March 17, 2011 — A panel of industry experts will talk about how technology has changed marketing in the collision repair industry at the 2011 Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS).
“Consumer marketing within the auto repair industry saw little change for the past 20 years, with Yellow Pages advertising and reminder post cards dominating shop marketing budgets,” said panel moderator David Sturtz, founder and CEO of RepairPal. “The arrival of the Internet, more than a decade ago, had little impact on the way shops won and retained customers. But that changed within the past five years as an array of online players became the source of consumer information and influence.”
The other panelists are Jim Dykstra, owner of Dykstra’s Auto Service, and Steve Smith, senior vice president and chief information officer for TBC Corp. They will examine what information consumers have access to, how that impacts service expectations, and how some technicians have made progress in the new environment.
GAAS is scheduled for May 18-19 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare near Chicago. For more information, go to globalsymposium.org or call 301.654.6664.
