Digital Dealer Roll Call

[joe.pistell]

Last min change prevents me from attending DD. Have fun ya'll!

I am now adding TV Show Producer/Director to my resume.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Holy crap I met a lot of people. I saw everyone in this thread who attended - even Craig's boss at Acton. We demo'd iMagicLab together. You work with some good people Craig :thumbup:

Overall, Digital Dealer is still sooooo 101. Is this Roscoe's grand plan to attract new attendees? If most dealerships are still 101 then I can understand this strategy if Digital Dealer is just about making money. I really wish there was more for us repeat attenders. Plenty of the current speakers can talk about many things repeat attenders can appreciate. I just don't get how we can have 8 continuous 101 conferences with the magnitude of talent many of the speakers and attendees have.

 

[Blake Arbogast]

Holy crap I met a lot of people. I saw everyone in this thread who attended - even Craig's boss at Acton. We demo'd iMagicLab together. You work with some good people Craig :thumbup:

Overall, Digital Dealer is still sooooo 101. Is this Roscoe's grand plan to attract new attendees? If most dealerships are still 101 then I can understand this strategy if Digital Dealer is just about making money. I really wish there was more for us repeat attenders. Plenty of the current speakers can talk about many things repeat attenders can appreciate. I just don't get how we can have 8 continuous 101 conferences with the magnitude of talent many of the speakers and attendees have.

Alex,

This is why I didn't attend...I really liked the intensity of the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp. Digital Dealer needs to take note!

 

[Jeff Kershner]

101 is where it's at and of you are looking to grab a HUGE base of dealers - you need to cater to this 90% of 101 dealers out there. Trust me! I'm being slapped in the face with 101 at the new gig. Not saying I'm not enjoying it but it baffles me. Example: How can upper management get away with a 48 hour email response time?

The problem with most dealers is PROCESS and Efficiency. You can tell a dealer ALL day long that leads needs to be taken care of in 10 mins, follow up, Attention Interest Urgency Action -- but unless you have process driven people at the helm - you will NEVER move the needle.

As much as I wanted to be at DD8 this time around, I don't fear missing anything. It's more for the networking and catching up with DR contributors and other industry friends.

Currently, if you want to go 102 or 103 - the conference would be much smaller, turning less profit of course.

 

[Blake Arbogast]

Here is an idea Jeff and Alex...a DealerRefresh 20 Group. All business of course ...

 

[NickCybela]

Good chance to network though, I definitely learned a lot from many of the dealers that already "get it".

 

[jdavidson]

The only Digital Marketing conferences that I have been to are a few Digital Dealer conferences and the GM e-Summits (the first one of those was more like an 005 course!) I have noticed a lot of repetition in the material being covered in the Digital Dealers but have still come away each time with a good bit of information. I was unable to attend DD8 this go around so I am curious what other conferences you guys would recommend?

I think Jeff hit the nail on the head with one of his comments earlier in the thread. Without a good process, nothing else matters. It doesn't matter if you have 6 Brazilian visitors to your site if you do not know how to help them when they finally reach out to you. (6 Brazillion is a huge number!) To me, that seems to get lost in the Digital Dealer agenda and the focus is more on widgets and gadgets that are all very entertaining but not as helpful. I have gotten more out of the the talks at the receptions and networking afterwards than most of the sessions I sat in at Digital Dealers. I'll probably try to make the trip for DD9 but am hoping for some new material this go around.

 

[joe.pistell]

...I think Jeff hit the nail on the head with one of his comments earlier in the thread. Without a good process, nothing else matters. ...

Every morning I wake up with a smile on my face and say my little mornin' prayer....

"May the Social Media fairies continue to spew rainbows and unicorns so all my competitors take their eye off the ball."

 

[DrewAment]

"May the Social Media fairies continue to spew rainbows and unicorns so all my competitors take their eye off the ball."

That is the best quote EVER, can I borrow that? Ain't that the truth! LOL

People and Process is 90% of the game. Missing one, you have huge problems. Missing two - pack your bags.

 

[joe.pistell]

hahaha, glad you liked it Drew.

Whether your a one man show, or a manager of many, most of us are failing to IMPROVE on the CRITICAL tasks that directly connect to working "shoppers in market".

I really like the SM madness, but, from a DR point of view, the community dialogue of sharing best practices and ideas are being lost in the SM orgy.