And in this year’s Digital Dealer Fashion Show
“Where did you buy this jacket? The Lion’s Den???” – This was my immediate thought as Brent Wees and myself decided to “switch” outfits as we gave our presentation “Step Up to the Mic”, designed to encourage our young talent to speak at future Digital Dealer conferences. Meanwhile – did my wife dress to match this blazer Brent gave me? And I am pretty sure Brent got the better end of this deal. He wore my Navy Flight Jacket for the rest of the show, and even on the plane ride home. Can I have it back now? Fly Navy baby!
All 4 of Us are Navy Veterans that served in Hawaii
Is this Stranger Things, the Upside Down? Welcome to Digital Dealer Tampa 2023, where the unexpected was the norm. Emerald Expositions continues to refine the format of the show. Remember, if you do not make any changes, you will get the same results, and the first change was the reversal of the traditional schedule. The show started Monday night with the Digital Dealer party, where everyone could mix and catch up after checking in. However, before that…
Florida sunshine and fishing equals fun
“It got away!” Well, that’s my story as the Wyler Marketing team did a half-day fishing charter on Monday afternoon, where we fished the bay and inland waters, catching some snook, redfish, and even catfish. Listen, when you live in Ohio, where a “big fish” is about 1-2 lbs, anything you catch in saltwater is exciting, and we had an awesome time enjoying the Florida sunshine and water, while catching multiple fish. Speaking of which, my wife Julie won for the “biggest fish”, but I caught one shortly after her that swam back into the mangroves, and then the guide took my rod away from me trying to get it and the line broke. His parting words? “That felt much bigger than the one your wife just caught”. What??? Looks like we will have to schedule another fishing charter to finalize this contest.
Dinner before the DD party
Something smells fishy here… Returned after a day on the water to clean up (you should thank all of us for that), and then meet with my good friend Brent and his dynamic assistant Kaila for dinner at the Hyatt Place downtown. From there we headed down to American Social for the Digital Dealer party, and enjoyed seeing so many of the GREAT folks in automotive. Since I was speaking twice the following day, I did not make it a late night, and headed out for a big day on Tuesday.
Michael Hayes with NADA opens with keynote
Practice makes perfect – Brent and I have been practicing for weeks for our duo presentation, and we met early Tuesday am for an in-person final walk-through. From there I headed over to see Michael Hayes, Academy Chair of NADA, give an opening presentation. I like how he shared that “complacency is our enemy”, which is part of our Wyler culture. We call it “Good is the enemy of great”. Why is this message relevant? The last couple of years has been an incredibly profitable time for automotive, and with high demand and low inventory, many dealers did not have to work to sell, it was more like “how about I give you the privilege of buying this car at $3k over sticker”. Now that this very unique time in our history has passed, we need to get away from complacency, and back to the fundamentals of selling.
Love these long-time friends
I also loved how Michael shared the importance of recognition at any age. Recognition reinforces positive behavior, and I love taking time to identify, encourage, and uplift those around me. Do you remember how good you felt the last time someone recognized you? Do the SAME for someone else today
Many thanks to Steve Roessler who was a big influence behind the “speed dating”
Ready, Set, Go! One of the new features introduced last year was the Dealer/Vendor exchange, where multiple vendors get a minute to share what they offer to dealers, while dealers can get a quick idea of who they want to talk to in Exhibit Hall. I love this idea, but PLEASE vendors – if you only have a moment to “wow” the vendors present, take some time to practice your short pitch. Reading from a piece of paper, or introducing yourself while holding a bottle of water and acting like you just learned 5″ ago that you had to do this does not create a “wow” moment which makes dealers want to talk to you. Kudos to those who worked hard to excel at this, I am sure it paid off for you.
Time to break the ice… Speaking of which, one of the most exciting things I saw at Digital Dealer was the “speed dating” setup. Please forgive me if I mess some of this up, but here is how it works as I understand it.
“Speed Dating” matches vendors & dealers
Dealers who were registering were given the opportunity to participate with the “Speed Dating” segment, in return for free registration to Digital Dealer and I believe a small fee. This is how it worked, the dealers that signed up went into a central area in Exhibit Hall where there were multiple tables setup, with the dealer names on each table. Each dealer stayed at their desk, while one of the vendors exhibiting sat across from them, giving them a short pitch on what they did and how that would benefit the dealer. After a few minutes, the vendor would move and the next vendor would sit down and give their pitch (hence “speed dating”).
Wait, is this love at first sight? I love it! Let’s be honest, as dealers, we do want to learn what our valued vendors have to offer at these shows, however, walking through Exhibit Hall can be like navigating a minefield. We want to slow down to read your exhibit signage and see what you do – but if we slow down, we will get pulled into full pitch mode. C’mon, buy me a drink before you try and close the deal – hence the speed dating setup makes great sense. I can learn what you have to offer, and then decide whether to visit you at your booth and hear your pitch.
Haven’t seen Kelly Wilson in awhile – cheers!
Did anyone get into a longterm relationship? Feedback? Positive on both sides. I spoke to several vendors who told me they had spoke with more dealers that they had in previous shows, while also setting appointments and closing deals. And dealers loved the efficiency of this setup. Just as dealers are always busy at work, attending a show is also incredibly busy, trying to balance attending sessions with networking and also taking in new ideas in exhibit hall. Speed dating enables a dealer to sit down for an hour and see most of everything being offered, and then pursue what they are interested in from there. Well done! I hope they bring this back in Vegas. And great complement to the dealer/vendor exchange.
Doing my best to help others
None of this lukewarm business please… I spoke Tuesday am with “Hot Topics and Cold Hard Facts”, covering 5 of the hottest issues in automotive today. I shared our success with TikTok – but the bigger lesson was how we found that success. One of the things I constantly preach at these shows is that some of the best ideas we can use come from OUTSIDE of automotive, and I am always encouraging folks to network OUTSIDE of automotive. While attending a social media networking event in Cincinnati (where we were the ONLY automotive folks there), we met a young man who is a full time student at Miami University. He has an agency that focuses on TikTok exclusively, and all of his employees are also full-time college students that have had viral videos on TikTok and know all of the secrets. Where is the best place to find the secrets to being successful on TikTok? The young people! It is learning from the demographic that compiles almost 60% of TikTok’s demographic, ages 16-24. And where did we meet them? At an OUTSIDE automotive networking event.
DD party with April Simmons and Jarod Kilway
Trending buzzwords for $1,000 please... The other hot buzzword is “CDP”, or customer data platform, and I did touch upon this in my session. I have news folks, I think CDP will be the biggest transition in automotive marketing since the advent of the automotive website. Big words? I hope that strikes you that way, as this is a BIG deal. I have concerns and critique. My recommendation is for all dealers to begin their due diligence on the CDP solutions out there, but my critique is for the automotive CDP’s that are currently pitching folks like me/us. Specifically – their pricing model is “per rooftop”. Why?
I think Katie Richter & I would have been great in Mad Men
Mo money, mo money, mo money… Why? Because that pricing model will be incredibly profitable for the CDP provider. We have 23 rooftops, and I can assure you I want ONE data lake where I can manage all of our first party data, append it, and then filter it as needed to market as efficiently as I can. Why would I want 23 different data lakes??? Do you want my recommendation? Look OUTSIDE of automotive at the CDP providers that the Fortune 500 companies are already using. And I have news, they are NOT being charged by rooftop. Nuff said on that for now.
Did you know Dean Evans has joined Cuneo Advertising?
Two fish and five loaves of bread… Do you know how hard it is to feed hundreds of people at the same time? I am always pleased with the food at the show and have great respect to those who plan it, prepare it, and serve it. I also appreciate the convenience of being able to get a hot lunch during a busy day.
Finally got to meet Twitter friend Burt Davidson with Cheddar Auto
George Nenni had a packed room for his session on Google Analytics 4 – which should be (and is) a hot topic as July is rapidly approaching. George has been leading the way for dealers in this area – are you ready? If not, you might want to call him. And I am still working on our setup.
Seeing great friends at the DD party
Honey, you got something in the mail from AARP... And I don’t think AARP stands for “Awesome Automotive Retired Person”. Let’s face it folks, I am getting older – and I am fully supportive of finding and helping the next generation of positive change in automotive to have a voice in our industry. Brent Wees shares that vision with me, and Digital Dealer supported us having a session on how to speak at Digital Dealer. We walked through the pros and cons of being a speaker, how to put together a great presentation to include an effective powerpoint, how to handle the “jitters” (we all get them) and more. Best of all, we had several folks approach us after asking for our help to speak next fall. Love it – and I will be in the front row supporting each of you in your first session.
GloEd.com has a neat AI photography solution
Best AI exhibitor was Skynet… Not all of you will get that, but many of you will become self-aware.
Time to walk exhibit hall and check out what is new. Of interest to me was anything AI (artificial intelligence) related. While many people have accused me of artificial intelligence, I have enough common sense to like the AI photography solutions which allow you to use your smart phone and either walk around your car taking photos or a short video, and then AI stitches it together into a SMOOTH presentation showing highlights of the car. You can also add a custom background from their library, or even your own photos. Wow, imagine taking photos of your car in the service department, but after the magic of AI it appears to be on a rotating carousel with the Pacific Ocean in the background. Here are two solutions you can check out, Spyne.ai and Glo3D.com.
Dinner at Columbia Restaurant – yes!
Que bola contigo? Or as the Cuban saying says, how goes it with you? Wow, what a long day. And where did I want to eat? At the Columbia Restaurant of course! Call me a tourist but I love their Cuban sandwich and 1905 salad – heaven
. Thank you Cloud One for hosting this delicious dinner (and thank you Eliana for recommending the champagne sangria). And btw, after this LONG Tuesday, I went to bed early. Remember that remark that I am not getting younger??? Yikes, I think I missed Wheel of Fortune.
Freedom! Well, kind of as I did not have to speak on Wednesday, and I enjoyed joining Adam Pavkov with Meta for his session on “A Dealership’s Guide to Meta Advertising”, or simply put “back to the fundamentals” of marketing with Meta. Great timing for this session considering the return of our market to more “normal” conditions. I love the effectiveness and efficiency of Meta advertising compared to many of our options – especially when I leverage third party data on their platform.
You gotta problem with me??? Next up was one of my favorite sessions, “If You Have a Problem, Yo, I’ll Solve It”, moderated by April Simmons, Marketing Director of Horne Auto Group and one of the folks I love and respect in automotive. They had a large session room with round tables, with signs on each one, eg. “Paid Search”, “BDC”, etc. Dealers were invited to sit at a table where they had a specific question they wanted insight on.
Great – I sat down at “Paid Search” and wanted to learn how effective Google pMax was working for dealers, as well as what traditional SEM you are removing with using effective Google VLA’s. The format allowed me to get input from fellow dealers, as well as incredibly smart people like Lisa Gener, Brooke Furniss and April Simmons who shared what was working from both an agency and dealership perspective. After 30 minutes, they would encourage you to switch tables and pose another question/issue you were dealing with. Networking at its best leveraging the intelligence and experience of leaders in our industry! I would keep this idea going.
Check out Dealer eProcess connected retail platform websites – impressive
Back to the Future – or Back to Exhibit Hall, to check out new vendors. One was Repay, where you can post realtime electronic payments instead of printing out and signing traditional paper checks, another efficiency play for our industry. AutoService.ai is providing a voice AI solution for scheduling service appointments. And finally ABNNetwork.com, providing very neat digital signage solutions, where you can replace the traditional white board where you write in who is leading in sales, etc., with a live updated electronic board.
With the wonderful Kerri Wise
Is Google a synonym for SkyNet? My final session was with Angie Cucco with Google, where she covered several areas with “Google Modern Search Workshop”. What struck me is that the significant amount of AI solutions that are powered by Google (well more than half). Angie shared some of the potential of AI in the future, and showed us bard.google.com, where you can pose a question (like ChatGPT) and see what AI returns as your answer. Well, I can tell you this, it would not tell me if the Cincinnati Bengals will win the Super Bowl, I guess gambling info is a no-no with Google – but I had to try. Go Bengals!
Final thoughts? What did I think of the overall show? The different format? Let me share this first. I have sat on the advisory board for Digital Dealer for a few shows as a dealer, and I am encouraged by how Emeral Expositions is working constantly to improve the shows by getting input from both dealers and vendors. They are doing their best to listen. And they also apologized for the schedule of this year’s show during the first week of the month (when most of us, including me, are closing out the previous month). They look to keep it scheduled mid-month moving forward.
The infamous Cuban sandwich at Columbia – delicious!
The spring show is always smaller, and I think the amount of exhibitors was much less than normal. I think some of that is a reflection of a slowing market and high inflation, and many vendors are looking to control their expenses, and if they are going to invest in a show, they will usually pick Vegas with higher attendance.
The crew from ABN Spectrio
I liked the new format, though I still found vendors packing up early on Wednesday afternoon when I was trying to walk around for my final run. Folks are always looking to travel sooner rather than later when it comes to going home. I do think it is a better deal for the speakers when the final day is a full day for folks to attend.
Final early morning breakfast before leaving
My gut feeling for the next couple of years is a slowdown in sales and an acceleration in the drive to be efficient. Leveraging AI and a customer data platform will differentiate the winners from the losers when it comes to efficiency and growth. That is why I am pressing fellow dealers to pursue this path as I feel the ROI will be well worth the effort.
Looking forward to seeing you in Vegas!
Digital Dealer Tampa was a solid show for me, with the neatest idea being the “speed dating” which I hope to see this fall. It was great as always to see all of you and I look forward to where we are at this fall in Vegas (especially where we are at with sales volume and inventory levels). Save the date, October 17-19th.
