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Jeff Kershner

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It's been a LONG time since I've been in the DrivingSales forums. From the homepage, it took me a few clicks to find the discussions.

I read through a few thread titles but didn't see much going on. I know they're still putting on their conference, with the next one being in Vegas Oct. 8-10, 2022. I had attended each one up until a few years ago and always walked away with some good information and insights.


Anyone still active in the discussions on DrivingSales.com ?
 
I haven't been to the conference in a few years but enjoyed it when I was going. I'd go again! Admittedly, my DealerRefresh bias has kept me on this site daily ;-)

We did look at it when FRIKINtech was getting started for advertising. It was something @Christine Plunkett, @Tom Harsha, and I entertained heavily but went through a series of reps who were confused about their own product. The reviews section was the primary draw for us. Looks like there haven't been many reviews left in a while though.
 
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Yeah, the Driving Sales forum is pretty dead. And the post date column on their forums isn't accurate, most of the recent posts are over a year old.

That being said, the Driving Sales Executive Summit is still alive and well. Last year I attended both Digital Dealer and Driving Sales as they were back-to-back. I definitely walked away with more from DSES than DD.
 
Once they pivoted to Employee Retention and Training, the two most difficult items in the automotive world for dealers to embrace, I think they started to dwindle. You start talking about difficult things that are not fun and take huge effort and your audience starts to be quiet. I can prove it. @Alex Snyder and @Jeff Kershner start posting about, and pressing, hiring, training, retention, leadership development, and culture and it'll go over like a fart in church.
I'm kinda kidding. I will say the DS conferences were the best ones. Heck, that's how I met @Ryan Everson!

P.S. The people thing is HARD. Took us 5 years just to fix the culture in our group.
 
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@Alex Snyder and @Jeff Kershner start posting about, and pressing, hiring, training, retention, leadership development, and culture and it'll go over like a fart in church.

You know what happens when you fart in church? ...you sit in your own pew :lol:



#dadjokes
 
Once they pivoted to Employee Retention and Training, the two most difficult items in the automotive world for dealers to embrace, I think they started to dwindle. You start talking about difficult things that are not fun and take huge effort and your audience starts to be quiet. I can prove it. @Alex Snyder and @Jeff Kershner start posting about, and pressing, hiring, training, retention, leadership development, and culture and it'll go over like a fart in church.
I'm kinda kidding. I will say the DS conferences were the best ones. Heck, that's how I met @Ryan Everson!

P.S. The people thing is HARD. Took us 5 years just to fix the culture in our group.

This is SO TRUE @Dan Sayer !

A few years back Hireology was a DealerRefresh sponsor and were contributing consistent content around "human capital." Such an important topic, especially for car dealers BUT it garnered very little engagement.
 

✨ AI Highlights

  • DrivingSales' forums have become largely inactive, with most discussions over a year old and difficult navigation following a UI overhaul years ago, though their annual Executive Summit conference remains well-regarded.
  • Forum participants attribute the decline to DrivingSales' pivot toward challenging topics like employee retention and training—issues dealers find uncomfortable to discuss publicly—while DealerRefresh has become the preferred community hub for automotive professionals.
  • The consensus is that while DrivingSales' in-person conference still delivers strong value, the online community itself has effectively died.

DrivingSales' forums have become largely inactive, with most discussions over a year old and difficult navigation following a UI overhaul years ago, though their annual Executive Summit conference remains well-regarded. Forum participants attribute the decline to DrivingSales' pivot toward challenging topics like employee retention and training—issues dealers find uncomfortable to discuss publicly—while DealerRefresh has become the preferred community hub for automotive professionals. The consensus is that while DrivingSales' in-person conference still delivers strong value, the online community itself has effectively died.

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