With Cam Collins, Evan Davis, Jeff Scherer and Gary Druckenmiller, Jr.

Whatever hours you may have posted outside your business, the Internet now makes it possible to stay connected to customers 24/7. From social networking to mobile devices, the demands on you and your business have given new meaning to the analogy of your Web presence as your second location.

To address these new demands, as well as those of the future, four marine industry technology experts will outline how to use today’s online tools to enhance communication, spread your message and increase business. As one of the key marketing topics to be presented at the 2010 MDCE, scheduled for Nov. 14-17 in Orlando, Fla., the presenters will also provide attendees with action steps to capitalize on the ever-emerging online business.

The panel features four individuals whose expertise touches on social networking, call tracking, marine management software, lead management and more. Keeping with the conference’s forward-looking MDCE 3.0 theme, each speaker will individually share insights on how technology can benefit marine dealers, followed by a question and answer session with the audience.

Gary Druckenmiller Jr., co-founder of TheOpenSea.com, will begin by outlining what Web 3.0 (and beyond) looks like and how dealers should be prepared for it. He will share the tools and technologies necessary to compete in today’s market. He’ll also reveal how to become more harmoniously connected with customers, how to take advantage of networks and provide a social media overview.

Cam Collins, CEO of DockMaster Software, will discuss ways to convert social media activity into a complete social media strategy. Using case studies, he’ll also answer the question many dealers are asking: How to measure ROI on social media tools.

Jeff Scherer, associate partner of Callbutton LLC, will teach dealers how to leverage available technology to ensure they are equipped to communicate with today’s consumers. In addition, he’ll spell out the processes necessary to handle these technologies.

Evan Davis, president of sales acceleration company BridgeItLive.com, will provide specific strategies for getting prospects off the keyboard and onto the phone (and subsequently into the dealership). He’ll also address a common complaint from salespeople: “I responded but never heard back from the customer.” To ensure dealers leave the session with valuable takeaways, he will provide e-mail and report templates as well as sample voicemail scripts that dealers can easily implement when they return to their shops.

To learn more about “The 24/7 Marine Dealer,” make plans to attend the 2010 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo, to be held in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 14-17. With three concurrent educational tracks and more than 20 individual educational sessions, this event has been designed to help dealers return to the growth phase they knew prior to the economic downturn.

The “24/7 Marine Dealer” panel is preceded by a presentation on how to make more money by simply discounting less and charging more and a session on high-impact, low-cost marketing tactics as part of the Sales & Marketing track. It will be followed by presentations on converting online leads into sales profits, immediate results using search engine marketing and closing sales in a difficult economy. The Service Department track will be held concurrently, with a focus on how to be a successful service advisor, solving your most troubling service problems, Web strategies for service profits, operational excellence and financial management for service managers and more.

While the Sales & Marketing track is perfect for sales managers and marketing managers and the service track will help strengthen any service manager or advisor, the newest, most exciting news for the 2010 MDCE is the addition of a third track, geared specifically toward dealer principals, titled Powering Profits. In this track, the educational topics will cover such pressing issues as pay plans, (re)building your culture, how to adopt best practices in your dealership, fact-driven dealer management and of course, myriad best practices to go with them. The event will also feature a general session and two keynote sessions, as well.

“We’ve covered all the bases with the education this year, making quality content, specific to service managers, sales managers, marketing managers and dealership principals alike, available in an unprecedented format,” explains Matt Gruhn, publisher of Boating Industry magazine, which partners with the Marine Retailers Association of America to produce the MDCE. “This will, without question, be the best line-up of education this event has ever produced.”