2012 DRIVINGSALES EXECUTIVE SUMMIT TACKLES SOCIAL MEDIA AND DIGITAL MARKETING
From informative keynote sessions, to useful breakouts, DSES 2012 defined the concept of a true value driven dealer event.
In the last issue, we talked briefly about the 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit. This time out, we’ll take a closer look at some of the topics that were discussed and things that were gleaned from this very significant dealer event.
Taking place over the course of three days, October 21-23 at Bellagio in Las Vegas, DSES 2012 offered up a wide variety of keynote speakers, all of whom were ultimately selected by the Dealer Advisory Board in order to provide the best topics and ideas that dealers from across North America wanted to spotlight.
Besides seminars, there were also specific topic breakout sessions, contests, a vendors display area, and interactive panel discussions.
Now in its fourth year, the DSES has grown to become one of the must attend annual events for dealers across North America and part of this is due to the value it brings. There is something for everyone. Considering the huge number of speakers and sessions put on over the course of three days, it can be difficult to attend them all. Nevertheless, even if you pick and chose just a few, chances are you’ll come away learning something you didn’t know before.
Canadian auto dealer attended a number of keynote speaker and breakout sessions, all of which were captivating, instructional and interactive. Here are some of our observations:
Florian Zettelmeyer, Big data
Zettelmeyer, who is a professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, used some interesting non automotive case studies to show how firms can use big data to enable custom analytics and from that develop strategies in which they truly treat customers like kings. He noted the success of Harrah’s, which rose from relative obscurity to become one of the largest gaming providers in the U.S. simply by focusing on customer needs and desires instead of bricks and” mortar. He also discussed Amazon, which has seen tremendous growth, fueled in part by asking customers the right information in the right way during the online transaction process. He also said that when it comes to marketing, dealers need to be able to think outside the box to obtain and keep customers.
Rand Fishkin
Rand Fishkin, SEO
Search Engine Optimization has become a buzzword when it comes to online sales and marketing, yet many dealers find themselves struggling to make it work effectively. Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz said that dealers need to look at the concept strategically with everybody in the store involved in the process, from the executive level down. “Otherwise it just won’t work,” he remarked. Fishkin also noted that it’s very important to capture customers early, to successfully build and cultivate a relationship online before they even set foot in the store. He also said that dealers need to discover who their audience actually is and ensure they have creative incentives to share with them. He also said that channels where others aren’t investing is where the real opportunities lie.
Jim Dance
Jim Dance, Digital streetfight
Jim Dance, who has been involved with the auto industry for many years as a management trainer and consultant, delivered one of the most eye opening sessions we’ve seen in recent years. “I’ve worked on the people side of the business,” he said and “one thing I’ve learned is that there is always somebody with a bigger knife.” He emphasized that businesses cannot succeed unless the culture is right and it works. He said most people work just hard enough to keep their job and often employees and management get involved in tit for tat battles. He said that the key driver to success is culture. “Bring dialogue in, learn to live the attributes you want and look at culture as a collaborative effort, not something you demand from your staff.”
Courtney Cole
Courtney Cole, Differentiate your store to crush the competition
Cole, along with her sister Monica, owns and operates one of the most successful Chevy dealers in the U.S. In her breakout session, she said that looking outside conventional channels is where the real opportunities are. “Look at special financing,” she said. “The average credit score is dropping so there is a huge opportunity for dealers to jump into this space.” Cole said she has seen spiff ideas that have generated excellent growth and profit per unit, even at a time when margins on new cars tend to be slim. She also said that dealers that can think beyond their client base and create advertising hooks for non dealers, such as getting involved with community programs, like supporting schools, sports teams and other services that really need funding. She said this can be a great way to raise dealers’ profiles, build trust and with it, sales.
Jared Hamilton, DSES founder and Scott Painter, TrueCar
Scott Painter and Jared Hamilton, TrueCar and its impact
If there was a session during DSES 2012 that attracted a captive audience, it was the on-stage discussion between DrivingSales founder Jared Hamilton, and CEO of TrueCar, Scott Painter. TrueCar has been generating controversy over what many dealers see as sharing inside information, providing pricing data to consumers that doesn’t paint a true picture. Painter said that the TrueCar brand is based on accuracy and objectivity of data and the idea is to provide consumers with a fair price. He also said that the firm isn’t against dealers and has teamed up with them to develop a national program of transparency when it comes to pricing. He remarked that dealers that have partnered with TrueCar are trusted and can be relied upon by consumers. Hamilton, with a dealer background, said that dealers are entitled to a profit on the cars they sell and that transparency was good, as long as they had a partner they could really work with.
