Thursday afternoon saw the return of the popular breakout sessions, giving attendees the opportunity to learn more about specific industry topics and trends.
- Dave Boden of CCC Information gave an overview of their CCC ONE online parts ordering system, which integrates with their estimating system and a body shop’s accounting system. Dave noted statistics that show electronic ordering reduces parts return rate by 15-30%. He also said that parts ordering has become a 24/7 activity, with 15% of orders being placed after normal business hours on on weekends.
- Bob Frayer of NSF International covered his organization’s detailed parts certification process, and also explained their efforts to certify parts distributors and repair shops.
- April Nelson of More Visibility discussed trends in online marketing, including “pay-per-click” search engine marketing techniques.
- Jeff Shroder of Car-Part.com gave an overview of his company’s newest marketplace, Car-Part PRO, which is currently serving 40,000 customers.
- Dave Gneiser and Skip Barnes of Aktion Associates led a lively talk on IT strategy, including the need to have a detailed disaster recovery plan for hardware and data.
- Ken Weiss of PartsTrader provided guidance on how to maximize success on quoting and selling parts on the PartsTrader system.
