We're almost ready to push out phase one of the new DrivingSales.com website improvements. Our goal is to provide easier and faster access to the content you have told us is most important to you: Vendor Ratings, Blog Posts and Discussions.  The changes will go live this weekend.  In merging the blog platform and all the databases we will have to take the current blog down for a short time.  (we will do this at night while most of you are sleeping).

You should see some huge improvements on the updated version, they were all recommendations from the community.  Thank you!

We're inviting you to do more than just look things over. Dive in, use the new navigation, browse sections you didn't know about! Your comments and feedback enable DrivingSales.com to continue being the number one car dealer social network in the industry.

Check back often and be among the first to try the new features!...

Leading Social Media Network and Vogelheim Ventures Bring Auto Industry’s Top Thought Leaders, Retail Executives, and Innovators Together for Collaborative Conference

07.09.2009 – Salt Lake City, Utah & Orange County, CA - July 9th, 2009 - DrivingSales.com (www.drivingsales.com), the auto industry’s leading social media platform and largest online community, today announced that the premiere DrivingSales Executive Summit, presented by Vogelheim Ventures will take place October 13th and 14th 2009 in Las Vegas. Designed as a uniquely collaborative and interactive forum, the DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES) will bring together the nation’s most innovative dealer operators to collaborate on progressive marketing models, interactive technologies and operational solutions and feature speakers and experts from both inside and outside the automotive sector who have fresh ideas to help drive a better future for the industry.

“As o...

Auto Industry’s Largest and Premiere Online Community Recognized in Best Web Site or Blog Category

05.21.2009 – Salt Lake City, Utah– May 21, 2009 –DrivingSales.com (www.drivingsales.com), the auto industry’s leading social media platform and largest online community, was named a Finalist today in the best Web Site or Blog automotive/transport category in The 2009 American Business Awards, also known as The Stevie® Awards.

“I am proud that DrivingSales.com has been recognized with this honor, further validating the vital role to be played by social media in the current challenging automotive climate,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “This is a tribute to the thousands of dealers and auto industry professionals who have joined DrivingSales.com to collaborate and to share the best practices and industry trends that are so critical to helping our community thrive and survive in these tough economic times.”
...

Salt Lake City, UT May 14th, 2009 DrivingSales.com (www.drivingsales.com), the auto industry’s leading social media platform and largest online community, today announced that auto industry veteran and Internet pioneer, Charlie Vogelheim, has joined its Board of Advisors.  Charged with further amplifying DrivingSales as the authoritative data and best practices source for the industry, Vogelheim will also focus on industry relations and serve as a guardian for DrivingSales’ media- and vendor-neutral environment. 
Formed in early 2008, the DrivingSales Board of Advisors consists of the industry’s top innovators and executives who are charged with expanding DrivingSales’ mission to marry the power of technology with the power of community to provide dealers, dealership managers and other industry professionals with a vendor-neutral, online environment where they can collaborate and share best practices, industry trends and news.
“DrivingSales br...

Product Strategist to Help Expand Industry's Leading Social Media Network
SALT LAKE CITY, April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- DrivingSales.com (www.drivingsales.com), the auto industry's leading social media platform and largest online community, today announced that veteran product strategist, Kevin Root, has joined its Board of Advisors to oversee product development.
Formed in early 2008, the DrivingSales Board of Advisors consists of the industry's top innovators and executives who are charged with expanding DrivingSales' mission to marry the power of technology with the power of community to provide dealers, dealership managers and other industry professionals with a vendor-neutral, online environment where they can collaborate and share best practices, industry trends and news.
"I am pleased to welcome Kevin to the DrivingSales team," said DrivingSales.com Founder and CEO Jared Hamilton. "Recognized by J.D. Power as one of the industry's original 10 Internet pioneers,...

Happy New Year to our thousands and thousands of community participants worldwide!  We hope 2009 will bring each of you much success and happiness in your auto industry endeavors!

As you probably know our network was created in 2003 to connect a group of dealers as they attended Nada's Dealer Candidate Academy.  The community was built to connect the group on a common platform for networking and best practice solution sharing.  Much has happened since these humble beginnings and 2008 was a big year for our community.  Here are a few of the highlights:


In June of 2008 we opened the community up to all industry professionals as the first vendor neutral, best practice network and innovation community built exclusively for the car business.   We received a very warm welcome and have been amazed at the growth of the community.



In addition to the Networking utility, the social mediums we host for our community to share best practice in...

 













 




 














...

If I were the Car Czar?


Lets talk about solutions!

Our industry has been at the foundation in the world's economy for over a century, and now we are witnessing change and a chance at true innovation of historic proportions. Since nobody has the inside scoop like industry professionals, we would like your opinion in this thought-provoking contest: "If I were the Car Czar."

We are seeking submissions from you, the industry professionals, in a stimulating exercise. Write down your thoughts to the following questions and enter them into the, "If I were the Car Czar: contest:

    1.    Where do you believe our industry has opportunity to improve and change?

    2.    What changes would you make happen if you were the Car Czar?

The Contest:

The entries will all be published as blog entries on DrivingSales.com, all industry professional can submit an entry and comment on the entries of others.&nb...

 
Here at DrivingSales our mission is to connect you, the industry professionals, with the people and information you need to maximize your success. We provide numerous ways connect with thousands of your industry peers to collect and share best practices.
In addition to connecting on DrivingSales.com, we wanted to invite you to connect with some of our other recently launched social initiatives.
1. Follow us on twitter: We love the connectivity and will return the follow:
www.twitter.com/drivingsales
2. Connect with us on Linkedin. We host group “DrivingSales” for all industry professionals inside the linkedin community.
3. On a more personal level we are also on Facebook and host a best practice group there. To connect with us simply search us out (the groups are called DrivingSales.com) and join.
We allow anyone in the auto industry world wide, who is looking to innovate and share best practices to join us. If you have other recommendations as to where ...

Salt Lake City, UT, November 13, 2008 - DrivingSales (www.DrivingSales.com), the automotive industry’s original online best practices and professional networking community, and J.D. Power and Associates have announced the formation of the J.D. Power Automotive Internet Roundtable Group in the Groups section of DrivingSales.com.

In DrivingSales Groups, members of the community create and join affinity groups in an online setting to exchange ideas on specific areas of interest. The recent J.D. Power Internet Roundtable focused on applying the best tools from online social media, including user-generated content and reviews, discussion boards, videos, and more, to help the auto industry boost productivity and efficiencies. As a site that embodies the use of social media tools, DrivingSales.com will enable members of J.D. Power Roundtable Group to use these tools, while simultaneously collaborating on best practices.

“J.D. Power’s Automotive Internet Roundtable and DrivingSal...

Cliff Banks of Ward's wrote about vendor ratings and DrivingSales -

Dealer Ratings? How About Vendor Ratings?

Salt Lake City, UT, October 7, 2008 — DrivingSales (www.DrivingSales.com), the automotive industry's original online dealership best practices and professional networking community, today announced the launch of its user-generated streaming online Video Collection. The new site feature will be launched today during the J.D. Power Automotive Internet Roundtable at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. A central focus of this year's conference is social media, and Jared Hamilton, founder and CEO of DrivingSales, will lead a discussion about the growing importance of social media, including streaming video, for dealerships, OEMs and the automotive industry in general. Like the conference, the DrivingSales Video Collection focuses on providing automotive dealers proven solutions and tactics to improve their businesses and stay in the game.
"The increased speed, quality and overall access to online streaming videos is a real breakthrough for training and continuous learning," commented ...

Salt Lake City, UT, August 27, 2008 — DrivingSales (www.DrivingSales.com), the auto industry's original best practices and social networking community, today announced the opening of the industry's first vendor ratings system where auto dealers can rate and review their service providers in real time. This unparalleled ratings system offers dealers a neutral, online resource to learn about a wide array of products and services before making important purchasing decisions, via fellow dealers' first-hand experience using the products. Vendors benefit by getting dealer feedback and the opportunity for dialog on this neutral, third party platform, as well as the chance to showcase their products and services to a broad audience of dealers.
DrivingSales members who are dealers can rate and reviews vendors in the newly launched Vendor Ratings section at www.DrivingSales.com. The ratings will be unveiled for DrivingSales members to view the first week of September.
"Dealers get ...

Salt Lake City, UT, August 12, 2008 — DrivingSales (www.DrivingSales.com), the auto industry's original best practices and social networking site, today announced its newest strategies and best practices contest: "Gas prices are up. Sales are down. What have you done in the last 90 days to increase your bottom line?" The purpose of the contest is to stimulate ideas for improving business in light of the current economic challenges many dealers face. The DrivingSales Strategies competitions invite the best minds in the automotive industry to share their knowledge with the community and provide valuable ideas to help dealers increase profit and improve operations.
"As a dealer and member of DrivingSales, I find the strategy postings by fellow members a great way to get quick ideas and inspiration," commented Tom White, Jr. general manager of Suzuki of Wichita, Kansas. "You’ll find a dealership in a totally different part of the country, selling a different franchise, who is faci...

DrivingSales, (www.DrivingSales.com), the auto industry's original online community and social networking site, today announced the winner of its inaugural Strategies contest. Strategies and other best practices are an essential part of the DrivingSales experience, as members of this fast growing automotive community get the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise and benefit from the shared knowledge of their peers. Members who posted strategies competed for the best rating from fellow members, in a fun competition for sharing best practices. Nathan Scripps, director of sales for Jumpstart Automotive Media (www.jumpstartautomotive.com), submitted the winning sales strategy, entitled “The Long Spiff.”

The winning submission challenges dealers to think long-term about spiffs for sales people. Instead of strictly focusing on short-term daily, weekly or monthly sales, Scripps proposes incentives that reward staff members for repeat and referral business. In this way, sales ...

Automakers are scrambling either to design new models with ground-breaking technology for fuel efficiency, or to integrate the current technology on their next model to get the product out to the consumer ASAP. So, what has Mercury been up to lately?
Not much, by the looks of it. I haven’t really seen any new models or designs that they’re itching to initiate, and Ford Motor Co. is being wishy-washy on the brand’s future anyway, according to Automotive News. It’s seems they’re focused on updating their Mariner Crossover, but isn’t the crossover market at its greatest slump in the US right now? They’re also working through a new hybrid Sedan, due to come out in 2010, but apparently Mercury has no real investments extending beyond next year.
Mercury Dealers, are you nervous? Some say it looks like the brand is fading out. Worried? Share your thoughts here, on DrivingSales.com.
...

A few years back, the crossover cars were the new thing. Ford Motor Co., Chrysler, and GM all came out with crossover models in hopes to capture the declining market of trucks and SUVs. Is it still working? Not so much. Sales of almost all crossover brands have dramatically dropped, almost 17% in June from their peak this past March, according to NADA.

It was a valiant effort and a creative idea to house the truck-like vehicle on a car frame, but those efforts are going out of trend, and the numbers show. Is this a permanent decline? Probably not. The drop in numbers could easily be due to the obvious economic environment and the depressing $4 gallon of gas. The crossover market might be rejuvenated when buyers want that truck or SUV style back, but don’t want to wait for an affordable truck or SUV hybrid option. However, for the time being, it’s another sting for the already-struggling automakers. Thank goodness we can come to DrivingSales.com to learn how others ke...

Salt Lake City, UT, July 16, 2008 - DrivingSales.com, the auto industry's original online community and social networking site, today announced that over two dozen industry experts have become frequent bloggers on DrivingSales.com. Member-generated content is a cornerstone of the DrivingSales community, and the site continues to draw industry thought leaders who are contributing best practices in their areas of expertise.
"The DrivingSales Blogs are a collection of the best blogs in our business – written by industry insiders who have a valuable opinion to share with our dealer audience,” commented Jared Hamilton, DrivingSales founder and CEO. “Our stance is: if you have value to add, we have an audience to share it with. Having just opened DrivingSales.com to the whole industry last month, we’re thrilled to see so many of the most respected names in the business already on board. We’re looking forward to having more join us in the common months.”
The following is a sam...

There are all sorts of changes being made in the dealership industry today.  Sales are plummeting this year, more than experts expected; in the mean time, people are scrambling to find ways to draw back the clientele.  A large portion of it has to do with the popular “green” agenda.  Everyone is going green, especially as truck and SUV sales decrease, and the demand for smaller, more fuel efficient cars outweigh the supply.  But what happens when we take a step back from evaluating what we are selling to our customers and focus more on who our customers are? 
 
Who are our typical customers?  Fifteen year old kids hoping to get a massive gift from mom and dad for their sweet sixteen?  Ha! They wish.  How about men shopping for a new car for themselves or their family?  Sounds more like it?  Think again.  In fact, the more common consumer purchasing cars is female.  I’ll say it again: female.
 
For most women, shopping for a car is an uncomfortable experience th...

Washed titles on cars that have been previously damaged are becoming a bigger issue with every passing summer of natural disasters, not to mention car accidents in general.  Recently, Automotive News reported that a new VIN database supported by the National Insurance Crime Bureau will help keep track of information needed to harness the continuing title washing.  Although many people and organizations in the automotive industry, including NADA, feel that this is a minimal safety net, it will surely contribute to more stringent records of previously damaged vehicles.   

NADA is still pushing for full disclosure of all total-loss vehicles, hopefully the next step in eliminating title washing; however, they aren’t satisfied there.  In the meantime, they have provided 10 helpful inspection tips to educate people in the Midwest and elsewhere (http://www.nada.org/Advocacy+Outreach/LegislativeAffairs/Vehicle+Total-Loss+Disclosure/Tips+-+English.htm).  These tips help guide people ...

Salt Lake City, UT, June 9, 2008 — DrivingSales.com, the auto dealer industry's original online community and social networking site, today announced the launch of its first best practices contest. The inaugural event will put the brightest minds in the automotive industry to the challenge of submitting the best sales strategy or spiff. Members of the DrivingSales community will review and rate the strategies based on their ingenuity, usefulness and effectiveness, and the contributor of the most highly rated strategy will win a new MacBook Air. This marks the beginning of a series of contests hosted by DrivingSales, which will be an integral element of the site experience, and will help drive quality content and provide maximum benefit to the members of this unique online community.

The contest closes and the ratings will be tallied at midnight on Friday, July 25, 2008. Members are encouraged to post their strategies and spiffs as early as possible in order to receive the most rat...

Salt Lake City, UT, June 2, 2008 — DrivingSales.com, the auto dealer industry's original online community and social networking site, today announced that it is now open to all automotive industry professionals for networking, sharing best practices, rating vendors, and maximizing success.

Launched in 2003, before any other social networking sites existed for dealers, DrivingSales was created by Jared Hamilton, while a student at NADA's Dealer Candidate Academy, as a way for his class mates to keep in touch and share best practices. By popular demand, the DrivingSales.com community has evolved into a platform where members can post profiles; network; share sales strategies; rate and review vendors; and access relevant content contributed by industry experts, including blogs, videos, interviews, and more. In addition, vendors get the opportunity to post profiles, showcase their products and services, blog, and provide feedback on reviews.

DrivingSales will also host regular cont...

Registering with DrivingSales automatically signs you up to receive the newsletter. You have the option to unsubscribe with every mailing of the newsletter at the bottom of the page. To view previous newsletters, click the "News" icon in the upper right hand corner of any DrivingSales page. The news links to the right include one for newsletters. Selecting that link will allow you to browse previous newsletters....

To rate a company or product that you'vehad experience with, start by reading the Rules and Guidelines, located on the left hand side of the screen. Access the company or product you wish to review in the same way you would if you wanted to read their wiki showcase. When you'vefound the one you're interested in, click "Review," located off to the right. This allows you to access the company (or specific products the company offers) that you wish to review. Select a rating based on a 5 Star Rating Scale (1 = poorest, 5 = best), describe your comments about the vendor, indicate if you are a current or prior customer, and whether or not you would recommend the company or product. Once you'veentered in all your information, click the "Rate it" button. Now you'vecontributed to the vendor ratings!

All ratings must be honest and accurate. The system works because the community is fair with one another. Please note that the company rating is the average rating of all the company products. You...

The growth of knowledge in a Wiki community depends on your participation. The information in the wiki showcases is intended to be purely factual. With regard to company information, we are looking for history, events, and other facts about the company that would give dealers a glimpse of who this company is and what they stand for.

To view the companies and products that have been rated, first click the "Vendor Rating" link located at the top of the screen to the right. On the left hand side, choose the category of the company or product that you want to review, choosing from either CRM, internet leads, inventory advertisers, search marketing, or websites. Clicking on the link will display a list of companies that offer products or services in that category. Selecting a company or product will allow you to view the information. If you would like to edit the information, click "Edit" to contribute. Remember, the site is based on honesty. The name of the person who most recently updat...

strategy rating is the best way to endorse (or reject) other strategies that you'vetried and have comments about. You can also see what others have rated the strategy as well as an average of all the ratings. Their average rating is posted to the right of the strategy titles when viewing the list of strategies posted in the Strategies page. For more information, select the strategy you're interested in. This takes you to more information about the strategy, where you can see the average dealer rating and what percent of the time it is recommended, both on the right side of the page.

To add a rating, select "Rate this strategy" under "Dealer Rating" on the right side of the page. This gives you information about the strategy, followed by the opportunity to comment on the strategy, select a rating based on a 5 Star Rating Scale (1 = poorest, 5 = best), and select yes or no regarding if you would recommend it. When you're all through, click the "Rate it" button. Now your rating and com...

strategy sharing is an excellent avenue through which you and the other professionals in the industry can share strategies that produced results in the automotive world and those that didn't.

To view the strategies that others have posted, click the "Strategies" link on the very upper right hand corner of the page. This brings you to the Strategy home page where you can select the option to view recently added strategies, or strategies specific to particular departments including parts, service, new or used cars, or internet or BDC. Select whichever department you are interested in, bringing you to a list of all the strategies posted relevant to that department, with information including the strategy title, date it was posted, and average rating. Click the strategy title to find out more information about that specific strategy.

Any of the pages in the "Strategies" departments allows you to add your own new strategy. Simply click the "Add New Strategy" link at the bottom right. Her...

Experts from all over the country are talking about industry. So, what are they saying? To find out, check out the blogs by clicking the "blog" icon in the upper right hand corner. This directs you to a list of the most recently added blogs, as well as information about the bloggers themselves. You can click on the author of the blog's name to find out information about the blogger, or clicking on the title of the blog will give you the full blog posting.

To browse a list of all the blogs posted, click on the "blogroll" to the left of the page. Again, select the author of the blog's name to find out information about the blogger, or click on the title of the blog to give you the full posting of the blog.

Here's how the blogs works: Blog contributors from all over the country share their expertise about the industry along with some flair of personality. Only assigned people are designated bloggers. Generally speaking, any DrivingSales community member can leave a comment in response...

Endorsements are a great way to recognize the capable, committed, and productive professionals in our industry, and it's simple to do! Simply access the profile page of the individuals you would like to endorse through your phonebook, your network, or by searching them out, and click on the "Endorse [Name]" link under their contact information. Next, type in the endorsement you would like you leave about them. It can include anything from your transaction experience, their pleasant demeanor, their level of professionalism, etc. When you're through ranting and raving about how great the person is, click the "Endorse" button at the bottom and you're all set! That endorsement will be sent to them and visible for all other colleagues to see how wonderful they really are.

You can see endorsements about individuals as well as all the endorsements that individual has made for others. This feature is great for you to be able to see who your trusted colleagues recommend working with. This info...

start by logging in to DrivingSales and click the big, fat, green "GROW" button in the middle of the "My Home" page (you can't miss it). This takes you directly to the bulk invitation page where you can enter the contact information of individuals you want to invite into your network, including their names and e-mail addresses. There is a default message that will be sent to each individual (underneath where you enter in the contact information), but feel free to modify it if you wish. When you're ready to invite them, click the "Send Message" button at the bottom and sit back while your network expands exponentially.

Thanks to the bulk invite, it doesn't take any time. Now if they choose not to accept your invitation, that's an issue we can't take care of; However, once they do, their contact information will be added directly into your Phone book. And that's how you grow your network.

If you'd like to see who you'vealready sent invitations to, click the "My Invitations" button on t...