Industry Icons Present Workshop

For the first time, industry leaders from across the international automotive marketplace have joined together in a single, collaborative organization dedicated to the promotion of a higher, universal standard for their industry.  This organization, known as CIRAS, the Center for International Retail Automotive Standards, has developed a series of web-based certification reviews for numerous performance areas, all of which are designed by specialists in each respective area. These experts hail from around the globe, bringing decades of experience to their subject.  

The first of these workshops, the F&I and CSI certifications, will premiere during the 5th annual F&I Management and Technology Conference on Tuesday, September 16th, at the Paris Hotel.  Conference attendees will save $275, and both workshops are expected to sell out quickly.  

As with all CIRAS certifications, these workshops are tailored to address the most important issues facing professionals in the automotive industry.  The F&I certification will discuss successful objection handling, and a special emphasis will be placed on the new Red Flag Rule.  A section of the certification will be lead by reputed compliance experts Tom Hudson and Emily Beck of Hudson, Cook, LLP.  The CSI certification workshop will address methods for increasing product and service acceptance rates through proper use of CSI surveys, using CSI metrics as predictor models, and ways to increase product and dealer loyalty through good CSI practices.

The workshop developers and presenters include iconic leaders of the automotive industry, such as Dr. Robert Serum – President/CEO of CIRAS and retired VP of Education and International Programs at Northwood University, Tom Hudson – partner at Hudson, Cook, LLP and author of CarLaw and the F&I Deskbook,Dr. David Fry – President/CEO Emeritus of Northwood University, and Marguerite Watanabe – Principal of Connections Insights and former VP of Equifax and Nissan Motor Finance USA. 

Successful completion of a certification earns participants a professional designation – Certified Finance Professional (CFP) or Customer Service Professional (CSP) – for display on a business card.  In addition, the workshop gives participants four free months of unrestricted access to the CIRAS certification training site, a beautiful certificate, a complimentary copy of Tom Hudson’s industry-acclaimed CarLaw, and the participant’s name will appear on CIRAS’s roster of international industry professionals.

The official CIRAS website will launch on September 18, 2008, at www.ciras.org.  For registration and CIRAS workshop details, please visit http://www.fi-conference.com/Program/Certifications-Workshops/.