Convention organizer, Patrick Tessier, told GoAutoNews Premium there are near record registrations.

“It’s not a record. The record was 1256 in Melbourne in 2017 but that included a night program. But if you look at convention delegates, this is maybe not the record but it’s right up there. 

“In terms of dealer delegates, it actually looks like it will be a record. Dealer registrations are the highest I’ve ever seen. It’s just extraordinary actually. 

“For example Western Australia has three times more dealers than ever before. Which is quite amazing really. There are more than 30 dealer delegates coming from Western Australia. South Australia has more than 50.

Patrick Tessier

“New South Wales also has three times more dealers attending than ever before. Queensland is not as much as it was last year although it was held in Queensland last year. But it’s still very strong. Melbourne is ticking along but it’s softer than other years. 

“So overall dealer registrations are excellent. There are a lot coming from small four to six franchise dealership groups and very good support from a lot of big companies. So I am really happy with the dealer outcome.” 

Mr Tessier said that dealers were attracted by the 25 specialist workshops in the Sydney program.

“The most important thing about the workshop program this year is that it very much covers issues that the dealers are facing, particularly in terms of innovation.

And used cars, for example, are very important because they are a part of the business that has been going really well but will be the first to come under pressure going forward.

“With new car volume increases we are going to see used cars becoming a commodity. The used car is a commodity because as people trade cars in and they want money for them that is usually the first thing that suffers. 

“There is a fair bit on customer retention and customer service. Dealers are pretty good at customer service. But we can always improve and in many, many ways I think it should be our point of difference. 

“We’re seeing a resurgence in F&I and it is very much technology-based. I think that it is important for dealers to embrace that technology when it comes to that channel. We went through a period with F&I with the pressures on the F&I  department; we have changed the rules, regulations. Particularly in insurance with what the regulator has done with that.

There’s now other platforms for delivering F&I. Dealers really should look at these platforms because the opportunity for them online and to use their platforms is actually really good. So I think that’s important. 

“We focused a lot on the service department this year – what makes a profitable workshop, what are the trends in looking after services and dealing with customers as they come in, making it easy for them to reach out and contact dealers, what their expectations are. You’ll see a fair bit of that in this year’s program. 

“And one of the things about the service department, which is a feature of our industry, is that we are very focused on the sales side of the business. But half the business is service; it’s half the staff, half the business and for the right dealership, more than half the profit. 

“So it is a pretty important part of the business which is why we have made this year’s workshop program with a fair bit of that focus.

“The only event we’re live streaming is Jeff Cowan’s plenary session and that is all about customer service or customer retention. So every dealership attending the convention will be able to get their service departments to watch this session at three o’clock on the Thursday live, and I think that’s a great thing. 

“Training is another part of the business that we tend to neglect in this climate. We’ve had it easy for a while and dealers probably dropped the ball in training their staff recently. 

“The problem is certainly apparent in sales where we have been in order-taker mode for a long time. Now we have to be in customer mode. You’re seeing a lot of great dealerships start to reinvest in training and we have certainly covered that off in the program.

“So I really do believe the workshop program covers just about most corners of the dealership this year and people will get a lot out of it,” Mr Tessier said.

Day 1 – Wednesday 14 June

Day 2 – Thursday 15 June

7:00am | MotorOne Breakfast

By John Mellor