Our Agenda

8:00-8:45am Continental Breakfast

8:45am Opening Remarks

Chairman: Steve Schmith, Director, Automotive Strategy – Acxiom

8:45-9:30am

Using Employee Experience To Fuel Customer Experience

Chris Saraceno, VP & Partner for Kelly Automotive Group will discuss leadership solutions to use one’s skills, and knowledge to influence and guide your team to flourish. This full lifestyle process utilizes axiology to hire team members and incorporates lifecycle processes and culture into daily routines that can be attributed to team members that deliver consistent and extraordinarily high-quality service in their respective positions.

The principles set forth are considered the foundation for their business and are administered through four Kelly College locations. Chris is also the best-selling author of Theory of 5 which shows you how to Discover the Secrets of the World’s Happiest, Most Prosperous People.

Chris Saraceno, Vice President & Partner – Kelly Automotive Group

9:30-10:00am

How Immersive Digital Experiences Will Drive the Future of Automotive CX

Understanding the value that immersive experiences can bring to a brand or product’s story will be key to delivery great customer experience in the future. However, with a vast content landscape, limitless applications and rapidly changing technology enablers, it is hard to keep up. Neerav will discuss how Automakers can leverage the latest advancements in 3D/ AR / VR to redefine all aspects of their business and end customer experience, from Product Design & Development, Connected Manufacturing, Virtual Showrooming & Retailing, the In-Vehicle experience and even Vehicle Service.

10:00-10:45am

The Metaverse: Accelerating Automotive Into the Future

In this session we’ll explore what the Metaverse is and how Automotive brands can utilize virtual experiences to accelerate their businesses into the future. Meta will share a vision for Automotive in the Metaverse, the business opportunities that exist today, and how to start building for the future. Topics include bringing the car shopping and aftermarket experience to life with Augmented and Virtual reality, examples of how Automotive companies are already using these technologies today, and inspiration for what’s possible in the future.

Join us after the session in the tech expo where Meta techs will be onsite to offer Meta Quest 2 headset test drives offering full immersive experiences with 3D positional audio, hand tracking and haptic feedback. 

Katie Benesch, Automotive Digital Retail Lead – Meta

10:45-11:30am Networking Break Tech Expo

11:30-12:15pm  Fireside Chat

The Future of CX and the Digital Consumer

Companies of all shapes and sizes have invested considerably in technologies to help them understand their customers better and more in depth with the aim of providing a superior customer experience. However, as industries strive to form a more complete picture of customer preferences and behaviors, they continue to rely on decaying survey-based measurement tools that for years have formed the foundation of CX efforts.

In today’s digital world, leading automotive brands are taking advantage of the wealth of consumer data being generated, captured and available to them. With the right technologies, unstructured data can now be monitored, tracked, and measured to identify CX issues and opportunities in real time, which can help brands better understand their customer interactions and preempt issues in the customer journey.

George Dubinsky, National Owner Loyalty Manager (former) – Subaru

Ali Fawaz, Managing Director, Head of Global Automotive Strategy - Reputation

Gray Scott, Chief Marketing Officer – Cardinale Automotive Group

12:15-12:45pm

Staying Ahead of the Curve: New Consumer Behaviors, Innovative Technologies and Disruptors

Consumers are expecting more services that can be done remotely and they are expecting driveway experiences versus having to visit the retail sales and service facilities.  How can dealers easily provide a professional vehicle home delivery and service pick up and drop off without making major investments in additional staff or purchasing expensive assets?  Anthony will deep dive into easy to implement processes built around technology platforms that provide all the logistics that even the most novice user can use to manager 100’s of these transactions per day.

Anthony Montiero, Chief Revenue Officer – Draiver

12:45-2:00pm Networking Lunch & Tech Expo

2:00-2:30pm

Reddit: Car Culture X Community. Harnessing the Power of Meaningful Engagement

Reddit is the home to some of the most engaged and passionate communities around the world. The experience on Reddit allows users to be more intentional as they seek and share information in a purposeful way creating a deeper emotional connection with one another. 

At Reddit, our thousands of auto and lifestyle communities are filled with passionate and knowledgeable auto enthusiasts who are confident and ready to make buying decisions. Brands can play an important role in educating consumers while they are in the consideration phase of their journey to ensure they make a well-informed choice. In this session, Reddit’s Head of Automotive Industry, Carrie Steele will discuss how Reddit provides a great opportunity for brands to tap into the car-buying journey, harness the power of community and create passionate brand advocates. 

Carrie Steele, Head of Automotive Partnerships – Reddit

2:30-3:00pm

Customer Obsession: The Software Behind Tomorrow’s Winning Retail Experience

Today’s progressive dealers are moving ahead of the curve by retooling their sales process along the lines desired by car buyers.  They can elevate their customer experience and profits by embracing a transformative One-Person Sales Model.  In this session, Chip will discuss:

  • New options that are available for delivering an exceptional customer and employee experience
  • How dealers can evaluate the priority they are placing on the in-store experience compared to digital tools on websites
  • Consistent and unified service throughout the journey is a key component in ensuring your dealership and staff are providing the highest quality digital customer experience

Chip Perry, CEO & President – A2Z SYNC 

3:00-3:30pm Networking Break Tech Expo

3:30-4:15pm

New Dealerships & New Brand Investments Attracting New Customers, New CX Scores and New Revenue Sources

Samantha Woulfe, Marketing & Digital Experience Director for Warren Henry Auto Group discusses how they have bet big on their future, having constructed a future proof $120 million car dealership that is not only refining the luxury CX buying experience but also providing connections to new customers and new business opportunities.

Samantha Woulfe, Marketing & Digital Experience Director – Warren Henry Auto Group

4:15-5:00pm

Driving CX Transformation in the Truck Industry

While the Automotive industry is already in process of adopting CX strategies, Truck players are visualized as heavy and slow moving on transformation journeys. For an organization like PACCAR, where business touches almost all aspects of the Truck owner – finance – leasing – parts – servicing experience, constant engagement & best experience is extremely important. It is far more important for competitive finance/leasing industry where ‘69% of customers leave due to poor service rather than poor products’.

In this session, you will hear from Satish Iyer about the PACCAR Finance Transformation journey and applied strategies for adopting CX across the value chain. You will also learn from Vinay Joshi (AVP Client Services, Infosys) about re-imagined customer end-to-end journeys and value based accelerated transformation delivery.

5:00-6:15pm Networking Reception  & Tech Expo

6:30-8:00pm Speaker Dinner

DAY 2 – WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15

8:00-8:45am Continental Breakfast

8:45am Opening Remarks 

Chairman: Roberto Haley, Director – Reputation

8:45-9:15am

Technology At Its Best: The evolution of online gaming and the future of Automotive CX

As the integration of entertainment into technology has increased; Online games continue to be a robust and profitable business across industries vertical. It has massive revenues and a growing market. Long dismissed as an artifact of childhood, video games have been revolutionizing the way that people interact with worlds – both physical and digital. From next-generation configurators to new metaverse-powered  business models, discover why your next customer– who was born a gamer – will demand mobility.

Aswin Mannepalli, Global Director Strategy and Marketing Automotive & Manufacturing – Sitecore

9:15-10:00am Panel Discussion

Harnessing The Power of CDPs To Nurture A Customer First Philosophy That Drives Profitability and Loyalty

Better customer experience starts with brands knowing their customers better and engaging them in ways that build trust and loyalty.  Data about people can help auto brands better understand who their customers are and what influences their buying decisions but managing and making sense of customer data and using it in ways that are ethical can be complex, overwhelming and lead to missed opportunity.

Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) offer automotive brands the opportunity to build modern marketing platforms where customer identity serves as a foundation on which automakers and dealers can build strong first-party identity solutions while also regaining control of marketing decisions related to targeting, media spend and attribution.

Jeremy Beaver, CEO – Del Grande Dealer Group

Richelle Estrella, Department Head of Customer Data Lab – American Honda Motors

John Campos, Group Vice President Automotive – Acxiom

Facilitator: Steve Schmith, Director, Automotive Strategy – Acxiom

10:00-10:45am

Servco’s Data Journey: Developing Foundations for the Next 100 Years

Servco Pacific Inc. is Hawaii’s largest privately held company with operations in the United States and Australia. In addition to its automotive businesses, Servco is an active investor in venture and growth capital. Like many companies over 100 years old, Servco’s various businesses and platforms matured in a non-data native era, creating data silos and lack of customer understanding throughout its platform ecosystem. Tausif Islam, Servco’s Director of Data Visualization and Analytics will discuss Servco’s quest to understand customer interactions across their various applications and platforms.  He will detail their path to customer centric analytics through the following steps with the end goal to drive better email targeting and overall CX:

  • Initial assessment and evaluation
  • Launching a successful proof of concept
  • Receiving buy-in from business stakeholders
  • Developing an operational roadmap
  • Data democratization and education
  • Building on the foundational work
  • Optimizing data use

Tausif Islam, Director of Data Visualization and Analytics – Servco Pacific

10:45-11:15am Networking Break

11:15-11:45am

Buy, Finance and Drive On

Byrider is America’s largest buy here pay here dealership network and has sold more than 1.2 million cars at more than 150 locations across the country.

In this session Lewis along with Atul will detail how Byrider has successfully leveraged
the Complete Shopper Journey for an end-to-end experience for both customer and salesperson. By utilizing rich analytics, customer data platform, and a data management platform Byrider has been able to enable actionable insights to drive a great customer experience while also increasing sales.

Lewis Scott, Director of Marketing – Digital & Field Performance – Byrider

 

Atul Patel, Co-Founder & CEO – Orbee

Atul Patel, Co-Founder & CEO – Orbee

11:45-12:15pm Panel Discussion

 

Atul Patel, Co-Founder & CEO – Orbee

Atul Patel, Co-Founder & CEO – Orbee

12:15-12:45pm

The Evolution of Conversational Commerce

With 94% of consumers now preferring text as the number one-way businesses communicate, it’s time to look beyond the simple act of sending a message and to the evolution of video and conversational commerce. Tomorrow’s communication tools will be asynchronous and fit the needs of each individual customer. They will be able to tell the dealership not only when the customer is opening a text, but how many minutes they spend watching a video, when they jump to the website, and how that customer converts. Smart texting represents key data points at the bottom of the funnel and forward-thinking managers are using this information today to create transactional interactions with customers all along the lifecycle. Joe Shaker, owner of Shaker Auto Group, will discuss the future of smart texting and how the data that powers it will ultimately affect the customer experience and profits of the store.

Joe Shaker, Principal Owner – Shaker Auto Group and CEO | Co-Founder – TruVideo

12:45-1:45pm Networking Lunch

End of CX Strategy & Retail Innovation & Data Analytics & AI Summits

Aftersales & Aftercare Summit Continues 

1:45 Opening Remarks

Chairman: Tom Calloway, President – A2CX Mgmt

1:45-2:30pm 

Nissan’s Aftersales eCommerce Approach: Enhancing Online Success and Service Lane Benefits

Megan Gaddis, Head of Aftersales eCommerce for Nissan North America walks through the journey to completely overhaul their online strategy, and how they are using online sales to drive service lane results.

Megan will cover:

  • Nissan’s approach to relaunching their Aftersales eCommerce platform
  • Benefits gained through enhancing the platform
  • Ability to find new customers and steps to transition them to loyal service lane customers

Megan Gaddis, Manager Aftersales Marketing Technologies – Nissan North America

2:30-3:00pm 

How to Succeed in Selling Parts and Accessories Online: Go with the Flow

  • OEMs are investing more in the aftersales e-commerce space. How does your dealership stand to benefit?
  • The online parts customer is changing. How can you engage with them to win sales back from the aftermarket?
  • Starting an online parts and accessories program can be daunting. How should your dealership begin or increase your current investment in selling online?

Over the past decade, OEMs have drastically increased their investment in aftersales e-commerce, giving dealers a new opportunity to grow their customer base and revenue with online parts and accessories sales. But with the growing number of providers, platforms, and assets available to dealers, where should one start in order to build a successful online parts and accessories business? John will talk about how dealers can leverage existing assets from their OEM to build a successful, scalable online parts and accessories program for their dealership, as well as how to grow and engage with their customer base to begin winning sales and market share back from the aftermarket.

John Merritt, Vice President Business Development – SimplePart

3:00-3:30pm Networking Break

3:30-4:00pm

Your Customers Would Like To Tell You Something: Are You Ready To LISTEN and RESPOND?

What’s Your Current Customer Feedback Loop? Surveys? Social Media? Twitter? Monitoring Online Reviews?  If it’s a negative experience at your dealership, it’s probably too late!  Chances are your customer is not coming back and even worse, they probably already told others about their negative experience.  By learning about customer issues during their experience or immediately thereafter, there’s still an opportunity to address their issue and regain customer trust.

As in-person customer experiences diminish due to the increase in online purchasing, Adam Alfia, Founder & Managing Director – Realtime Feedback will share insights how retailers can embrace their customers’ positive experiences and turn negative experiences around in real time

Adam Alfia, Founder & Managing Director – Realtime Feedback

4:00-4:30pm

Using Your Data to Identify, Segment and Market to your Top-Value Customers

The data shows that on average 30% of your customers account for 80% of the total gross profit from existing customers.   We will discuss during this session some interesting perspectives how these executives are:

  • Identifying, tracking and reporting their top-value customers
  • Engaging and nurturing best practices
  • Targeting these customers with new technologies and techniques

Tausif Islam, Director of Data Visualization and Analytics – Servco Pacific

Gray Scott, Chief Marketing Officer – Cardinale Automotive Group

Facilitator: Tom Calloway, President – A2CX Mgmt

4:30-5:15pm 

Partners In Crime To Move Beyond Oil Changes

David Lantz, Director of Marketing and Tully Williams, Fixed Operations Director are teamed up at the Niello Company to create better customers by changing the way they market their Fixed Ops service through digital customer experiences.  They will share some ways they are working together to increase their service department value and build trust with their customers before they arrive.  These new communication methods set the stage for a less transactional, elevated experience customers expect while in the drives with the ultimate goal to fuel F&I growth.  The Niello Company celebrates their 100-year anniversary this year!

David Lantz, Director of Marketing – The Niello Company

Tully Williams, Fixed Operations Director – The Niello Company

5:15-6:15pm Networking Reception

DAY 3 – THURSDAY, JUNE 16

8:00-8:45am Continental Breakfast

8:45am Opening Remarks

Chairman: Tom Calloway, President – A2CX Mgmt

8:45-9:30am

The New BDC: Best Practices to Capture and Upsell Service Business

Like almost everything else over the last two years, the way a dealership runs its BDCs has been dramatically altered by the effects of the pandemic, inventory shortages, and digital retailing.  While it used to be enough to just think of this hub as a “call center”, forward-thinking General Managers are now empowering the BDC agents themselves to take the customer through the complete process and pricing toward a final sale.  In this dynamic session, Elizabeth and Sarah will take customers through he steps Scott Clark Auto Group used to improve retention and continue to build value for customers which has contributed to explosive profits in their service department.

Key Takeaways:

  • Enabling multi-channel communications to perform for optimum success
  • Step by step instructions on how to adjust processes to best fit the customer’s needs
  • Strategies to engage and retain your best performing Service BDC professionals

Elizabeth Martin, Service BDC Manager – Scott Clark Group

Sarah Vantine, Vice President of Business Development Strategy – Quantum5

9:30-10:15am

Retaining Innovative Practices Implemented During Covid In
A Post-Pandemic World

The crisis yielded the opportunity to reevaluate and experiment with fresh thinking and new innovative processes.  Ed Roberts, Chief Operations Officer will share their most successful new CX building blocks that have had a positive influence for both cusomters and employees as well as bottom line growth.

Ed Roberts, Chief Operations Officer – Bozard Ford Lincoln

10:15am-10:30am Networking Break
10:30am-11:15am

The Ultimate Service Advisor

  • The second most important position in the dealership
  • The person that will make or break your reputation
  • Are your processes ready for the present/future?
  • Does your training plan meet/exceed your market expectations?
  • How does your service drive technology enhance your customer experience?

Tim Gavin, Dealership Management Consultant – NADA

11:15-11:45pm Fireside Chat

Rewiring the Dealership For the Onslaught of EV’s: Dealer Hub | Infrastructure | Services & Products 

In this session we will specifically focus on the impact EV’s will have on dealership service operations.  We will dig into developing operational EV support capabilities – educating EV service customers and building mobility fleets to support EV sales and service operations.

In this session we will specifically focus on the impact EV’s will have on dealership service operations.  We will dig into developing operational EV support capabilities – educating EV service customers and building mobility fleets to support EV sales and service operations.

Shawn Concannon, President, TSD Mobility Solutions

Ed Roberts, Chief Operations Officer, Bozard Ford Lincoln

11:45am End of Aftersales & Aftercare Summit

Can’t wait to see you again!

Contact Us

Thought Leadership Summits, Inc.

4612 Sprucedale Place

Boulder, CO 80301

609-216-6998

Can’t wait to see you again!

Contact Us

Thought Leadership Summits, Inc.

4612 Sprucedale Place

Boulder, CO 80301

609-216-6998