Boating Industry Intelligence You Can Profit From
ORLANDO, Fla. – The 2009 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo schedule is set, and the agenda will deliver exactly what today’s marine dealers have asked for.
Following a nationwide survey of marine dealers, the MDCE has created an educational agenda that focuses on the four topics that dealers said would be of most interest to the health of their businesses: sales, service, marketing and financing.
With more than 15 seminars on tap, the MDCE will offer a sales and marketing educational track, with seven in-depth sessions; a service department track, with five in-depth presentations and panel discussions; and a commercial and retail financing track with two detailed presentations. The event will kick off with a timely keynote session, presented by Disney, titled Leading Through Turbulent Times, and will culminate with a dealer solutions and industry leaders panel discussion.
“We’re excited about this agenda because it delivers the exact tools, strategies and solutions that dealers need in the current economic environment,” says Matt Gruhn, associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Boating Industry magazine. “Dealers have been struggling to find answers and stay alive out in their businesses on a day-to-day basis, and now, with this agenda, they can get the answers they need all in this one event.”
Disney to present keynote
There may be no better company than Disney to illustrate the fact that turbulent times are part of doing business. Disney has learned how to thrive through good times and bad, and has built a model that it has learned to share with audiences worldwide. Disney’s keynote presentation at the 2009 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo will focus on such critical skills as assessing your situation, creating a game plan, communicating with your team, being proactive and embracing change before it transitions into demonstrating how you can parlay those skills into building invaluable brand loyalty.
Attendees of this session will learn proven business philosophies that will provide creative ways to weather the economic climate and effectively meet the challenges of today’s business environment. And this session will serve as the perfect precursor to the MDCE’s high-quality educational content, where presenters will drill deeper into the specifics of utilizing these skills in a marine dealership.
Sales & Marketing
The Sales & Marketing Track will be the premiere track at this year’s conference. It will feature expert advice and best practices on such topics as lead management, dealership recovery and growth, inventory management and the future of selling. It will be highlighted by a dealer panel discussion that focuses on best ideas in today’s market. It will kick off with a philosophical yet practical guide to what the dealership of tomorrow will look like, and will culminate with a step-by-step strategy to help dealers move forward with planning their businesses for the next 12 to 18 months.
Service Department
The Service Department Track will provide dealers with hands-on training for improving not only their service business, but also their department profitability. It will begin with a presentation on the link between service efficiency and profitability; it will use a dealer panel to communicate efficiency best practices for both large and small dealers; it will provide 20 tips on how to make more money in your service department; it will deliver secrets to service success with a number of unique initiatives; and it will wrap up with details on how dealers can better market their service departments to drive additional revenues.
Commercial & Retail Lending
The Commercial & Retail Lending track will be anchored by renowned F&I expert Jan Kelly, who will use her auto, RV and marine expertise to communicate where and how dealers can go about finding financing. She will provide dealers with a list of active lenders and the advice the dealers will need to find the loans they need. A panel of financing experts will also address these topics and share their knowledge and advice at the conclusion of this two-session track.
Solutions Panels
The MDCE will wrap up with two panels that focus on solutions for the marine industry at large. One will focus on dealers’ solutions and the other on industry-wide trends to prepare for. These will be can’t-miss conversations.
“The entire MDCE agenda is designed to walk dealers through the different steps for finding success in this market,” Gruhn says. “We’ll be focusing on a number of forward-thinking topics, acknowledging the tough market but, more importantly, providing the solutions and strategies for overcoming it. We fully expect dealers to be able to walk out of the MDCE with a veritable playbook for how to thrive in any market.”
Through a five-year agreement, Boating Industry has partnered with the Marine Retailers Association of America to take over the creation and development of the MDCE. The event has relocated to Orlando, Fla., after years of being hosted in Las Vegas, and it will feature a large exhibit hall and numerous networking opportunities in addition to the one-of-a-kind educational line-up.
View the full MDCE schedule
Download the 2009 MDCE brochure
View the exhibitor and sponsor list
Take advantage of Disney discounts
Register TODAY