BookMyGarage Sponsors Automechanika’s ‘Networking Lounge’ at Birmingham’s NEC
BookMyGarage were honoured to sponsor this year’s ‘Networking Lounge’ at Automechanika UK this week. Running from the 6th to the 8th of June 2023, thousands of garages, technicians, and automotive industry businesses gathered to showcase their offerings to customers and clients from all over the country.
The BookMyGarage Network Lounge proved a popular meeting place for many of these clients, and we were lucky enough to meet and speak with a variety of people from all different parts of the automotive industry.
Networking Lounge
At the BookMyGarage Networking Lounge we provided a large, dedicated area for people to sit down, relax, and enjoy a freshly brewed coffee from our very own BookMyGarage Café. We welcomed clients old and new to catch up on the latest news in the automotive industry, as well as discuss potential partnerships and offered our expertise on how to digitalise your garage.
A key focus of our lounge was the live counter of drivers who have visited to BookMyGarage.com to compare instant prices on MOT’s, servicing and repairs. It was a fabulous talking point of the event and showed garage owners how many people are using our site – and how many potential customers they could reach if they join our directory. At the end of the weekend, the counter had landed on 10,218,102 drivers. When we started the event, it was at 10,185,766 –our clients were able to see the growth of over 32,000 drivers using our site in live time over the course of the event.
Speaking With Industry Experts
Electrified Future
We were lucky enough to join several industry experts on stage talking about various topics over the course of the event.
On Tuesday afternoon, our head of SecretService™ Paul Jordan joined Country Director for GiPA Quentin Le Hetet to deliver an engaging presentation covering the topic ‘Electrified Future: What Does It Look Like for The Service and Repair Industry?’
The pair delivered the talk to a full house, stressing how Battery Electric Vehicles are dominating new car registrations, and will continue to do so as the years go by. It was also touched upon how garages are already losing out on work because they haven’t embraced EVs. In a recent survey by GiPA, 57% of EV owners admitted to changing workshops since purchasing their EV, usually because their previous workshop didn’t offer EV servicing, or they weren’t qualified or have the tools to carry out this work.
Paul reminded us that BookMyGarage can help you adapt, learn and benefit from these new opportunities being presented. If you’d like to know more about what Paul had to say about the electrified future, you can read so here.
How To Thrive in Uncertain Times
On Wednesday morning, our Co-founder Karen Rotberg joined Quentin alongside Gavin Ruddick, COO of Steer Automotive Group, to deliver another incredibly engaging talk on the topic ‘How To Thrive In Uncertain Times: Insights, Advice, and Actionable Steps For Success’. Filling in for Chief Marketing Officer Jessica Potts, Karen delivered some fantastic advice on how to ensure you are staying relevant in today’s digital age, with the help of SEO, PPC advertising, and booking tools to guarantee you are staying up to date with the changing needs of customers and clients.
If you’d like to read in full what advice Karen delivered for thriving in uncertain times, you can read so here.
A Word from Karen
“It’s been great to have a venue like this to meet with our existing garage partners face-to-face, hand out certificates to our Top-Rated Garages, and sit down in our networking lounge with brand new garages who want to join BookMyGarage,” Karen Rotberg says. “At times we had people queuing to speak to us. We’ve truly enjoyed engaging with our friends – our franchised and independent garages – getting hugged by them and seeing them so genuinely happy with the work we do for them has been wonderful.”
Karen had some kind words for her team at BookMyGarage.
“It’s like a family here. Being able to spend solid time with the team, enjoying each other’s company, sitting down in the evening for dinner and drinks to celebrate the day’s achievements has been fabulous. You don’t usually get this kind of environment in the office, so I always appreciate events like this for that reason. This year we’ve got the best team we’ve ever had, and everyone has done fantastically as well as enjoyed themselves.”
And for next time?
“I’ve already told the organiser of the event we absolutely will be sponsoring the Network Lounge again next time!”