Auto Industry Experts Band Together To Form Progressive Internet Conference

ORLANDO, Fla. - Sept. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- Car dealerships will soon be catching up to their more advanced consumers.  As the Internet plays a more significant role in how the public shops, auto dealers struggle to keep up with the demands of researched customers.  In an effort to bring dealership marketing into the 21st century, six leading sales and Internet marketing experts from the automotive industry are forming their own circuit of dynamic workshops that will take place around the nation.

This series of progressive industry trainings are titled the Dealer ThinkTank.  The ThinkTank hosts are made up of Todd Smith - CEO of ActivEngage, Jerry Thibeau - President of Phone Ninjas, Joe Webb - President of DealerKnows Consulting, Allan Cooper - Principal of Cooper Media Group, Eric Miltsch, Co-Founder and VP of Marketing of Dealer ThinkTank, and Jeff Kershner - Vice President of Strategy and Consumer Experience at HookLogic as well as Founder of DealerRefresh.  Collectively, this team of automotive Internet leaders is considered the most vibrant, relevant, and trusted speakers in the retailing segment.

Attendees of a Dealer ThinkTank will finally have an event locally where they can learn advanced strategies to dominate the automotive marketplace, without having to travel to distant markets.  Jerry Thibeau, President of Phone Ninjas, states "We’re excited about our ThinkTanks because we’re bringing Internet training relevancy to dealers’ backyards.  Dealers are offered a slew of 'Internet conferences' to attend, all with varying degrees of reputable speakers and product-focused sales pitches. The six of us chose each other because we want to deliver genuine information without the clutter of mass marketers around. The ThinkTank hosts banded together to bring an element of truth and honesty to the automotive conference game. We didn't come together just to listen to ourselves talk.  We want to help dealers generate profit in an ever-changing technological world so they don't get passed by."

Joe Webb, President of DealerKnows Consulting, feels the same. ".  It’s our expertise and track record of leading dealers into the digital age that cannot be overstated.  The leaders we've united - Todd Smith, Jeff Kershner, Allan Cooper, Eric Miltsch, Jerry Thibeau...even myself – are dedicated to improving dealers online, on the phone, and on the lot through technology, training, entrepreneurship, and guidance.  We speak to and advise dealers... because we care.  We care about our industry, and we care about the people helping our industry advance.  The ThinkTank hosts are tasking ourselves to provide new, fresh, bleeding edge strategies and thought-processes to ensure a competitive edge for attendees of our Dealer ThinkTanks.”

Dealer ThinkTank Host, Allan Cooper of Cooper Media Group, concurs. “Dealer ThinkTank represents a generational footprint of experienced industry experts covering the automotive Internet explosion of 1995 to the ever-changing digital landscape of today.  Collectively, they cut their teeth working in dealership sales and management throughout the country, in the trenches with some of the most successful automotive companies.  The individual areas of expertise will bring clarity and focus to what really matters as dealerships evolve, alongside the consumer’s adoption of technology-driven information resources and mobile devices.”

Hosts of the Dealer ThinkTank will be holding their one-day workshops every month in different cities.  The first two locations chosen to host the Dealer ThinkTank are Cincinnati and Washington DC in November and December, respectively.  Tour cities and dates for 2014 are listed on their website, http://dealerthinktank.com.   Attendees are promised to be immersed in a day of education that will yield them an advantage over their competing dealers.  The curriculum is being built to benefit dealer personnel of multiple capacities whether it be an owner, General Manager, eCommerce Director, Internet Sales Manager, BDC professional, or Salesperson.

To find out when Dealer ThinkTank is coming to a city near you, visit http://dealerthinktank.com.  To register for an upcoming Dealer ThinkTank, dealers can do so at http://www.dealerthinktank.com/register-automotive-dealer-thinktank/