most locals know better.
Everyone is in sales mode 100% of the time there, it’s expensive to set up one of these displays. Even a 10×5 is a nice chunk of change, plus you have to ship in materials and personnel, put them up in hotels, etc.
I lucked out, a couple of the people I work with are SF natives and knew about the Metreon. I also was there four years ago (the last NADA there) and never knew about it. I also had SO much trouble getting a cab, now that Uber is around it’s a lot easier for show-goers to get around.
I’m not authorized to speak for my company, so I have to do the disclaimer thing where the opinions expressed by this poster do not represent any official or unofficial positions of eBay or any of its business units, and should not be construed as such. So yes, I was in the eBay Motors booth, and we did have someone there to handle press requests (most companies’ general booth staff avoid talking to press for a variety of very valid reasons).
I live in SF and owned a car here the whole time. It’s not *that* that hostile to driving. If anything parking is the biggest issue but you figure it out. There are also quite a number of auto dealers in the city so it’s not without its own automobile couture.
I was there. If you want the real deal NADA experience go next year in Vegas, it will have double the attendance of SF.
As for your write up, it’s a trade show, what was your expectation?
As for food….there was a bodega about half way down the block across from the West hall that had fantastic Sammies for a very resin able price.
I thought the Saturday pro life rally that had 150k people, or so I was told, was amusing. The bus ride took and hour for a co-worker who was trying to get to the convention center from the hotel. For perspective, the bus ride was about ten minutes, mostly due to the idea of driving a full size tour bus in SF appeared to be quite a challenge.
Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, but now that you say the NADA event in Vegas will have double the attendance, you’ve piqued my interest. For me, it was amount what auto dealers did at a convention and whether their activities were things car buyers would want to know about.
From them stand point of what the dealer does there, many answers exist. For my last two employers, NADA is a chance to set up a bunch of meetings with your client base to cover whatever issues etc and then a chance to take them out and spend a lot of money on them in the form of drinks etc.
The best party was the, I think auto trader, party with the Allman brothers. I did not attend as I was at ours.
A bunch of my coworkers went to the Auto Trader thing, they said it was pretty good. I didn’t feel like going myself, more into the Mario Brothers rather than the Allman Brothers. :)
Since I do AAPEX too I almost think 2 Vegas shows is a little too much Vegas for one year…almost. :) My favorite NADA venue personally was Orlando, I really wish they hadn’t dropped it for New Orleans, that city just wasn’t ready for the show last year, they didn’t have the transportation in place, and the concessions were overly regional.
I’ve been to many trade shows in my life and after reading this I came away with the conclusion that, “Yep, that’s a trade show”
Same here.
Same story, different industry.
I’ve done booth duty in these shows for my field.
perhaps Steve Lynch could chime in , what happens when the staff returns to the dealership? Anything or same old same old?
Anecdotal, but I photograph used cars for dealers, on behalf of an online classified provider. At one of my clients, a year or so ago, I get called into a meeting with the dealer principal (who I’d never met before). He tells me he’s just gotten back from a conference, he was in a seminar where the speaker claims that if you’re not showing at least 40 pictures per car, you’re wasting your time, so I need to start taking more pictures. My protestations that our servers only allow a maximum of 30 pictures per car, the competition is even less, and he was still getting the same or more pictures per car than other dealers of the same brand averaged, this speaker said this, ergo my opinion counted for nothing.
So, I figure out a few more arbitrary, pointless shots to add, I never hear anything about it again, and it doesn’t seem like it had any real effect on their sales.
I’d guess there’s plenty of cases where someone gets home, excited about some new concept or procedure, enacts it thoroughly for a couple months, and things change slightly, if at all.
Maybe he misunderstood and the speaker actually said 40 pictures is a waste of time. 20-30 seems like plenty. Even then, it’s the quality that matters.
“20-30 seems like plenty. Even then, it’s the quality that matters”
Yeah, I don’t need a shot of each wheel, it has four, I get it
If they only take pictures of three wheels, the missing forth will be the one with the gigantic ding in it…
I originally was hired to do the same thing. 20 good pictures is fine. You don’t need glamour shots of the badging so much as one shot where the badge is visible so they can confirm what model it is. I like doing 8 exterior shots and close ups of all mags to show condition. Photos of the front and back seats, close ups showing all optional features on the car, though usually they’re clustered together.
Everyone’s got a different way of doing things. I prefer shooting in doors out of direct sunlight, usually in a delivery bay or drive through.
This right here. Think, “what will the customer want to see?”. Common wear areas, featuers, overall condition. I even include a pic of the tire tread with a coin or similar for scale. 40 pics including every single interior panel is a bit tiresome.
Agree on tire tread photos as well as individual wheel pics. If one of them is jacked up I want to know.
And there had better be a separate photo of any marks on the car.
Also, with such provided pictures – you can save them and use them when you go to sell! Assuming you haven’t banged it up since purchase (which I don’t).
It is one big party for the public held groups and the manufacturers. I can’t recall many high performing dealers I knew ever attending unless the owner wanted to party in Vegas or take his family to Orlando. The info and products available on display are online or one phone call and they will be in your dealership the next day.
But yes a dealer principal can come home with some ideas, both good and bad, just as when they attend their much more meaningful same brand “20 groups”.