LAS VEGAS - The 2012 Industry Summit show, being held at the Paris Hotel and Convention Center here, came to a close today with another series of great sessions. Here are some of the highlights from the final day of the show.

A Global Perspective

John Leaver, from the McDavid Group, opened the day with a keynote address looking at Brazil as the next big market. It is a country that is growing rapidly - it is currently the 6th largest economy in the world, and is on track, he noted, to be the 5th largest in the world by the end of this year. There is a new and growing middle class market, and as a whole, the country is buying a large volume of automobiles across all economic levels.

There are, however, some things to know before entering the market. First, Leaver told attendees, Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish, and the country's land mass is only slightly smaller than United States. "They like to point out to me that if we didn't have Alaska, they'd be bigger," Leaver joked. The country itself is broken up into five regions, with the south and southeast regions being the largest and wealthiest. And while San Paulo is the largest city, it isn't the capital, which is Brasilia.

He went into further details about the country, but ended his talk with some of the opportunities Brazil has to offer. There are, he noted, no auto auctions because the used car market is very small. There are also opportunities for F&I trainers to become consultants. But, he noted, check ego at the door. Go in as a partner wanting to share your knowledge, not as someone coming in telling them everything is wrong and trying to change it. He also suggested that the best way to enter the market is to go in as a partnership with a company already there, as it will make the process much smoother and faster, opening doors you might not otherwise have access to. Relationships are very important to the Brazilians as a culture, and anyone wanting to do business with them will need to understand that and work with it.

Stump the Pro

A very popular session saw Tony Dupaquier, Automotive Training Academy, on stage challenging the audience to come up with objections they might hear in the F&I office. He then gave examples of ways to overcome those objections. Not only did he take questions asked from the audience members, but he invited people to text or email him questions if they weren't comfortable asking in front of the group, which made for a lively session.

One of the first objections was "I don't need a service contract because my new Toyota/Honda/Hyundai/etc. is a great car." He gave several ways to address that, but stressed that pointing out that while it's a great car, it is also a machine, and machines break. He urged attendees to point out that the warranty on the car covers things that can be maintenanced - the service contract, he noted, covers the non-maintainable items like air conditioners or sun roofs, that otherwise the customer will have to pay out of pocket. He suggested getting the average repair bills from your service department - not the total service average which includes things like oil changes, but, as he said, the "it broke, we fixed it" average. It's eye-opening, he noted, and will help show customers the value of the service contract.

Another objection he covered was "I've never had a problem with a car before." Cars, he noted, are less machine today than they are electronic. It's not the mechanical that break, but the electronic parts, wires and controllers. "You're touching screens and pushing buttons all the time," he noted, "and it's out in the elements" like rain, snow, wind, etc. He gave the example of not taking a service contract on a new tv that will be attached to the wall in your living room and barely every touched. But, he asked, would you take the service contract if you were planning to take that TV everywhere, touch it every day, have it outside, etc.?

Another one he tackled was the excuse that the customer "just plans to drive it a little around town." First of all, he told attendees if that was true, then this customer needs to be in a lease instead. Second, he said, that while they probably didn't want to hear this, "don't try to sell them something they don't need." He noted that the best thing to do is avoid opportunities for objections by simply making sure you understand the customer's driving habits and needs, and offering them products that will really add value. "Sell them the products they can actually use, not the things they don't need," he said.

The Hybrid Debate

The topic of hybrid managers - those who perform multiple functions at the same time - was a big one at this year's show, and Dupaquier took the stage again to moderate a panel tackling the subject.

Overall, the panel agreed that a hybrid position, combining sales and F&I, or sales and the business manager, is a job that can't be sustained long term. The amount of responsibility and duties for each of those jobs alone is huge, and expecting someone to do both long term will burn them out fast. However, the panel also agreed that in the short term, this can actually be an effective model.

Specifically, the panel came to the conclusion that as a type of apprenticeship program, hybrid jobs are actually a good way to go. It allows a promising sales person to get training and some experience working in another department, like F&I, part time - filling in when someone is sick, or taking over one day a week for example. The rest of the time, that person is still out on the floor selling. This allows them to transition into a higher career path in the dealership and really learn the process before they take it over full time. It also allows the dealership to see where their strengths and weaknesses are, and address them early.

Longer term, however, or for higher volume stores, trying to pull someone in too many directions at once will result in them not doing any of the jobs as well as they could, the panel agreed.

Leaving Las Vegas

So that's the final wrap for the 2012 Industry Summit. As you can imagine, there is a lot we didn't even touch on - watch for the October issue of AE for more in-depth articles taken from the sessions - some of them written by the panelists themselves. We hope everyone attending travels home safe, and we'll see you next year!