New Products, New Opportunities
The last time Paul D. Cummings took his World Wide Enterprises motivational group to San Francisco for the NADA convention, his booth got “stuck under a stairwell.” However, he wasn’t complaining. Over three and a half days there, he did more than a million dollars in cash business. That’s a substantial return on his investment, even if he does direct the lion’s share of his overall marketing budget to the annual event. That campaign includes an e-mail invitation targeted to 250,000 people in the industry.

Cummings has been speaking at the convention for 10 years. This year he is on the calendar to make four presentations on leadership. “We target it,” he said about the convention. “Dealers know they can see us there.”

Cummings traces much of his current success to his first appearance at the NADA convention 10 years ago. “After the ’98 convention in New Orleans, our company quadrupled in size within 90 days.”

While Cummings has become an NADA Expo veteran over the years, Verde’s 20 years of presentations gives him one of the longest track records for any of the regular speakers at the annual meeting. When he submits an idea for a workshop, he’s usually trying to anticipate what the hottest topics will be a year out from the event.

This year, he’ll be working with his colleague Sean Gardner to outline the best way to draw customers onto the lot, close them and turn them into long-term customers. He only has one hour and 15 minutes to do it. He also has a convention booth to man.

The ‘WOW’ Effect
It’s up to Pitt, staffers and the NADA’s convention committee to make sure that everything happens right on time because nothing at the convention happens by chance. The association has a convention schedule that runs out over the next 20 years. There are firm agreements in place for the next seven gatherings, stretching out to 2015. Once one convention is complete, Pitt and others at the NADA almost immediately go to work on the next annual gathering, which is traditionally held early in the year when dealers and their managers find it easiest to get away from the business back home.

For a Top-50 convention like NADA, there are only so many warm-weather venues that have sufficient capacity to play host. A convention center expansion in San Francisco has made it possible to head to the Bay this year, the first time in five years. 

You don’t get NADA crowds by taking them for granted. Each year the association surveys attendees to get their feedback on what worked and what didn’t. Popular speakers keep getting called back, year after year.

Once Pitt and his staff have a chance to digest the surveys, they present the results to the NADA convention committee in May. The management education committee also gets into the act, helping to refine each convention schedule.

“It’s not random at all,” said Pitt.

The big-name speakers, like the Jay Lenos of the world, often have to ink contracts a year in advance. The promotional campaign begins in the late summer. By October, the schedule is largely complete and Pitt’s staff is issuing its second promotional piece aimed at attracting the attention of the industry.

Pitt is looking for one basic response: “Wow, that’s going to be a powerful program.”

“We run advertising in just about every major industry publication.  We are actively running ads, posting headlines, doing direct mail, starting in August running through September, October and into January,” said Pitt. “There’s not a dealer out there that doesn’t have some information on the convention.”

“We [practically] give away registration,” he added. “The most important thing is, will it help them?” Dealers who bring their managers with them be able to take advantage of multiple educational sessions, which they can then share after the show.

It’s up to Pitt and the NADA to craft a convention schedule that also reflects all the changes in the industry. That means everything from new lobbying agendas for the industry to information on new technologies that have been influencing dealers’ business.

Those industry currents also heavily influence an ever-changing mix of exhibitors, which this year is expected to total at about 640. In the weeks leading up to the convention, Pitt was still finding places for new exhibitors in the lineup. The last-minute jockeying will continue, as will the final promotional push. NADA can expect up to 6,000 walk-in registrants during the show.

Pitt can take a quick breather when it’s all finished, but he won’t have a long break. It will already be time to start plotting the NADA’s return to New Orleans in 2009.

Vol 5, Issue 1