[highlight color="#F0F0F0" font="black"]This is part 2 in a 4 part series about automotive social media strategies that are emerging to help car dealers get true benefit. It’s not just about branding. It’s not about auto-feeding marketing content. With the right strategies in a place, dealers can drive foot traffic and website visitors in a way that can help them sell more vehicles and drive more service customers.[/highlight]

Your Social Media is Rocking. Now What?

By now, you've completed stage 1 and 2, localizing your fan base and getting the algorithms to like you. If you haven't done that yet, refer back to part 1 of this series, The Three Stages of Social Media. Social media is a tool that can drive business to your dealership, but you have to get your presence in order before taking the next steps.

Once you have your presence rocking, it's time to put your social media to work. You're getting interactions with your posts, People are liking, commenting on, and sharing what you're putting up on your Facebook page. You're getting some good play on Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest. You're doing everything well except you are only hearing of anecdotal instances when actual buyers mention that they follow you on social media. This is where Stage 3 comes into play.

Stage 1 and 2 were first and second gear. Stage 3, which is the art of using social media to drive verifiable and steady business to your dealership, is actually comprised of three more gears. Here, we're going to be talking about the easiest and most cost-effective way to drive that business. In the next two articles in this series, we will be talking about the other two ways that you can use social media for driving business. In this article, we're going to cover news feed business posts.

Before we do that, it's important that you understand two important mentalities surrounding social media in hopes of erasing any misconceptions.

Understanding WHY Social Media Works to Drive Business

One common misconception is that social media is in the same marketing group as both search engine optimization and reputation management. There are definitely connections between social media and these other two disciplines. Social media can have a dramatic effect on search engine rankings while reputation management involves sites that are directly entangled with social media. Review sites are social by nature, but that doesn't mean that the same types of strategies apply.

Both search engine optimization and reputation management are passive marketing practices. That sounds worse than it is. By passive, I mean that buyers need to be the active participant. You cannot go after consumers through SEO or RepMan. They need to be in the market searching for a car in order to find your organic listings or reviews.

Social media is proactive. You are taking the buying message to them on their turf (their Facebook news feed, their Twitter stream, etc). They may be in the market for a car today. They may not be. Either way, planting that seed before or during their buying process can be easily done through social media. The same holds true for service; some clients have seen that it's more powerful for driving service business than sales. They may not be thinking about getting their brakes replaced today but if your brake special pops up, it may prompt them to recall that they did hear their brakes squeal embarrassingly as they were picking up their kids from school.

The other misconception is that the mentality behind advertising on social media is like PPC or classified advertising. The reality is that the closest cousin to social media advertising is actually television. People don't think to themselves, "I need to buy a car soon. Let's turn on the television and hope we see an ad," but for many dealers television advertising has a dramatic effect on their overall business.

The same holds true for social media advertising. People don't go to Facebook to see your ads just as they don't turn on the television to see commercials. They do, however, expect both to be part of the price they pay to get entertained. In both cases, they're visiting Facebook or watching television to enjoy themselves. The ads that are part of the equation may be a nuisance to them but they have been accepted. More importantly, they work.

Some say that social media advertising is like "TV-lite" because the cost is so much lower, but the reality is that the number of local people reached per dollar spent on social media is much higher than television. You can spend $10,000 in television advertising to reach 100,000 locals or you can reach $1,000 in Facebook advertising to reach 50,000 locals. The math is pretty easy.

3rd Gear: Mixing in the Business Message

If a network television channel played only television shows with no commercials, they'd quickly be out of business. Conversely, if a television channel played nothing but ads, they wouldn't get any viewers. Having the proper mix of entertainment, education, localization, and business messages is the key to running a proper television channel as well as an effective social media presence.

For this exercise, let's talk exclusively about Facebook. The strategies that apply to the other social networks are easier and less time-consuming but they're also less effective than Facebook.

First, you must find the appropriate voice. I would happily debate anyone who believes that there needs to be irrelevant content on their Facebook page. Between automotive content, customer stories, employee stories, and community interest posts, there's simply no reason to post pictures from 9gag. You may decide that you want to be the automotive hub for your local community with images and videos highlighting cars new and old as well as industry news presented with a localized spin. Your voice may be one centered around community events and charitable support, using your reach to spread positive messages from organizations outside of the dealership. You could make your voice reflect the humanity of the dealership, highlighting the stories that surround both customers, employees, and local "stars" (a little league sports team, for example).

A combination of these and other ideas can work very nicely as well. Diverse or focused, you need to pick a voice that you can effectively communicate.

Once your voice is established, it's time to work in the "brief commercial breaks". This is the tricky part but it can be extremely effective when done right. The idea is to present a variety of business messages that you work into the mix. It could be once a week, once every four posts, or at whatever frequency works best for your dealership's goals. Don't overdo it as these messages can turn people off, but don't be the television network without enough commercials, either.

There are two things you need to remember when crafting your business-driving messages. First, you have to make it social. If you're posting a spotlight vehicle, for example, don't say, "Check out this week's manager's special [link]." Tell a story. Make it social. Find a vehicle that you can communicate about in a post with a good story behind it. Highlight the things that make it special or worthwhile, then go into the details about buying the vehicle itself.

The second thing to remember is to make it as trackable as possible without letting the tracking get in the way of the effectiveness. I covered this a bit on my blog post, "Trackable vs Verifiable: The Social Media Conundrum". For example, if you're posting a used vehicle special that links to the vehicle detail page, either be sure that you website vendor's analytics can distinguish between standard traffic to the page and traffic that came from your post, or add a marker at the end. Putting a question mark followed by the word "Facebook" at the end of the VDP's URL is normally enough to give it distinction without taking away from the intent.

With that understood, I've put together a few examples of business-driving posts that you can play with. The important part is to use these as a guide and come up with your own as well. There are hundreds of ways to skin this particular cat. Find the ones that work best for you.

• Individual Vehicle Specials - If you think that your inventory tab on your Facebook page is enough to drive business, you're incorrect. Just as with television ads where a handful or even a single car is used to represent the inventory, so too does it work on Facebook. Link to the VDP or special page. Tell a story! Again, and I cannot stress this enough, make sure that you're telling something compelling about the vehicle. What you post doesn't just represent that individual car. It tells of the care that your dealership puts into understanding each individual vehicle. That particular car might not match their needs but if the way that it's presented is compelling enough, they'll still click through and look at other inventory items.
  
• Service Offers - This is the only example that is harder because of space limitations. When you run a Facebook Offer, you have to be very concise with your wording. Make it original, catchy, Facebook-exclusive (very important!), and limited. It doesn't cost any more to run 1000 offers than to run 50, but you don't want to run too many. In this case, you're playing the exclusivity card so if you have a limited number, people will take it all more seriously. $14.99 oil changes, for example, can be a great way to get people into the service drive. What they spend from there on other services... well, that's really up to your service adviser.
  
• OEM Offer Enhancement - It doesn't get any trickier than this one, but it can also be the most rewarding as a single post can drive multiple showroom visits. This is where you play off the the offers that the OEM is already populating on television and enhance them to make your dealership stand out as "the" dealer to go to for this offer. One clever technique that I saw was a "double down" of a particular rebate. Obviously, this can only be done on certain offers where there's enough room to make it work and certain OEMs are very strict about that sort of wording, but even if you're just reiterating the message that they hear on television or other OEM advertising, you'll be able to take a larger piece of the pie.

There are plenty of ways that you can get your appropriate business driving message out there. The key to all of these is through Facebook advertising. There are those who use post "Boosting" often - I'm not a big fan of it. Individualized ads promoted properly through Power Editor is the way to go (sorry, that's a whole other blog post).

In the next two parts of this series, we will go over the other two ways that social media can drive business: using Facebook buyer-intent data as well as your own custom audience data and utilizing your own dealership's team. Until then, please feel free to comment here or contact me directly if you have any questions.

Are Your Dealers Holiday Email Campaigns READY?

Yep, it's soon going to be that time of year when online retailers start flooding your customers' inboxes with messages of good tidings and special savings. Here are some tips you can implement NOW, to help your dealer's email marketing be more successful in December.

1. Beat the Rush

Does your dealership normally send out a Happy Holidays email?

Why not get ahead of the inbox stampede and send a Happy Thanksgiving email instead. You might want to mention that a gift card to your service department makes a great gift by helping the recipient maintain one of their most expensive investments.

2. Re-engage Your List

If you have folks on your email marketing list that haven't opened an email from you in a year, do you really think that during the busy holiday season they will start? Probably not.

How about sending a re-engagement campaign to them now to find out if they still want to receive your emails? Clearing out these inactive emails will really help your deliverability in December.

One of the things email providers look at in determining whether or not to deliver your email to the inbox or the spam folder is how engaged your email list is and getting the inactive folks off helps your open rate.

3. Check Your Calendar... Twice

Thursdays in December typically have the highest email volume. Saturdays surprisingly often have great open rates. When you are planning which days to send your emails, keep in mind these events:
Black Friday is November 29
Small Business Saturday is November 30
Cyber Monday is December 2
Green Monday is December 9

4. Reduce Holiday Fatigue

During the holidays it is more important than ever not to fatigue your email database. Take a moment and make sure your sales and service departments are spacing out their email campaigns. Keep your sales force informed as well about which days you'll be sending out campaigns.

5. Make Sure Your Message is Mobile Friendly

Open rates on mobile devices will likely increase even more in December as people are busy running holiday errands. Make sure your message renders well on mobile devices or you will quickly find that busy customers will hit the delete button.

If you want to see what your email looks like on 68 email platforms and mobile devices, take a look at EmailOnAcid.com

What other email tips and tricks do you use during the holiday season?

This past weekend I ran Spartan Race, a three-mile obstacle run in Milwaukee, WI. While anxiously waiting for the race I was thinking more about going to my favorite Milwaukee restaurant, AJ Bombers.  And, by favorite I mean they have the most incredible bloody marys known to man (and woman).

Sure, the race would be great – but, man, the reward of walking my tired feet onto the peanut shell laden floor and sit my exhausted body down at a table just waiting to be filled with burgers and bloody marys was going to make my Saturday complete.

Well, then this happened:

@whatjruthsaid uggh, sorry to hear that. Saturday and all, plus Bucks home opener. Hope to serve you soon.

— AJ Bombers (@AJBombers) November 2, 2013

Click to expand...

 

@whatjruthsaid Check out @CafeBenelux, their bloodys are the absolute best.

— Chelsey Jo (@ChelseyJo) November 2, 2013

Click to expand...

According to a recent article, consumers are expecting a response from a brand mention in one hour. That’s right, just one hour. 53 percent of consumers expect acknowledgement within an hour however, that number rises to 70 percent if the tweet is negative in nature.

And, they’re right.

I wanted AJ Bombers to know I was disappointed I couldn’t stay there. And, more than that I wanted them to acknowledge my disappointment.

Now, let’s just close our eyes and go to pretend land for a minute or two. Let’s say instead of tweeting about being bummed I couldn’t get to my bloody mary I was tweeting about not finding a vehicle when I stopped on the lot to look.

What might those tweets look like:

“Pretty bummed the dealership didn’t have the black Civic Si with black rims I saw on their website.”

On a basic level you have to ask yourself: Who is listening when someone mentions your dealership on social media?

Going further than that, you must ask yourself: Are we doing everything we possibly can to stay proactive so when we are reactive we are taken seriously?

Let’s look at the stats:

Tweet to a brand and expect response in...

Immediately - 14 %

5 minutes to 30 minutes - 19 %

Angry Tweet to a brand and expect response in...

Under one hour - 72% that's up from 53% if the tweet is neutral in nature.

Unanswered Tweet to a brand...

An overwhelming 60% will take a negative action toward that brand.

At the end of the day I didn't get my bloody mary from AJ Bombers, but I did discover a new place in Milwaukee and there's nothing wrong with that. Right?

Question:

If they’re engaging with you via social media chances are they are on the move. What happens if you sent them a link with an alternative vehicle to look at? How does it look on their mobile device?

Mobile Millennials hold intense buying power.

A key focus was placed on mobile at this fall’s major automotive conferences; JD Power and Driving Sales Executive Summit.  While the rise of mobile is nothing new, new data reveals mobile’s emphasis on automotive shopper behavior.

“The rise of mobile and tablet devices has fundamentally changed how consumers shop for cars.”

94% of millennials go online to get info when shopping for a new car

44% will use mobile at the dealership

-Clayton Stanfield of eBay Motors

“If dealers do not have a mobile strategy, they risk losing a valuable audience.”

14% of women ages 25-49 are mobile-only. They access Internet solely through mobile or tablet devices and not through PCs.

- Frank Weishaupt of Jumptap

23% of consumers use multiple devices to shop for cars.

Multi-device users start their car shopping on a mobile device.”

-Rick Wainschel Vice President, Automotive Insights AutoTrader.com

“Apps are great way to reach Gen Y buyers”

PC usage has declined year over year and mobile is at the forefront. Worldwide tablet shipments are expected to overtake total PC shipments late next year.

- Arianne Walker Senior Director, Automotive Media and Marketing Solutions at J.D. Power and Associates



48% of all auto searches come from a mobile device"-Amy Peet, senior digital manager @Chrysler

85%  of smartphone users prefer mobile apps over mobile Websites

Apps are more convenient, faster and easier to navigate, according to a new report from Compuware. Users are voting with their views and actions and they are requiring the easiest way to connect with your brand.

- Compuware 2013 study

Millennials actually enjoy browsing the lot more than older generations and are more dependent on the salesperson for information. However, they're also more likely than older generations to go out of their way to avoid interacting with dealership staff.

"Millennials view the dealership as a key piece of their research process – they're looking for experts to help answer their questions and to touch and test out the physical car before making a purchase,"

- Isabelle Helms, senior director of Research and Marketing Analytics, AutoTrader.com

 

Why the major emphasis on mobile?

Because the millennial generation, the auto industry’s next crucial target, lives this way.

- Clayton Stanfield, senior manager of dealer outreach for eBay Motors.

A major shift in automotive shopping is happening now.  There are hosts of progressive, forward thinking dealers tackling the connected generation head-on.

Questions:

What percentage of your customers are active on a smartphone or tablet while at your store?

How has the connected generation affected your marketing strategy?

What changes have you made? Proactively or Reactively?

Tell us in the comments below!

Every month, millions of potential customers search the web for used vehicles. Contained within those searches is extraordinarily powerful data that can transform the way we sell cars.

When a customer filters by specific features, they are telling us their hot buttons. When they submit a lead they are making an even stronger statement about their preferences and what they are willing to pay for. Customers are telling us exactly what we need to know to find the right car for them. It’s time we started listening.

Let’s take seats as an example. Using online search data from last quarter, we took a look at customer preferences for used Chevrolet Silverado 1500s, Ford Escapes and Honda Accords. These models are among the most sought after used vehicles in their respective classes: pickup, SUV and sedan. Using all of this information, data scientists were able to identify the seat options customers were willing to pay for across these three make/models.

Let’s take a look at the results:



Notice that among those that search for the Chevy 1500 Silverado, consumers are willing to pay for the higher end seating options. The green dots by heated seats and seat memory indicate that customers choose used Silverado 1500s at a higher rate when they have these features than when they don’t. Cloth seats are found to have little to no impact on a buyer’s interest in the vehicle.

When looking at the Ford Escape, we see a pattern nearly exactly opposite of that of the Silverado 1500. Customers tend to choose Ford Escapes with cloth seats at a higher rate than those with leather. Escapes with heated seats and seat memory are chosen at a lower rate than those without these features. This is not say that Ford Escape customers do not want leather seats or other high-end seat features, only that that they don’t want them enough to pay the premium. A very similar pattern can be seen with the Honda Accord.

OK...so what?  My advice...  

Showcase your vehicles with preferred configurations. Advertise your packed Silverado and your base trim Escapes and Accords.

Does this example mean that you shouldn’t buy baseline Silverados, packed Escapes or luxury Accords? Not necessarily. It all depends on YOUR particular local market demand and supply.

Are you currently looking at similar data to help determine how to merchandise and what to showcase in your advertising?

Joining Jared Hamilton and Joe Webb for my first full DSES Conference

Driving Sales Executive Summit 2013 Review with Kevin Frye

Can I handle FIVE straight days of Las Vegas and TWO conferences at the same time? I was here to find out, as I arrived Sunday morning in Sin City. Now that's a name. Maybe they should rename my hometown Cincinnati to Sinsinnati to give it some edge, or perhaps Skincinnati, I mean we DO have a casino now. Wow, 2 sentences in and I already digress. Are you ready for my FIRST ever review of the Driving Sales Executive Summit? 3 - 2 - 1 - Liftoff!

Twitter Alert! - looking for some great folks to follow on Twitter? I have done my best to link each person's name in this review to their Twitter page. And if you are strong enough to handle my sarcasm, feel free to follow me @kevinfrye1, and of course don't forget to follow DealerRefresh / Jeff Kershner)



Am I the only one to catch the humor here with Arnold Tijerina?

First impressions count, and The Bellagio is a beautiful hotel/casino, and as I walked in I immediately started looking for Bradley Cooper, Zach Galafianikis, and the rest of the "Wolf Pack", but all I found was a mattress with Superman sheets stuck on top of the statue outside of the entrance. Did Jared have a rooftop drink the night before?

I arrived for the 3:00 pm welcome, and immediately saw a large amount of great friends and leaders in the industry. I also learned that they had a special Canadian breakout session earlier that morning, where they taught our friends up north that DOS is no longer the primary operating systems for most dealership computers. We had an exciting start as Charlie Vogelheim, our Event Emcee, set off some airbag explosions under our seats to get everyone fired up - and then... Jared Hamilton took the stage to present "The Future of Fixed Operations".



My favorite friend to "clown-around" with - Brent Wees!

He walks the walk...

Jared shared that Driving Sales was the "progressive conference", where vendors could not "buy the stage", and he then impressed me with an extensive overview of where our market is today, with an emphasis on where fixed ops fits into today's eCommerce market. As our OEM's make higher quality cars, we are impacted as dealers, as our customers now own cars with longer service modules.

Ultimately, we need to improve our digital marketing to win back our fixed ops business, as our non-OEM competition has raised their competitive game to the highest level. I have seen this first hand with my early SEO efforts dominating the fixed ops SERPs, but now I struggle as competitors like Midas, AAMCO, Firestone, and many more have entered the digital marketplace.

Jared is right, and the truth is that fixed ops has been the neglected stepchild for many years as the early digital emphasis has been on new and used car sales on our websites.

Is the BDC a fix?

When it comes to fixed ops, Jared mapped out how a Fixed Ops BDC should now be a centerpiece of the modern dealership, and he pointed out that this is a call center, not an Internet lead center, allowing for quick response to service inquiries. With so many of our customers now shopping from mobile devices, we have seen a rise in phone calls as these shoppers use "click to call" the majority of the time rather than fill out a form.

Understanding how important mobile is in our current market, Jared encouraged dealers to direct their marketing towards mobile first, and then the PC platform. One should also remember that any emails you send out should be mobile friendly first as well. And when it comes to keeping on top of your market, I liked Jared's simple advice - look where the venture capital is going, and that is where the market is going.



So this is where my friends are hiding? Alex Jefferson, Eric Miltsch, Peyton Hoffman, Blake Arbogast, Jerry Thibeau, Kate Frost

What goes up, must come down...

So far I was really excited, and if Jared led the rest of the conference, I was fine with that. However the next presentation led by the Senior Director of Analytics at AutoTrader was a bit of a letdown. Most of the information shared was VERY basic and not progressive at all. In fact, this was information I have known for almost 10 years (more pictures and better descriptions sell more cars - wow). I felt like I went from the top of the mountain to seeing a vendor who bought the stage and shared very basic info.

I will not lie - I hesitated to share this as so many of my peers had built this up to me that perhaps I had unrealistic expectations. That is ok, I will return to this subject, as this was only one presentation of many. Which leads to my next favorite thing...

As much fun as X-Ray glasses? Absolutely!

Talk about giving candy to a baby, the live Twitter feed is awesome, and it also takes a lot of courage for DSES to project. Why? This provides real-time transparency of how folks feel about the conference. Now that is "walking the walk" and I commend you DSES, great job!

When I talked about the previous session offering very basic info, I saw real time tweets from folks that felt the same way, which really caught my attention, as well as validated my feelings. Oh boy, watch out DSES attendees, you just gave me a live twitter feed to share my scathing sarcasm and also my encouraging remarks.



Entering the Driving Sales Executive Summit

And the ball goes back, Back, BACK, Home Run!

DSES has caught my attention with the great keynote speakers they bring in, and former Navy SEAL Leif Babin was a huge hit. As a former US Naval Officer myself, Leif's lessons on leadership ring very true with me, as I used those same skills to help lead the Jeff Wyler Automotive Family through the biggest change this industry has ever seen, and not only that, to become a leader in eCommerce.

Leif shared that your people need to know what to do and WHY, and that you must TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN, and he is absolutely correct. I also liked how Leif shared that one must exercise humility and check their ego to identify how we can do things better. That sounds easy until you remember that both the Navy and car folks are filled with highly competitive type A personalities.

From a personal standpoint, I would share that the level of competition we train for in the military is at the highest level, it is life or death, and attention to detail and incredible discipline are key to dominating your competition. Take those 2 things and combine them with what Leif told dealers to practice - one must exercise extreme leadership, continuously critique your performance to improve, and train hard to be the best. Leif - that standing ovation for your service was well earned, and this fellow vet thanks you.



Enjoying the complimentary limo service care of HookLogic

Sound of whip cracking....

No, I didn't stick around for the evening events as I met my wife in the Bellagio lobby to celebrate our 22nd Anniversary by going to see the new Cirque de Soleil Show "One - Michael Jackson" at Mandalay Bay. Many thanks to David Metter, Jeff Kershner, and the folks at HookLogic for the complimentary limo service while I was in Vegas. I also enjoyed the "beverages" provided in the limo by MSCloud Services - nice touch, and much appreciated. If you have not seen the show, it was phenomenal!

It's the most important meal of the day...

That would be your networking breakfast, as I arrived early to get a quick bite and catch up with many of the great people that were present. The format for the exhibit hall was different, with the vendors on the outlying walls, and the dealers at the tables in the center. I think the layout at the Digital Dealer conferences is more vendor friendly, but on the other hand, the emphasis here might be more towards the dealers. Either way, I respect the fact the the vendors are a KEY part of funding events like this and I support their access to reach out to dealers like myself.



The exhibit hall at Driving Sales Executive Summit

What does it sound like when you step on a dog's tail? YELP!

Why didn't YELP name their site "Hooray", or "Great job"? Could it possibly be because they focus on the negative reviews, hence a painful expression like "YELP"?

Rough start to the day, as the YELP session was VERY basic again - eg. Have you claimed your Yelp page? Do you know how to set it up? This again appeared to go contrary to "progressive and not having vendors buying the stage". I certainly realize that was likely not the intention, but the live Twitter feed validated the feelings of many.

Do you remember when Merchant Circle was Google's darling?

And then they were swept to the side and Yelp was the new darling? It makes me question if this might not happen again with Yelp. While I realize that Yelp has a large audience on the coasts, the traffic in the Midwest is minimal. Several Yelp reps have contacted me about Yelp advertising for dealerships, and the costs versus the traffic seen on our local Yelp make absolutely no sense. Further, lots of dealers like myself have struggled with the Yelp review filters, which seem to mysteriously give long standing prominence to negative reviews, while making it difficult to get positive reviews to publish and remain published. Kind of reminds me of the old news motto - "If it bleeds, it leads", and I am cynical about how much Yelp helps us.

On one hand, Yelp tells us to create "customer evangelists", but then they tell us to not ask our customers for Yelp reviews - ummmm. Yet when I was at the Digital Summit at Mountain View, Yelp shared a best practice on how businesses would actually stage events for prominent Yelp'ers in their market to encourage them to leave great reviews for them. Talk about mixed messages. I will stop here, but with one last point. Have you ever wanted to leave a review about Yelp? HUNDREDS of folks did at DSES via the live Twitter feed - I told you I loved the transparency (great job Charlie as you wrapped this up with some well stated words...).



Have you made a visit to Fremont Street and "Old Vegas"? - lots of fun!

Step right up and pick your winner...

The Driving Sales Best Idea contest was next, and I love this concept. It promotes being progressive by encouraging both dealers and vendors to compete for innovative ideas that improve our industry. While there were several great ideas (great job Megan Barto and Jason Stum!), I agreed wholeheartedly with the winner, Robert "Car-Bomb" Karbaum, who brought a simple concept, the "Appointment Boarding Pass", and implemented it into automotive and saw great success. Check out www.appointmentboardingpass.com to see how you can use it at your dealership.

Top Secret: The answer to all of your problems is US Navy Leadership!

Ok, I am having fun with you, but when Dr. Joe Weintraub used another US Naval Officer as the right example on how to create a culture of innovation within your organization, I had to share a laugh with Glen Dakan (another former US Naval Officer sitting next to me). If you want to innovate, you have to allow mistakes and failures, and I could not agree more.

Over the last 10 years I could count many eCommerce efforts our automotive group has tried and has failed, but we learned from every one. And that is the second key point that Dr. Weintraub discussed, failures should be treated as a learning opportunity. If you want to be a progressive dealer, then this session was for you, as if you want to lead, you must be willing to bleed, and most dealers do not want to take that risk. That's ok, I am willing...

That would be Professor Plum, with the candlestick, in the Billiards Room...

I think I should have called our next speaker "Professor Chris Reed", as he lead us through Cobalt's efforts to develop a formula to calculate the likelihood of a car selling by measuring customer engagement. No problem, that is as simple as finding the Holy Grail, right?

Chris shared how he looked at what drives VDP's (vehicle detail page views) as that is an indicator of what is working on our websites. Some years ago I would have told you that I was not impressed with Cobalt, but the last couple of years I have watched Cobalt raise their game and I am impressed (and I even tweeted so during Chris' presentation...)



Jared Hamilton and Glenn Pasch - 2 passionate folks in automotive

Somebody at DSES has spherical objects of a goldish color...

Hands down the best session for me was the Data Panel Discussion, and I commend Jared on tackling what I consider to be one of the biggest issues in our industry. I recently attended a major digital conference (non-automotive) this fall, and the innovation in digital marketing is amazing, especially in how it harnesses big data to Fortune 500 companies' advantage. I had to ask myself, why don't we see such cutting edge innovation in automotive?

Think about it. If you are a small start-up with an innovative idea, and you need access to the dealership's data, it costs you a small fortune. That means the cost must be passed on to the dealer, which means it is a difficult sale right out of the gate as you try and get started. Further, your ability to integrate and communicate with the dealer's data is filled with a host of obstacles and costs that make it either impossible, or at a minimum, very expensive.

Is innovation being stifled in our industry as a result of current data practices? Driving Sales wrote a cutting-edge article on this controversial issue with "Hidden DMS Data Charges" - it is a MUST READ for all dealers. While the participants on the panel were friendly, many of the questions were met with answers that dealers found evasive. For myself, let's just say my fingertips were bleeding as I tweeted faster than an M60 machine gun with an overheated barrel.

I was there to cheerily help fellow dealers answer the following questions in the first 30 seconds - "Who owns the data? - we do.". "Who controls the data? - we do.".  Now, when you charge exorbitant fees to our vendors for access to our data, and then have them sign a confidentiality agreement to not show us what those fees are (which we end up paying), does that really help us? Does it help our industry to become innovative?


I officially submit my apology to DSES at this time...

At one point during the data panel, the live Twitter feed went down, at which time I tweeted "Breaking News" (see above), and said Tweet was retweeted across the next several days. Sorry for any confusion folks, I didn't mean to cry "Fire" in the movie theater. I shared several of my tweets and a few others below to give you a feel of how the reception was in the room.

Bottom line - as an industry we have to achieve a better solution for our vendor partners to be able to integrate with our data in a cost-effective manner if we are going to be innovative and move forward.


Just like Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee at Lake Mead - I have been banned!

Well, I was surprised that DSES had not banned me yet with my barrage of tweets, and I was also encouraged - did this mean they wanted more? Hmmm. I moved on to attend some breakout sessions, but did not learn anything that was really new. For crying out loud, I was seeing Google ZMOT slides that I saw over a year earlier, so I was a bit disappointed.

It was a pleasure to sit in with David Kain who shared some good points (do you request video resumes from your folks? I do...) and he told dealers that if your customers love mobile, then your sales reps should love mobile too. Unfortunately I did not have much that was noteworthy from my remaining session before we wrapped up the day with the final keynote.

Where exactly do game show hosts buy their jackets?

I don't know myself, but I DO know who has the answer, Charlie Vogelheim. Well, either Charlie knows where to buy these sparkly jackets or he is really talented with a bedazzler. Meanwhile I was up early and ready to defend my Digital Media Debate title, now just what exactly was I doing???

Enough already!

Joe Webb and Bill Playford really know how to torture me, and for crying out loud I was waterboarded while in the Navy (true story, apparently good enough for US Naval Aviators but not for terrorists...). Last year Joe and Bill set me up to debate Jim Flint who I highly respect and value as a leader in this industry, and this year I find out I am going to debate Bryan Armstrong. C'mon now, who is next year, Mother Theresa?

I did my best to speak as fast as Jared Hamilton (did anyone catch that I was almost out of breath near the very end?) and I battled Bryan valiantly. Let me share that Bryan Armstrong is not only a leader in automotive, he is a leader in LIFE, as his personal ministry is raising and mentoring foster children, including adoption, and the size of his heart is unmatched in our industry. Now I wish we would have measured the decibels for a round of applause for that!



Debating someone whom has my highest respect - Bryan Armstrong

The debates are a lot of fun and bring some great energy to the room. More of this conference seems to focus on learning as a larger group with the breakout sessions as a smaller part IMHO, and I enjoyed it, as we can still interact via Twitter and social media. Cam Chell, CEO of Podium Ventures spoke next to the packed room and shared his personal story of rising to the top, falling back, and then picking himself back up lead again. What did I walk away from with his presentation? I was struck by his brutal honesty and humility in recognizing his personal failures, and seeing that as an opportunity to learn and grow better from. This was a solid keynote as it built on the earlier concepts shared by Leif Babin and Dr. Weintraub.

If a celebrity shared your name, would your SEO efforts have their SERP after yours?

Danny Sullivan, the search guru (not the race car driver) searches up first, so I guess I know what he is doing is right! I am a long time follower/fan of Danny's, and I was excited to see Danny selected as a keynote speaker.

Danny shared some great points, encouraging dealers to have content on their sites beyond what we are selling. He also emphasized that mobile shoppers want location, hours, and click to call on your mobile site. It was a great session, but it was nothing really progressive. That is ok, as I realize I am likely more of an SEO geek than many others and this stuff might not seem new to me, but one thing did bother me...  I saw a tweet during this session, and a few others in the previous presentations that in effect said "This info is too basic, this is not Digital Dealer". I respect your opinion that some of the info may have been too basic, but you were not at Digital Dealer while tweeting that... 



Technology in action during breakout sessions - Daniel Fontaine, Megan Barto, and Jason Stum

 

Driving Sales or Digital Dealer?

I know what everyone wants. You want me to choose one conference over the other, or state that one is much better. While I am an outspoken individual, I hope that those who know me well would share that I am also very respectful, and in that light, these are my feelings.

Driving Sales is an excellent conference, setting high goals and aspirations for itself, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would not say it has a clear difference in being more progressive though. Much of what I saw was very basic, and the truth is, I think all of the conferences are struggling to find progressive material as our market is slowing down from the rapid growth we saw some years ago. Much of the material we are seeing is just being re-hashed over and over again, and many of the speakers we hear are speaking at most if not all of the conferences. That does not mean they are not good, but it does mean that the differentiation between the conferences is slim.

Digital Dealer has an advantage because of the sheer size and scope of their conference offering material from the basic level to the advanced. Just because one offers basic material (which many dealers do want) in addition to advanced material does not label you as a basic conference. It depends on what you are looking for - and yes, there was some great advanced content at Digital Dealer 15.

Keeping it real...

Don't paint me as a fool, I have little patience for that. I am well aware of many of the fractions in this industry at the speaking and conference level. It makes me sad, as the number one thing I value at any of these conferences are the GREAT AUTO PEOPLE that I interact with, and many of these same people have felt they must "choose sides" as to which show they attend.

I remember the early days when the digital automotive family was much smaller, and we all gathered together in Nashville at the only conference we had, and over the years, as we have become older and our family has expanded, many of us have moved into different directions. I sometimes feel a bit sentimental when I look back at those times, but our market continues to be so exciting that I am thrilled to see where we have come, and where we are going.

Sorry, but I am not going to get into name-calling or labeling. Driving Sales is a great conference, and I have great respect for what Jared and his team have done, and I admire that in their efforts to be progressive, they are willing to sometimes fall short (isn't that part of what we learned is important to being innovative?). Any great competitor respects his/her competition, and at the end of the day, good competition raises the bar for all of us.

Have you noticed that the keynote speakers at Driving Sales and Digital Dealer have never been better? You can thank competition for that.

Many thanks to everyone who worked to put together a great Driving Sales Executive Summit, and cheers to all of the great men and women who work on the front lines and that I am privileged to call friends. And I hope that the welcome mat for DSES is still outside my door next year as I would be honored to join everyone again.

How was DSES 2013 for you? Sound off in the comments!