Nearly 800 dealers connected over four days at the Wynn in Las Vegas, sharing tips to help each other grow their business.
“It was a phenomenal opportunity to network and meet mentors,” said Sarah Bombliss of Family First Auto Sales in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Among the hundreds of dealers were more than 200 first-time attendees, including several international dealers.
The first-time attendees were able to pick up advice from veteran dealers.
“It was awesome. I will be back,” Brandon Benton of Mobile, Ala. “I met many interesting people and hooked up with a couple of lenders.”
The NIADA Convention featured more than 50 hours of education across five tracks – BHPH, retail, marketing, management and compliance. Most of the sessions were led by dealers and others by industry experts, offering information to help dealers grow their business.
Umaize Savani of Ideal Cars in San Francisco, Calif., picked up marketing ideas along with technology tips to help move his dealership forward. “One specific thing was looking at our demographics of customers and making sure we’re advertising to that market,” Savani said. “The Hispanic market is a large part of our customer base, and we only run about 10 percent of our ads to that group.”
Marcus Luttrell inspired independent auto dealers during the NIADA Convention and Expo keynote conversation in an entertaining and enthralling hour. The decorated Navy SEAL, best-selling author and podcast host, whose story inspired the Hollywood blockbuster “Lone Survivor” reminded dealers to keep pushing through the hard times. “You gotta love what you do and you gotta want to be good at it,” Luttrell said. “You gotta want to do it all the time. No matter if there’s pain involved, or if it’s the good times or the bad. Get good times and bad times out of your head. It’s the times you need to shift into a lower gear and go down in your paychecks and everything like that to remind yourself what it’s like to have the good ones.”
The NIADA Awards Ceremony closed the week, which included the crowning of the newest National Quality Dealer, Donald Sullivan, Jr., of Fredericksburg, Va., along with honoring the Crystal Eagle Award winners, the AEC of the Year, the scholarship winners and the Mike Linn Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
“I don’t believe any successful person gets to where they are by themselves. I don’t really believe in self-made men,” Sullivan said. “I believe there is always a community of people around them that helps them get to the position they are at.”
Dealers found solutions to help their businesses from vendors in the sold-out expo hall. They also were able to find access to capital to grow their businesses during the finance fair luncheon, featuring more than a dozen companies. “We came here to meet lendors and were able to meet some,” said Brandon Benton of Mobile, Ala.
