Jared Hamilton Blog
Total Posts: 156
JH
DrivingSales inc
Mar 3, 2011
Welcome the newsest DrivingSales team member!
I’m very happy to announce the latest member of the DrivingSales team, Lindsey Auguste!
Lindsey will serve as our Editorial Director and will oversee some exciting plans we have to develop a stream of premium content for the community. (More on this later…)
Lindsey is amazingly smart and lots of fun, she will fit right in with everyone here on DrivingSales. Prior to joining us, she worked at Stanford University, where she did research for their Psychology Department. She is originally from the Bay Area, in Northern California and she graduated from Chapman University in Orange County. While in So Cal she got her first taste of the auto industry by working part time at a local dealership. As you all know, no matter how hard we try, when the car business bug bites you, you’re a lifer! As mentioned earlier, Lindsey will be working to manage some streams of premium content that we are developing. We will be doing regular research papers on dealership best practices and industry trends. We will soon be launching regular columns about industry leaders and some of the cool things they are doing. We also have few surprises we are not quite ready to let out yet... but these will be announced soon.
The objective of the DrivingSales community has remained the same since I first created it back in 2003 to network my Dealer Academy class together. DrivingSales is built to connect dealers with the people and information they need to be the most successful. The community is about you, the members and making each of your dealership departments more profitable.
Lindsey is here to serve the community by ensuring that we generate top of the line, relevant information while making sure each member has the ability to contribute in the ways they want. If you have any ideas or content that you’d like to see, would like to contribute through a featured blog or just want to say hi, don’t hesitate to contact her at lindsey@drivingsales.com.
Please give Lindsey a warm welcome to the community.
Please give Lindsey a warm welcome to the community.
4739
JH
DrivingSales inc
Mar 3, 2011
Welcome the newsest DrivingSales team member!
I’m very happy to announce the latest member of the DrivingSales team, Lindsey Auguste!
Lindsey will serve as our Editorial Director and will oversee some exciting plans we have to develop a stream of premium content for the community. (More on this later…)
Lindsey is amazingly smart and lots of fun, she will fit right in with everyone here on DrivingSales. Prior to joining us, she worked at Stanford University, where she did research for their Psychology Department. She is originally from the Bay Area, in Northern California and she graduated from Chapman University in Orange County. While in So Cal she got her first taste of the auto industry by working part time at a local dealership. As you all know, no matter how hard we try, when the car business bug bites you, you’re a lifer! As mentioned earlier, Lindsey will be working to manage some streams of premium content that we are developing. We will be doing regular research papers on dealership best practices and industry trends. We will soon be launching regular columns about industry leaders and some of the cool things they are doing. We also have few surprises we are not quite ready to let out yet... but these will be announced soon.
The objective of the DrivingSales community has remained the same since I first created it back in 2003 to network my Dealer Academy class together. DrivingSales is built to connect dealers with the people and information they need to be the most successful. The community is about you, the members and making each of your dealership departments more profitable.
Lindsey is here to serve the community by ensuring that we generate top of the line, relevant information while making sure each member has the ability to contribute in the ways they want. If you have any ideas or content that you’d like to see, would like to contribute through a featured blog or just want to say hi, don’t hesitate to contact her at lindsey@drivingsales.com.
Please give Lindsey a warm welcome to the community.
Please give Lindsey a warm welcome to the community.
4739
No Comments
JH
DrivingSales inc
Mar 3, 2011
Who would you like to see keynote #DSES 2011?
I know it seems like the next DrivingSales Executive Summit is a ways away, but planning has already begun. In fact, in the coming weeks we are going to announce the date and venue. Just waiting on a few final details.
In the meantime I have been giving a lot of thought lately to who we should bring in as the keynote speakers.
One of the thing the sets the DrivingSales Executive Summit apart from other events is we focus on bringing in some of the worlds foremost experts in various fields, from OUTSIDE the industry, to talk about trends that are coming into the auto industry. Since our event is geared to serve the most progressive dealership executive teams, we feel it’s important to be inspired to create the future, not just live it.
Who inspires you? What would you love to learn about? Many of these speakers get booked MONTHS in advance so its important that we start inviting some of them now.
Last year Dealer.com sponsored us bringing in Jeremiah Owyang, Scott Monty, Dan Zarella and Joel Rusticcia. Needless to say the speaking lineup was an awesome!
To help bring in the best Keynotes, think about this and answer the questions below:
Imagine you were going to have an awesome brainstorm session with your executive team and a group of the most progressive dealers in the country. You will be discussing how to invent the future of your business and will be creating a business plan to tackle the following year. Who would you like to keynote that meeting and inspire your thoughts and conversation? What would you have them talk about? Marketing? Business models? Customer service or another dealership related topic? Its totally open and we want all your suggestions.
Who would you like to see Keynote this years #DSES?
8069
No Comments
JH
DrivingSales inc
Mar 3, 2011
Who would you like to see keynote #DSES 2011?
I know it seems like the next DrivingSales Executive Summit is a ways away, but planning has already begun. In fact, in the coming weeks we are going to announce the date and venue. Just waiting on a few final details.
In the meantime I have been giving a lot of thought lately to who we should bring in as the keynote speakers.
One of the thing the sets the DrivingSales Executive Summit apart from other events is we focus on bringing in some of the worlds foremost experts in various fields, from OUTSIDE the industry, to talk about trends that are coming into the auto industry. Since our event is geared to serve the most progressive dealership executive teams, we feel it’s important to be inspired to create the future, not just live it.
Who inspires you? What would you love to learn about? Many of these speakers get booked MONTHS in advance so its important that we start inviting some of them now.
Last year Dealer.com sponsored us bringing in Jeremiah Owyang, Scott Monty, Dan Zarella and Joel Rusticcia. Needless to say the speaking lineup was an awesome!
To help bring in the best Keynotes, think about this and answer the questions below:
Imagine you were going to have an awesome brainstorm session with your executive team and a group of the most progressive dealers in the country. You will be discussing how to invent the future of your business and will be creating a business plan to tackle the following year. Who would you like to keynote that meeting and inspire your thoughts and conversation? What would you have them talk about? Marketing? Business models? Customer service or another dealership related topic? Its totally open and we want all your suggestions.
Who would you like to see Keynote this years #DSES?
8069
No Comments
JH
DrivingSales inc
Sep 9, 2010
Digital Dealer, JD Powers or DrivingSales, Where should I go?
Which fall event should you attend?
With so many great choices in industry conferences this fall, many dealership managers are asking which event to attend. It’s a fair question that I want to answer publically.
Personally, I will try to attend all of them. If you can do the same, you will certainly benefit. However, if you have to choose it’s not a matter of selecting which is good and which is bad. They are all good, but each has its own flavor and serves a different audience. Deciding where to go is an issue of learning which event is right for you and your goals.
JD Power Internet Round Table:
JD Power Internet Round Table is a high level Internet marketing event. It has a big audience, mostly made up of executives from OEMs, Agencies and Vendors. A very small percentage of the audience is dealership personnel; this event will have the fewest dealers in attendance of any. I assume that is by design. JD Powers seems to serve the agency, and OEM world the best.
The topics are not designed around the dealership operations level, but they are innovative, educational and inspiring at the 30,000-foot industry view.
This event is very high quality, good topics and speakers. If you are looking to network with technology execs and see high level OEM data this event is right up your alley. I always enjoy my time there.
Digital Dealer Conference:
The Digital Dealer Conference happens twice per year, in the spring and fall, unlike JDPAIRT, they specifically target dealership personnel. The event is large with lots of variety. Digital Dealer has a strong focus on the "101" stuff, in fact a whole day is dedicated to ”newbie training.” This is valuable if you are just getting into the business.
Unfortunately, I continually hear from dealers that big portions of the workshops are just a 45-minute product demo or sales pitch. This is a huge problem that Digital Dealer has been facing for years, they were smart to hire Cliff Banks and have him work on the issue. It's important to know which presentations are high quality and to make a plan of what to see to avoid wasting your time with bad info or a sales pitch disguised as a workshop.
I’d recommend seeing Sean Raines, Brian Pasch and Joe Webb without hesitation; they (and others) always provide huge value for your time. Joe Orr is a dealer from Oregon and will be speaking this year too, be sure to see his presentation. He spoke at the DrivingSales Executive Summit last year and did an amazing job. They were smart to invite him to speak at DD9; he will be one of the stars for sure!
In the end, DD9 is a good event, and the best place to lock in the basic education for your store.
DrivingSales Executive Summit:
The DSES is the youngest of the events. Last year it was an “invitation only" gathering for a specific group of progressive dealers. This year the doors have been opened for a limited number of attendees, but the focus is to exclusively serve more advanced dealers.
There is no “newbie” or 101 training at DSES. Every topic is for a progressive crowd and designed to support the dealership leader in creating and executing an advanced strategy.
Rather than sell speaking spots to vendors, DrivingSales has dealers suggest topics, and then hires the world’s experts on those topics to deliver the keynote messages. This puts the quality of the presentations at a whole new level above the other conferences. This year Jeremiah Owyang, a world-renowned web strategist and analyst, Dan Zarella, the social media scientist from Hub Spot and Scott Monty, worldwide head of social media for Ford, will be instructing the audience. There will be a dozen breakouts with dealers delivering case studies on how they achieved amazing results and industry experts running training workshops.
DSES is designed as a smaller, more exclusive event. The combination of the highest quality speakers, the advanced topics and the concentration of progressive dealers make this the best event for progressive dealership leaders. It may not be the right choice for an ISM just getting into their position.
How to see them all:
To see all the events in a year you should attend Digital Dealer in the spring, and then DrivingSales and JD Powers in the fall. Logistically this is easy to do because DrivingSales and JDPAIRT are both in Vegas, plus DSES ends the day JD PAIRT starts. It’s easy to see both in one trip.
Remember that many of Digital Dealer’s speakers present the same subject matter year after year. Attending their show in the spring will help you get the basics down, then you could take things to a new level at the more progressive shows in the fall.
In the end, I think there is very little dealer overlap between Digital Dealer and DrivingSales since the DSES topics are more advanced. There is a large overlap in vendor attendance at each show especially given that many Digital Dealer presenters come to DrivingSales not to speak, but to network and learn. This is a great testament to the level of speakers at DSES over the Digital Dealer events.
If you are a Dealer Principal, General Manager or senior executive and are still undecided let me close with this thought. If you have attended Digital Dealer in the past, consider expanding your educational experience and take your dealership operations to the next level by attending DrivingSales Executive Summit. With fresh content and the leading experts teaching on the strategies you need to compete in 2011, is there really a choice?
Your education is important:
Having conference choices is a fantastic thing for dealers. Each event is geared slightly differently and regardless of where you go you will be better equipped to handle the ever-changing market. If you must decide between events, go to the one that will serve your goals the best.
Remember the price of education is nothing compared to the price of ignorance! Make sure you attend at least one of the fall events. Invest in your education; its what makes you great!
Visit the DrivingSales Executive Summit site.
Visit the Digital Dealer 9 Site
Visit the JD Power Internet Roundtable site.
6748
No Comments
JH
DrivingSales inc
Sep 9, 2010
Digital Dealer, JD Powers or DrivingSales, Where should I go?
Which fall event should you attend?
With so many great choices in industry conferences this fall, many dealership managers are asking which event to attend. It’s a fair question that I want to answer publically.
Personally, I will try to attend all of them. If you can do the same, you will certainly benefit. However, if you have to choose it’s not a matter of selecting which is good and which is bad. They are all good, but each has its own flavor and serves a different audience. Deciding where to go is an issue of learning which event is right for you and your goals.
JD Power Internet Round Table:
JD Power Internet Round Table is a high level Internet marketing event. It has a big audience, mostly made up of executives from OEMs, Agencies and Vendors. A very small percentage of the audience is dealership personnel; this event will have the fewest dealers in attendance of any. I assume that is by design. JD Powers seems to serve the agency, and OEM world the best.
The topics are not designed around the dealership operations level, but they are innovative, educational and inspiring at the 30,000-foot industry view.
This event is very high quality, good topics and speakers. If you are looking to network with technology execs and see high level OEM data this event is right up your alley. I always enjoy my time there.
Digital Dealer Conference:
The Digital Dealer Conference happens twice per year, in the spring and fall, unlike JDPAIRT, they specifically target dealership personnel. The event is large with lots of variety. Digital Dealer has a strong focus on the "101" stuff, in fact a whole day is dedicated to ”newbie training.” This is valuable if you are just getting into the business.
Unfortunately, I continually hear from dealers that big portions of the workshops are just a 45-minute product demo or sales pitch. This is a huge problem that Digital Dealer has been facing for years, they were smart to hire Cliff Banks and have him work on the issue. It's important to know which presentations are high quality and to make a plan of what to see to avoid wasting your time with bad info or a sales pitch disguised as a workshop.
I’d recommend seeing Sean Raines, Brian Pasch and Joe Webb without hesitation; they (and others) always provide huge value for your time. Joe Orr is a dealer from Oregon and will be speaking this year too, be sure to see his presentation. He spoke at the DrivingSales Executive Summit last year and did an amazing job. They were smart to invite him to speak at DD9; he will be one of the stars for sure!
In the end, DD9 is a good event, and the best place to lock in the basic education for your store.
DrivingSales Executive Summit:
The DSES is the youngest of the events. Last year it was an “invitation only" gathering for a specific group of progressive dealers. This year the doors have been opened for a limited number of attendees, but the focus is to exclusively serve more advanced dealers.
There is no “newbie” or 101 training at DSES. Every topic is for a progressive crowd and designed to support the dealership leader in creating and executing an advanced strategy.
Rather than sell speaking spots to vendors, DrivingSales has dealers suggest topics, and then hires the world’s experts on those topics to deliver the keynote messages. This puts the quality of the presentations at a whole new level above the other conferences. This year Jeremiah Owyang, a world-renowned web strategist and analyst, Dan Zarella, the social media scientist from Hub Spot and Scott Monty, worldwide head of social media for Ford, will be instructing the audience. There will be a dozen breakouts with dealers delivering case studies on how they achieved amazing results and industry experts running training workshops.
DSES is designed as a smaller, more exclusive event. The combination of the highest quality speakers, the advanced topics and the concentration of progressive dealers make this the best event for progressive dealership leaders. It may not be the right choice for an ISM just getting into their position.
How to see them all:
To see all the events in a year you should attend Digital Dealer in the spring, and then DrivingSales and JD Powers in the fall. Logistically this is easy to do because DrivingSales and JDPAIRT are both in Vegas, plus DSES ends the day JD PAIRT starts. It’s easy to see both in one trip.
Remember that many of Digital Dealer’s speakers present the same subject matter year after year. Attending their show in the spring will help you get the basics down, then you could take things to a new level at the more progressive shows in the fall.
In the end, I think there is very little dealer overlap between Digital Dealer and DrivingSales since the DSES topics are more advanced. There is a large overlap in vendor attendance at each show especially given that many Digital Dealer presenters come to DrivingSales not to speak, but to network and learn. This is a great testament to the level of speakers at DSES over the Digital Dealer events.
If you are a Dealer Principal, General Manager or senior executive and are still undecided let me close with this thought. If you have attended Digital Dealer in the past, consider expanding your educational experience and take your dealership operations to the next level by attending DrivingSales Executive Summit. With fresh content and the leading experts teaching on the strategies you need to compete in 2011, is there really a choice?
Your education is important:
Having conference choices is a fantastic thing for dealers. Each event is geared slightly differently and regardless of where you go you will be better equipped to handle the ever-changing market. If you must decide between events, go to the one that will serve your goals the best.
Remember the price of education is nothing compared to the price of ignorance! Make sure you attend at least one of the fall events. Invest in your education; its what makes you great!
Visit the DrivingSales Executive Summit site.
Visit the Digital Dealer 9 Site
Visit the JD Power Internet Roundtable site.
6748
No Comments
JH
DrivingSales inc
May 5, 2010
Why is President Obama focused on forcing expensive regulation onto dealerships as if they are banks?
President Obama is on a mission to make sure a financial collapse like we recently experienced does not happen again. I think we can all applaud this greater vision. However, he is making a serious miscalculation in executing his reform that could affect us all in the auto industry.
We all know that dealerships help customers get financing for their car purchases, but that dealerships themselves are NOT the lenders who underwrite the loans. Dealerships help consumers by connecting them to banks, credit unions and manufacturer lending sources. Most dealerships simply act is a customer liaison to the loans; the dealers themselves are not banks.
The President's financial reform bill regulates big banks; however the way it is written it also includes dealerships in the regulation. This would be expensive for dealerships to comply with and it could actually reduce consumers lending options, which would in-turn cost the customers more money. It’s not a good thing for our industry, or consumers, the way it is written.
Senator Brownback has proposed an amendment that exempts non-lending dealers from this additional regulation. Basically he is saying, “Dealerships are not banks and should not be burdened with being regulated as such.” Naturally, those dealerships that are also banks would be regulated under his amendment, but there is no need to make non-lending dealers comply with bank regulation.
There has been a major political fight brewing and mud being slung in both directions. Even the military & Pentagon have gotten involved slamming dealerships in the press saying they unfairly target and take advantage of consumers and thus should be under regulation. Last week even President Obama made a very misleading statement that targeted auto dealerships and painted the picture that dealerships are taking advantage of customers. This is not good PR for our industry regardless of how the vote is passed. Dealerships are filled with good people trying to correct the bad reputation our industry has, we don’t need politicians, especially the Commander in Chief, publically insulting us with misleading statements.
The facts are the Brownback amendment exempts non-lending dealerships from this regulation. Those stores are not banks and should not be regulated as big banks.
Regulating all dealerships in the way the financial bill states could limit dealerships ability to help consumers get loans. This would make it harder for customers to buy cars and could even cost more money. We saw during the congressional hearings for the bailouts, few politicians understand the car business. Many didn't even understand the relationship between dealerships and manufacturers, and now it appears they dont understand the relationships between dealerships and banks.
The NADA has been defending us on Capital Hill and the vote to pass or reject Senator Brownback’s amendment could happen as early as today. Has your dealership called your Representatives to tell them that you are not a bank and do not need to be regulated as such? Do you support the Brownback amendment? You should. Here is more info from the NADA on how.
The industry has had enough hurt over the last 18 months; we don’t need more self-inflicted wounds from our Commander in Chief. Does it feel like our industry is becoming much less of a free market? First, forced dealership closures... now this. What’s next...?
Here is the official Statement from President Obama last week in its entirety:
2856
No Comments
JH
DrivingSales inc
May 5, 2010
Why is President Obama focused on forcing expensive regulation onto dealerships as if they are banks?
President Obama is on a mission to make sure a financial collapse like we recently experienced does not happen again. I think we can all applaud this greater vision. However, he is making a serious miscalculation in executing his reform that could affect us all in the auto industry.
We all know that dealerships help customers get financing for their car purchases, but that dealerships themselves are NOT the lenders who underwrite the loans. Dealerships help consumers by connecting them to banks, credit unions and manufacturer lending sources. Most dealerships simply act is a customer liaison to the loans; the dealers themselves are not banks.
The President's financial reform bill regulates big banks; however the way it is written it also includes dealerships in the regulation. This would be expensive for dealerships to comply with and it could actually reduce consumers lending options, which would in-turn cost the customers more money. It’s not a good thing for our industry, or consumers, the way it is written.
Senator Brownback has proposed an amendment that exempts non-lending dealers from this additional regulation. Basically he is saying, “Dealerships are not banks and should not be burdened with being regulated as such.” Naturally, those dealerships that are also banks would be regulated under his amendment, but there is no need to make non-lending dealers comply with bank regulation.
There has been a major political fight brewing and mud being slung in both directions. Even the military & Pentagon have gotten involved slamming dealerships in the press saying they unfairly target and take advantage of consumers and thus should be under regulation. Last week even President Obama made a very misleading statement that targeted auto dealerships and painted the picture that dealerships are taking advantage of customers. This is not good PR for our industry regardless of how the vote is passed. Dealerships are filled with good people trying to correct the bad reputation our industry has, we don’t need politicians, especially the Commander in Chief, publically insulting us with misleading statements.
The facts are the Brownback amendment exempts non-lending dealerships from this regulation. Those stores are not banks and should not be regulated as big banks.
Regulating all dealerships in the way the financial bill states could limit dealerships ability to help consumers get loans. This would make it harder for customers to buy cars and could even cost more money. We saw during the congressional hearings for the bailouts, few politicians understand the car business. Many didn't even understand the relationship between dealerships and manufacturers, and now it appears they dont understand the relationships between dealerships and banks.
The NADA has been defending us on Capital Hill and the vote to pass or reject Senator Brownback’s amendment could happen as early as today. Has your dealership called your Representatives to tell them that you are not a bank and do not need to be regulated as such? Do you support the Brownback amendment? You should. Here is more info from the NADA on how.
The industry has had enough hurt over the last 18 months; we don’t need more self-inflicted wounds from our Commander in Chief. Does it feel like our industry is becoming much less of a free market? First, forced dealership closures... now this. What’s next...?
Here is the official Statement from President Obama last week in its entirety:
2856
No Comments
JH
DrivingSales inc
Apr 4, 2010
As most of you know I’m a third generation dealer. My grandfather started his first Lincoln Mercury dealership in the Bay Area in 1964. My father took over the dealership later on and added an independent lot and a Jeep Franchise. I’ve grown up in the business, mostly working for other dealer groups and have attended NADA’s Dealer Candidate Academy in preparation to buy my own store. As a child when my friends would say they were going to be policemen or firemen when they grew up, I always answered, “I want to be a car dealer when I grow up.” I’ve been passionate about the business long before I understood it.
Its been almost 2 years since I left the day to day dealership world and have focused on building DrivingSales. My objective is simple: give all dealers 24-7 access to proven best practices and industry innovations. Those on the front lines need better information than they currently get, faster than they can currently get it. I’m very passionate about solving this issue for the industry and we are making some great strides in that direction. (But still have a long way to go.) Things at DrivingSales are going GREAT and we have a team committed to keeping it growing and executing on our goals in some amazing ways; but at the same time felt I could accomplish two dreams at once. Given the current market, it’s a GREAT time to buy a store… so that’s what I did.
I’ve now got a new blue oval!
I decided to purchase a new Ford dealership. Its in the western united states, but since we have not told the employees yet I cant say which city. Some of my closer friends have known this is in the works and have really been encouraging me to do it. It’s a currently a smaller store, sells about 75 cars, 45 new 30 used. Naturally we plan to grow the store through some aggressive online efforts.
The store has a standard negotiation process, I’m debating going to a One Price model. I’m a big fan of One Price stores and have quite a few years experience running them. It’s a natural transition for me and I think plays well with the online world, obviously where the market is headed.
So, big news at DrivingSales… Id love to hear you thoughts about the first thing you would do if you just bought and are taking over a new Ford store? Any and all advice is appreciated. (No it wont be called DrivingSales, we are debating "Hamilton Ford or (City)Ford."... thoughts?)
I'm VERY stoked!
4684
No Comments
JH
DrivingSales inc
Apr 4, 2010
As most of you know I’m a third generation dealer. My grandfather started his first Lincoln Mercury dealership in the Bay Area in 1964. My father took over the dealership later on and added an independent lot and a Jeep Franchise. I’ve grown up in the business, mostly working for other dealer groups and have attended NADA’s Dealer Candidate Academy in preparation to buy my own store. As a child when my friends would say they were going to be policemen or firemen when they grew up, I always answered, “I want to be a car dealer when I grow up.” I’ve been passionate about the business long before I understood it.
Its been almost 2 years since I left the day to day dealership world and have focused on building DrivingSales. My objective is simple: give all dealers 24-7 access to proven best practices and industry innovations. Those on the front lines need better information than they currently get, faster than they can currently get it. I’m very passionate about solving this issue for the industry and we are making some great strides in that direction. (But still have a long way to go.) Things at DrivingSales are going GREAT and we have a team committed to keeping it growing and executing on our goals in some amazing ways; but at the same time felt I could accomplish two dreams at once. Given the current market, it’s a GREAT time to buy a store… so that’s what I did.
I’ve now got a new blue oval!
I decided to purchase a new Ford dealership. Its in the western united states, but since we have not told the employees yet I cant say which city. Some of my closer friends have known this is in the works and have really been encouraging me to do it. It’s a currently a smaller store, sells about 75 cars, 45 new 30 used. Naturally we plan to grow the store through some aggressive online efforts.
The store has a standard negotiation process, I’m debating going to a One Price model. I’m a big fan of One Price stores and have quite a few years experience running them. It’s a natural transition for me and I think plays well with the online world, obviously where the market is headed.
So, big news at DrivingSales… Id love to hear you thoughts about the first thing you would do if you just bought and are taking over a new Ford store? Any and all advice is appreciated. (No it wont be called DrivingSales, we are debating "Hamilton Ford or (City)Ford."... thoughts?)
I'm VERY stoked!
4684
No Comments
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