Motor Vehicle Dealers Net The Future
At MVDI's AGM last week licensed motor vehicle dealers were
told
that ignoring the Internet could lead to disastrous
business
results. While some physical dealerships will
continue to exist in
the twenty first century,
increasing numbers of customers will
demand Internet
access so as to research vehicles and price.
MVDI's
conference NETTING THE FUTURE - THE INTERNET & E-COMMERCE
with its array of business sessions, workshops, meetings
and social
events ran from 27 - 31 October in Port
Douglas, Australia. The
event attracted 340 delegates,
the majority of whom were licensed
motor vehicle
dealers.
Amanda Gore, an Australian motivational
speaker, set the mood for
the conference with her highly
entertaining presentation addressing
communication,
stress and well-being. John Mellor from the
Australian
Automotive followed Amanda with insights about overseas
motor vehicle dealing trends and likely scenarios for
the New
Zealand motor vehicle dealer in the twenty-first
century. John told
an audience of over 200 dealers that
the Internet and e-commerce
were questions of `To be or
not to be', that those dealers not using
the Internet as
a business tool will lose custom as the car selling
industry roars into the new millennium.
The
business sessions on day two of NETTING THE FUTURE were a
high point for all involved. As well as the Used
Vehicle, Franchise
and Motorcycle Divisional meetings,
the following seminars were held
with the intention of
providing dealers with practical e-commerce
advice:
E-commerce - Your Dealership: The Tools Available and How to
Guarantee E-commerce Dollars in the Bank presented by
Steve Kloss
from Reynolds and Reynolds, Setting Up a
Website presented by John
Barlow from KC Multimedia,
E-commerce and the Internet presented by
Don Rae from
Cardinal Transportation and Travel Solutions, and the
Legalities of E-commerce presented by Peter McKnight
from Izard
Weston. All presenters stressed the
importance of dealer websites
providing as much
information as possible including photos and an
up-front
price. Reynolds & Reynolds representative Steve Kloss told
dealers that approximately 8% of New Zealand Internet
users visit a
motoring site every month and 18% of all
leads turn to sales.
All presentations were
enthusiastically received and MVDI
management noted the
novelty of hearing dealers express the desire
for more
sessions despite the glorious weather and tropical setting.
MVDI Executive Director Steve Downes said `The response
to the
seminars was outstanding. Every member walked
away with at least
one piece of information to take back
to his or her dealership that
will somehow make a
difference to the way in which they trade'.
National
President Ian Redshaw said, `Without doubt NETTING THE
FUTURE was the most successful conference MVDI has ever
held. We
had over 340 people in attendance and the new
business session
format proved a great model for future
conferences.' MVDI's
Conference 2000 will be held in
Rotorua.
MVDI's AGM and Council meeting also took place
at conference.
Ian Redshaw of Wairoa was elected
National President for the second
year running. MVDI
expressed its appreciation to Don Thompson, David
Denton
and Wendy Button for their service to the motor industry
through their National Executive membership, and
welcomed new
members Peter Gluyas, John Boote and Alex
Ten Hove. MVDI's National
Executive 1999-2000 includes:
President, Ian Redshaw (Franchise,
Wairoa), Vice
President, Dave Anderson (Motorcycle, Masterton), Vice
President, John Knowles (Used, Christchurch), Past
President, Grant
Daniel (Franchise, Wellington), Lindsay
Watkins (Franchise,
Wanganui), Reg Storer (Used,
Christchurch), Steve Crosby
(Motorcycle, Auckland),
Graham Nicholson (Franchise, Huntly), Peter
Gluyas
(Franchise, Ashburton), Alex Ten Hove (Used, Hamilton), John
Boote (Motorcycle, Christchurch).
ENDS....