Thought Leadership Summits - Automotive CRM Summit 2008

June 3-4, 2008
The Ritz-Carlton
Marina del Rey, CA

For more information
please contact us at
(415) 553-4142 or

Sponsored By:

polk

Agenda

June 3, 2008

7:00 AM – 8:00 AM
Registration & Breakfast

8:00 AM
Opening Remarks
Jon Munzel – Founder
Thought Leadership Summits, Inc.

8:05 AM
Remarks from the Chair

Mike Spadafore - Global Director, Consumer & Commercial Marketing
R. L. Polk & Co.

8:15 AM
Keynote Presentation

Erik Goldman - President
Hughes Telematics, Inc.

Automotive Telematics: The Most Powerful Tool in the CRM Tool Kit

Automotive Telematics encompasses the notion of a connected car. OEMs and Dealers can capitalize on this connectivity because they have, in essence, a captive audience in their telematics-equipped vehicles. I will discuss the varied ways in which OEMs and Dealers can leverage this connectivity and create with telematics a new and powerful CRM tool.

9:00 AM
Thilo Koslowski - Vice President & Lead Automotive Analyst
Gartner, Inc.

Customer Centricity Defines the Automotive Industry’s Success

Defining customer centricity across the organization and with your business partners – what works and what doesn’t?
CRM and marketing trends at the OEM and dealer level – where are the opportunities and what are the challenges?
The future of customer centricity: successful relationships as the result of positive product and service experiences

9:45 AM – 10:15 AM
Networking Break

10:15 AM
Ed Allen - Vice President, Automotive Industry Business Unit
Oracle

Automotive's Customer-Centric Enterprise

Delivering a superior customer ownership experience enables automakers and dealers to build brands, boost profits, and secure loyalty. But without a customer-centric culture and IT infrastructure to support it, information is scattered, intelligence is limited, campaign efforts undermined, and profits eroded. Please join us for Oracle's keynote presentation to learn how it is enabling leading automotive companies to build and manage a customer-centric enterprise and grow their businesses profitably. Specifically, Oracle will share customer stories of how to attract and retain profitable customers, rapidly deliver differentiated products and services to market and harness innovation from customers, suppliers and dealer networks.

11:00 AM

Rachel Richards - Vice President, Retail Strategy & Process Management
Sonic Automotive, Inc.

Differentiating Yourself in the Retail Automotive Industry

With the proliferation of automotive brands, large numbers of dealerships throughout the country, competitive pricing, virtual dealerships and new automotive services popping up everyday, how does one compete and truly win the consumer? More importantly, how does one keep those customers coming back? Rachel’s presentation will review Sonic Automotive’s utilization of CRM to attract, win, and retain customers in this hyper-competitive retail environment.

11:45 AM – 1:15 PM
Networking Lunch

1:15 PM
Kris Mayer - Director, Customer Retention
General Motors Corp.

Service & Parts Operations

GM’s Lifecycle Approach to Customer Service Loyalty

Vehicle owners who are satisfied with both their service and sales experiences are up to eight times more likely to return and buy another vehicle of the same make, compared to those who are not satisfied. This alone should make service customer satisfaction and retention a priority for any firm doing business in the U.S. automotive industry today. Even though General Motors has had the highest overall vehicle repurchase loyalty for a manufacturer for years, it has established service customer retention as one of its key priorities to drive growth in the U.S.

This presentation will provide an overview of GM’s lifecycle approach to building a loyal service customer base – one that will help boost dealership fixed operations profitability and increase vehicle loyalty. Specifically, it will cover strategic considerations, customer expectations and key tools, including: in-dealership analytics, telematics and the Internet.

2:00 PM

Tom Kelly - Vice President, Marketing
Mack Trucks, Inc.

CRM Reality: Critical Point Of Control

Given a traditional OEM organization that relies upon a network of independently owned distributorships to sell product, who really influences or controls customer behavior? Within a market place, where selected options are customer specified and manufactured by various suppliers, where those same suppliers contact customers directly to influence purchase decisions, how is control by the OEM achieved? How efficient is this economic model and what impact does it have on the customer and OEM's?

The time was right for a new economic model that was created slowly and deliberately over a number of years. Mack Trucks has started on that journey and has enjoyed increasing success in consolidating its own commercial efforts and those of its key suppliers that previously relied upon direct customer contact. Much of this has been made possible by defining the critical point of control of the customer and presenting an efficient commercial delivery process. Measurability and manageability of the process is the key. This presentation will discuss how Mack is making this transition from traditional commercial processes to a new economic model which is inherently more effective. Mack is five plus years into the process and still learning everyday. Process refinements are possible as the base structure of the model has withstood the test of time. The critical point of control evolution is applicable to most business organizations with good adaptive practices.

2:45 PM – 3:15 PM
Networking Break

3:15 PM

Don Foley - Executive Director
Automotive X PRIZE

Driving Fuel Efficiency Innovation in the Automotive Industry

The Automotive X PRIZE (AXP) is a project of the X PRIZE Foundation, which creates and manages prizes that drive innovators to solve the world’s greatest challenges. With the international success of the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE in 2004, the X PRIZE Foundation is now recognized as the world’s leader for prizes that bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.

The goal of the AXP is to inspire a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles that help break our addiction to oil and stem the effects of climate change. The multi-million-dollar AXP purse will be awarded to the teams that win a stage race for clean, production-capable vehicles that exceed 100 MPG equivalent fuel economy. While the automotive industry is enormous, regulated, and impacted by many economic and political interests, the AXP focuses solely on increasing fuel economy and technological diversity while reducing harmful emissions. The AXP is an independent, international, and technology-neutral competition open to teams from around the world.

4:00 PM
Kevin Peters - National Manager, Remarketing

Chrysler Financial

Driving Customer Loyalty through Customer Centric Remarketing

Kevin’s presentation will outline how Chrysler Financial has increased customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and dealer loyalty while still achieving our core loss mitigation objective. He will discuss how making customer focused improvements in processes and technology has increased customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. In addition, Kevin will explain Chrysler Financial’s strategy to meet mitigation goals in a challenging used car market. Finally, he will review how the development of Chrysler Financial’s “Rules of Engagement” has simultaneously improved customer and dealer loyalty.

4:45 PM – 6:30 PM
Networking Reception

June 4, 2008

7:00 AM – 8:00 AM
Registration & Breakfast

8:00 AM
Day Two Remarks
Jon Munzel – Founder
Thought Leadership Summits, Inc.

8:05 AM
Remarks from the Chair

Mike Spadafore - Global Director, Consumer & Commercial Marketing
R. L. Polk & Co.

8:15 AM
Karen Newman - Americas Automotive Leader
IBM Global Business Services

Presentation: TBA

9:00 AM

David Harris - Advertising & e-Business Manager
American Suzuki

Leveraging Lead Marketing to Create Competitive Advantage

Lead Marketing is quickly becoming the most critical, actionable aspect of automotive marketing for both the OEM and Dealer. How leads are managed, the follow-up processes executed, and the metrics used to assess those processes and the sales conversion they target are paramount to an OEM and Dealer’s success in today’s hypercompetitive marketplace. The Internet has now compressed the purchase cycle and put the consumer in complete control of the buying process. It is critical that all automotive marketers view the online hand raiser as a competitive asset that must be leveraged by taking control of the process to ensure the best customer experience and drive the most sales to your brand and your dealerships.

9:45 AM – 10:15 AM
Networking Break

10:15 AM

Mike Musich - National Manager
Toyota Signature Development
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

Customer Retention & Profitability – The Toyota Signature Story

While Toyota continues to be an industry leader in brand loyalty, Toyota customer loyalty to the dealership provides an opportunity for improvement. Toyota developed the Signature program to focus on the customer’s needs - caring, timeliness and a quality experience. Toyota Signature teaches dealership employee teams to seek out and fix inefficiencies, waste and stumbling blocks in their internal processes by seeing those processes as the customer experiences it. Not only is this good for customers, it is good for dealers - participating Signature dealerships report increased sales, customer retention and customer satisfaction. In addition, empowered dealership teams continue to deliver value by identifying improvements in all areas of dealership business processes. Mike’s presentation will outline the rationale that led to the development of the Toyota Signature initiative, Signature’s key aspects, and the tangible benefits for customers, dealers, and Toyota.

11:00 AM - Noon

Closing Panel Discussion: Achieving and Leveraging Customer Centricity

Moderator: