CARMEL, Ind. –

On Monday, ADESA promoted Trent Strauss to be director of dealer relations, effective immediately. He will report to Steve Dudash, the company’s vice president of dealer services.

In his new role within the business unit of KAR Auction Services, Strauss will lead the local auction dealer relations teams throughout the United States and oversee deployment of the national sales and dealer relations strategy.

“Trent’s career focus on customer service excellence and sales team coaching will be invaluable to our dealer sales professionals, who are dedicated to serving dealers’ wholesale auction needs,” Dudash said.

“His expertise in communication strategies and creating solutions for business projects will enable us to zero in on delivering a premium customer experience,” Dudash added.

Strauss has more than 15 years of inbound and retail sales experience. Since joining ADESA in 2010, he has served as district inside sales manager in Colorado Springs, where he was responsible for telesales staff at up to 13 locations.

Prior to joining ADESA, Strauss established a new customer contact center for Knowledge Learning Corp. as customer relationship supervisor.

Previously, he had held positions of increasing responsibility in inbound sales at Deluxe Corp., including sales support team leader for key national accounts and sales coach leader.