Service & Parts Pathway
Session 6
Wednesday, Dec. 9, 8:30 -10:00 am
Bailing Water: How Service and Parts Departments Save a Sinking Dealership
With Max Materne
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When the market turns, fixed operations is the lifeline. Service absorption is the most reliable cash flow lever a dealership has, but it is also where the most administrative weight lives, eating advisor and technician time that should be spent on customers.
The standard turnaround playbook says hire better and train harder. But turnarounds do not happen in flush times. There is no capital for hiring, and the strongest performers do not take jobs at struggling stores. The team you have is the team you will turn the department around with.
Max gives away the exact playbook he uses to turn around fixed operations, building from simple practical applications to a live walkthrough of an agentic system running inside live stores today. Every attendee leaves with a digital copy of Max himself, that loads into any AI assistant and walks them through the framework inside their own store.
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Identify the daily administrative drag points slowing down service advisors, parts staff, and technicians
Apply practical techniques to improve communication, surface operational problems, and build skill inside the existing team.
Leave with a deployable framework and a guided AI mentor that continues the conversation inside the dealership
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Max Materne is the co-founder of Ownex, reimagining the dealership from the ownership experience forward. He works with OEMs and dealer groups to design operating frameworks that define how marine dealerships build long-term customer relationships and lifetime value, anchored by his Enthusiast Lifecycle Value (ELV) model. He is a turnaround consultant, and rebuilds dealership operations from the ground up. Max is a Certified Master Tech, an industry speaker, and host of The Dealer Lab Podcast.
