Service & Parts Best Ideas Roundtable Discussion

With Valerie Ziebron

You come to Dealer Week to learn from other leading dealers, not just top-notch educators and trainers. That’s why you’ll want to reserve a seat early for this powerhouse “best ideas” session, facilitated by Valerie Ziebron.
When you enter the classroom, you’ll have the opportunity to choose which area of your service & parts business you want to focus on improving. Then, prepare to gain proven service and parts ideas during quick-fire roundtable discussions designed to help you overcome some of your biggest pain points.
By the end, you’ll have swapped best practices with leading service & parts professionals from throughout North America and contributed to a master collection of ideas that will be assembled and distributed to attendees in early 2026.
But that’s not all: This kick-off session for the Service & Parts Pathway will guide you through how to maximize your use of all the partners, resources and education available at Dealer Week so that you can gain the results you seek when you return to the shop. Think less stress, better teamwork, higher profits and happier customers.
- Discover real-world service and parts strategies from top-performing dealerships across North America.
- Engage in rapid roundtable discussions to share your own wins and learn new tactics from your peers.
- Gain insight into how to make the most of Dealer Week to ease your biggest pain points and achieve your most critical performance goals.
Valerie Ziebron bought her first car at the age of 14. That 1967 Dodge Coronet 440 took her through high school and college shop classes and eventually helped to launch her career. Through studying and comparing hundreds of dealerships across North America, VRZ specializes on what stores can do to maximize their resources, specifically their people, processes, space and location.
She makes it a point to uncover best practice "golden nuggets" that help people flip the switch from reactive to proactive for greater profitability and customer loyalty. She has delivered over 5,000 presentations and has helped more than 1,000 small businesses. Her clients have included: Chrysler, General Motors, Yamaha Motor Company, Boating Industry Magazine, Shelby American Collection, Eastman Kodak, IPIX, and many others.

At Dealer Week, the best ideas don’t just come from the main stage; they are shared by dealers like you.

Enter Your Best Ideas for a Chance to Win a FREE Dealer Week Pass

The Dealer Week 2025 Service & Parts Best Ideas program is designed for you. We want to learn about new initiatives, big and small, that you and your fellow marine dealership team members have put in place in your service & parts departments over the past 12 months that have delivered results.

What kind of results? Examples might be: Increases in money made or costs saved or improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality control, employee satisfaction and loyalty, or customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Attendees of the Service & Parts Best Ideas Panel Discussion and Roundtable at Dealer Week 2025, Dec. 8, Tampa, Fla., will contribute to a master list of best ideas, which will be compiled and shared after Dealer Week.

NOTE TO THOSE CONSIDERING APPLYING: Don’t be intimidated by the concept of a “best idea.” You have an idea worth sharing if you’re doing something that is:

Helping your shop run better
Keeping your team informed and pulling in the same direction
Moving more work to the slower months
Adding value for your customers
Improving boat owners’ understanding of or enjoyment of their boats
Making employees happier
Allowing you to find and grow technicians and other team members

Submit Your Best Ideas

As a dealership employee, you may submit one or multiple ideas between July 15 and September 21, 2025. An expert committee reviews the submissions and selects a team member from each dealership submitting a top-rated best idea to serve on a panel discussion at Dealer Week 2025 by September 30, 2025.

Those who are selected will receive a free Dealer Week registration.