LAS VEGAS — Online F&I will be a hot topic at Industry Summit 2015, with the conference agenda featuring four sessions — two workshops and two panels — that will address today’s drive to digitize parts of the F&I experience.

All four sessions are scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10, at Industry Summit. They’ll cover everything from today’s mobile device-wielding customers and how they impact the F&I product presentation to improving the F&I sections on dealership websites. The conference is slated for Sept. 8-10 at the Paris Las Vegas.

“There’s been a lot of talk about F&I needing to join the rest of the automotive world and move more product and pricing information online,” noted David Gesualdo, publisher of F&I and Showroom and Auto Dealer Today. “So it makes sense that we stack the deck with four sessions that will take a look at F&I’s place in the digital age.”

Two of the sessions kick off at 10 a.m. on Thursday. There’s Ron Reahard’s “Right Clicking in a Left-Click World,” where the 2014 Best in Class trainer and president of Reahard & Associates will detail what every F&I professional must do to succeed in an age when consumers are checking every claim F&I managers make on a mobile device.

The second morning session will convene a panel of F&I trainers, who will discuss how today’s Internet shopper has changed their approach to training, among other things. Panelists include Jeremy Beck, national dealer training manager for Ally Financial; Dusten Cote, assistant vice president of training for Safe-Guard Products International; Tony Dupaquier, director of The Academy for the Service Group; and Peter Velau, vice president of training and development for Southwest Dealer Services.

At 2 p.m. that day, F&I and Showroom’s Brittany-Marie Swanson will moderate “Digitizing the F&I Experience,” a panel that will convene representatives from today’s leading software companies. They include Todd Mason, chief product and marketing officer for RouteOne; Jim Maxim Jr., president and CEO of MaximTrak Technologies; Carrie Profaizer, CIO for Protective Asset Protection; Brian Reed, president and CEO of F&I Express; and Mark Thorpe, president of The Impact Group.

“These are the individuals who are leading the F&I office into the digital age, so this should be an interesting panel,” said Gregory Arroyo, editorial director of F&I and Showroom and Auto Dealer Today magazines.

The fourth session starts at 3:15 p.m. that day. It will be led Rich Moore, director of training for Protective Asset Protection. His workshop, “Using Online Video to Increase F&I Product Sales,” will show attendees how they can create inexpensive, high-quality informational videos to spruce up the F&I section on their websites. He will also cover topics these videos can address, as well as show attendees how to transform their F&I offices into working studios.

“With so much negative information online about what happens in the F&I office, Rich is going to show attendees how the industry can combat the critics with online video,” Arroyo said. “And let’s face it, the F&I sections on dealer websites are really lacking. What better way to spruce them up than with video, which represents the quickest and easiest way to connect with customers.”

Register for Industry Summit by this Friday, Aug. 7, to save $100 on a full conference pass. For more information or to register, click here.

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