By Valerie Ziebron, Yamaha Marine University

Are you really being as profitable as you could be in service? This one question, when explored truthfully, can lead to efficiency changes that not only make far more profit but also create a much less stressful work environment. In her first of two presentations during the 2010 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo (scheduled for Nov. 14-17 in Orlando, Fla.), Valerie Ziebron will provide tools used by professional consultants to help turn service shops around.

This Service Department Track session will look at common “reactive” areas of the service department and what you can do to flip the switch to “proactive.” You will learn how to detect reactive approaches, the best ways to communicate with your team, the keys to getting the team to implement proactive actions and how to make your changes stick.

To learn more about “The Profitable, Proactive Service Department,” 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 Profitable, Proactive Service Department” is part of the MDCE’s Service Department Track. It will be preceded by a panel discussion focused on the successful service advisor. It will be followed by sessions on Web strategies to increase service department profits, achieving operational excellence as a service manager and financial management for service managers.

The Sales & Marketing track will be held concurrently and includes topics such as how to make more money by discounting less and charging more; high-impact, low-cost marketing tactics; the keys to succeeding as a 24/7 marine dealer; converting online leads into sales profits; immediate results using search engine marketing; and closing sales in a difficult economy.

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.”