What’s Happening: Looking Toward Long Beach

Del Ellis of Del Ellis International has been training retailers for about 15 years, with a focus on leadership. “Everything rises and falls on leadership,” Ellis said, adding that this is the topic he plans to discuss at KnowledgeFest. “Leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less. Selling is influence, nothing more and nothing less. They go hand in hand.” Ellis noted that the last time he attended an event, it was about three or four years ago in Dallas. This will be his first online KnowledgeFest.

“I work with individuals one-on-one and teams,” Ellis said, adding that one thing he’s noticed during his time in the industry is that employees who quit are often quitting people—not the company. “Eighty-six percent of all managers think people leave because of money.” It isn’t always a money thing, he said, adding, “It’s about the ability to lead and inspire your team.”

Detailed Presentations Make Up for Lack of Hands-On Interaction

Brandon Green, owner of The Car Audio Shop in High Ridge, Mo. taught at KnowledgeFest.Live in December and will be presenting again at the upcoming event in March. Green said his classes cover best installation practices, proper tools and techniques.

“We’ve been doing this class since KnowledgeFest Dallas in 2018,” he said. “We’ve done lots of Zoom meetings this year, so we’ve gotten used to talking to a screen. We were also able to show a couple things on a vehicle here at the shop last time.”

Additionally, Green said Josh White and Adam Devine participated and were also able to show off vehicles and projects at their respective businesses. “It went very well,” Green added, seeing this as a definite plus to having an online event:

After all, “we can’t bring a demo car into a conference room at a convention center.”

Because of this, Green doesn’t feel too much is lost by holding the event in a virtual setting. “We try to do a bunch of slides, as many as we can, and show as much as we can,” he explained. “We also show videos of some of it. We go over everything from specific tools to how to use them, so I don’t feel like we lose a whole lot.” However, he added, “A longer class with more hands-on is always nice.”

What Green misses the most, he said, is the interaction, and he hopes students get something out of the classes—but he isn’t able to tell while he’s teaching. “When you’re online, you can’t see who’s there or their reactions,” he added.

In his presentation in December, Tomas Keenan reminded KnowledgeFest.Live attendees that there’s no quick fix when it comes to self-development: “You have to put the work in,” he said.

Tony Dehnke of 12v Biz shares his sales background at KnowledgeFest. In December, he co-taught a class with Elias Ventura.

“I really enjoyed collaborating,” Dehnke said, adding that he prefers to present a class with another person. “It helpsdevelop ideas and options for people, instead of just offering ‘one idea or bust.’” Like Green, he said he would’ve preferred to see the crowd, but creating a detailed presentation proved to be a useful workaround. Dehnke hopes to cover similar topics at the upcoming KnowledgeFest. His favorite aspect of the virtual format is the ability to review lectures. “I’ve received feedback from quite a few people who weren’t able to attend the live presentation, but who watched it later,” he said. “Attendees have also watched classes more than once so they could better understand topics, and catch things they missed the first time around.”

Industry Experts Advise Cultivating a Positive Attitude

The past year was one of many changes, and for Keenan, this included a big move. After selling his company, Top Class Installations, he headed to Dallas and took on a full-time role as the COO at Break Free Academy, a coaching and masterminding program. Keenan started out there as a client, he said, adding, “It really helped me develop myself and write my book, speak, present at KnowledgeFest— it’s in alignment with my purpose, which is to help others succeed in business, except we do it on a bigger scale.”

The first focus, he explained, is on gratitude. Keenan advised writing down five things to be grateful for each day. “Do that for 30 days and your life will change,” he said. “Take care of you. Do something physical for yourself each and every day, whether it’s yoga or a walk. Put work into yourself. You have to put effort into how you provide for your family every day.” And even though most are against working on a Sunday, Keenan said a business owner can still accomplish a little bit on a day off that will “help you grow at an exponential rate on your competition, because they’re not

Although attendees miss in-person interaction, instructors are making up for it by providing detailed presentations, like this one by Steve Turrisi of JL Audio during December’s KnowledgeFest.Live.

working Sunday.”

Additionally, he said, “You have to put intentional time into your group each and every day,” whether the group refers to employees, family or coworkers. “If you start doing those four things, we see people’s lives transform in as little as 90 days.”

Keenan’s aim is to help others change their mindsets. By coupling his 20-plus years of experience in the mobile electronics industry with his new position, he hopes to help businesses that are struggling.

“This is a general statement and not for everyone—because there are people doing amazing things in their businesses—but the biggest shortcoming I see is that people are technicians rather than business owners.” He went on to explain that he opened his first business as an installer, and it failed. “I didn’t know what it took to maintain it,” he said.

This knowledge is part of what he intends to bring to future presentations at KnowledgeFest events.

Ellis said he currently has a number of clients that are transitioning to reservation-only in their stores, with the pandemic as part of the reason. While new ways of operating are sparked by the pandemic, they might continue in the future out of convenience—such as KnowledgeFest’s own planned hybrid approach.

Switching over to closed-door appointment-only may help some shops streamline their workload, according to Ellis.

“This is what I see stores having issues with: Number one, leadership. Number two, the ability to close the sale. Number three, setting up production meetings. I would like to touch on everything just a little bit,” he explained, “and give attendees three to five strong points that if they utilized right away, it could help their businesses.”

For anyone who is concerned about the future, Ellis left off with a piece of advice which he recommended everyone take to heart:

“My attitude,” he said, “is more important than the circumstances.”

Join Us!

KnowledgeFest West.Live: March 19-21

The Mobile Electronics Association will be moving forward with both virtual and in-person events in 2021.

KnowledgeFestWest.Live will be held on March 19-21, 2021.

The first in-person event will be held in Orlando, tentatively June 25-27, 2021.

Next will be Dallas and finally Indianapolis.

Each event will also have a live broadcast component, allowing those who can’t attend in-person to obtain the same high-quality education and interaction with manufacturers and reps using the KnowledgeFest.Live Virtual Platform.