F&I and Showroom, July 2017

www fi magazine com 6 F I and Showroom July 2017 LETTER FROM THE EDITOR If youve ever entertained the idea of making the trip to Industry Summit this is the year you need to pull the trigger Id like to use this page to explain why I think so as well as clear up any confusion about all the different ads you probably noticed in recent issues At this point you may be wondering Whats with all the summits Well again let me explain See Industry Summit which will be held Sept 11 14 at the Gaylord Texan Resort Convention Center in Dallas was really born out of our decision back in December 2009 to change the title of the magazine to F I and Showroom Coming out of the Great Recession and credit crisis that year we realized we couldnt help solve the challenges facing the F I office without talking about what goes on in the showroom My former editor and the founder of F I and Showroom the late Ed Bobit used to refer to those connections as the tentacles to F I We waited until the summer of 2011 to rename our annual conference to reflect the magazines expanded coverage But it wasnt just a name change We launched a new event platform that would allow us to test out new ideas as well as add established events like Greg Goebels Special Finance Conference which has remained a part of Industry Summit ever since So yeah weve been tinkering and I believe we finally have things dialed in Let me start with Compliance Summit which my publisher David Gesualdo originally launched as a series of regional events in 2014 And after successful stops in Miami Austin Texas and Chicago we decided to bring the event to Industry Summit in 2016 When we did we added one additional feature to the show compliance certification See through a partnership with Gil Van Overs Automotive Compliance Education ACE we gave attendees the opportunity to earn certification as Automotive Compliance Specialists All they had to do was complete a half day review session and score a passing grade on a two hour test Out of the 165 individuals who attended Compliance Summit 83 did just that And youll have an opportunity to do the same at Industry Summit 2017 as certification is included as part of your fullconference registration But the big news this year is our partnership with The Best Training Day Ever an event launched by EasyCare in February 2013 The F I product provider has once again gathered a team of the industrys leading performance strategists to lead an all day training program on Sept 12 for dealers BDC and internet department staffers showroom sales personnel and managers and even service advisors Those performance strategists include David Lewis of David Lewis Associates Jeff Cowan of Jeff Cowans Pro Talk Inc Alan Ram of Proactive Training Solutions and Dave Anderson with Learn to Lead Yeah we pulled out all the stops this year So what about F I right Well Industry Summit will once again feature a top notch curriculum led by the whos who of F I training Stay plugged into IndustrySummit com and F I and Showrooms twiceweekly enewsletter for more on that What Im personally excited about is Day Four of Industry Summit which will feature F I Think Tank Thats right F I Think Tank is headed to Dallas after a groundbreaking debut in 2016 We created F I Think Tank in partnership with Ethical F I Managers a more than 7000 member Facebook group founded by F I and Showroom columnist Mad Marv Eleazer The idea behind this unique event was to recreate EFIs daily information exchange Open forum type sessions will allow attendees to share ideas and techniques as well as pose toughto handle customer objections or situations to top F I trainers and industry insiders This year weve added a new partner F I 20 Group is a 10000 plus member Facebook Group created by F I trainer Shaka Dyson founder of Dealer F I University So now we have two of the industrys premier social media groups for F I managers tied to this amazing all day event But you dont have to be a member of either group to attend All we ask is that you get your dealer your sales managers and staffers and your F I team signed up for what I expect will be one of those once in a lifetime experiences See You in Big D The editor offers a breakdown of Industry Summit 2017 which will feature F I Think Tank the Special Finance Conference Compliance Summit and The Best Training Day Ever BY GREG ARROYO I BUT YOU DONT HAVE TO BE A MEMBER OF EITHER GROUP TO ATTEND ALL WE ASK IS THAT YOU GET YOUR DEALER YOUR SALES MANAGERS AND STAFFERS AND YOUR F I TEAM SIGNED UP FOR WHAT I EXPECT WILL BE ONE OF THOSE ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCES