The countdown has begun! Today marks 100 days until the DrivingSales Executive Summit, October 21-23 at the Bellagio Las Vegas!  The event will kick off with mobile extraordinaire, Luke Wroblewski, followed by a power-packed lineup including Billy Beane of ‘Moneyball” fame, CEO of SEOmoz, Rand Fishkin, a joint presentation from Facebook’s Doug Frisbee and Google’s Kate Balingit, and a whole host of high profile keynotes that have yet to be announced. Vendors don't choose the content, you do. This is a dealer-driven event laser-focused on sharing actionable content that will help fuel your business plan for the upcoming year. DSES will surely be the premiere automotive conference of the year.

To celebrate the 100-day mark, we’re offering $100 off registration for TODAY ONLY.  Simple make your way to dses.com/registration and enter the promotional code 100.  Yep, enter 100 to receive $100 off DSES registration with 100 days to go.  Once applied, you can proceed with registration as usual.

The DrivingSales Executive Summit has sold out every year, and although we’ve allowed for additional seating, it’s going fast.  We’ve already completely SOLD OUT of our private meeting space, and the tickets won’t last much longer either.  Reserve your seat today and celebrate 100 days to go with $100 off your registration. We look forward to seeing you in October!

As always, if you have any questions about registration or the event in general, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I’m available via email at lindsey@drivingsales.com, on twitter via @lindseyauguste, or even the old fashioned-way, but a long-time favorite, via phone at (866) 943-8371.

Register Now – See you in 100 days!

We always have great conversations going on at DrivingSales.com, and last week was no different.  We especially stirred the pot with discussions on hot topics like Google entering the automotive inventory space as well as a conversation comparing AutoTrader.com and Cars.com.  You surely won’t want to miss these Top 5 Trending Posts:

Comparing AutoTrader.com and Cars.com – Lindsey Auguste and Dennis Galbraith

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/InvestigativeReporting/2012/06/28/comparing-autotradercom-and-carscom

Digging Deeper into the Google New Car Lead Generation Program – Brian Pasch

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/paschconsulting/2012/06/28/digging-deeper-into-the-google-new-car-lead-generation-program

SOCIAL MEDIA ROI: You Have to Create It. – Chris Costner

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/costnerchris/2012/06/28/social-media-roi-you-have-to-create-it

10 Reasons Why You Should have a Mobile Site – Ketty Colom

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/kettyatactivengage/2012/07/02/10-reasons-why-you-should-have-a-mobile-site

Getting Your Dealership Ready For Apple Maps – Ed Brooks

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/VelocitySales/2012/06/28/getting-your-dealership-ready-for-apple-maps-

There are tons of automotive conferences in our industry.  Every time we turn around, another has popped onto the scene and you can only hope that it’s located somewhere that you’d actually like to travel to.  This difficult this is trying to decide which one to attend.  As conferences grow, they have the ability to lose their purpose and focus on increasing registration numbers instead of how to provide more value to their attendees.

The DrivingSales Executive Summit has always been dealer-driven and laser focused on fueling Dealership Operators with cutting edge strategies and peer-to-peer collaboration.  But what started out as an invitation-only event has now grown to the point where the fire marshal had to reprimand us for an over-capacity room in 2011.  The demand for this premier automotive conference has forced us to allow for an additional number of registrations, and we’re excited and eager to be able to provide an educational destination for progressive dealers to be inspired and to network with the industry’s most successful innovators.

The question then becomes how do we maintain the intimate networking and attention to dealers that a 100-person conference provides, but still listen to our awesome community and makes space for all those who are eager to come?  We think we’ve figured just the ticket.  For the first time at DSES, is providing private meeting space so dealer attendees can further facilitate peer-sharing, discussion, and implementation of the summit’s best-practices information.  

The private meeting rooms provide a productive opportunity for dealers with coinciding interests to meet before the summit to map out their game plan for getting the best of what DSES has to offer -- or, after the event, to discuss takeaways from the conference and formulate their plans for execution upon returning to the dealership.

Hearing from speakers like Billy Beane discussing how he transformed the Oakland A’s and baseball as a whole to execute a data driven strategy, as well as seeing digital icons Facebook and Google on-stage together – DSES promises to be the premier automotive conference that you won’t want to miss, and providing extra meeting time for dealers to prepare for or digest the actionable items they’ll learn throughout the three day event will surely add to the intimacy and collaboration dealers need to retain full value out of this jam-packed agenda.

Be sure to register while the early bird rate is still active and there are seats left. The meeting rooms are available on a first come, first served basis at no extra charge* so contact Larry Schlagheck (larry@drivingsales.com) for more details. Dealer groups, state and dealer associations, as well as OEM and vendor dealer groups are eligible to reserve meeting space.

PS – Stay tuned for DSES news as it develops on Twitter with @drivingsales and on the DrivingSales Facebook page. Participate in the conversation with the #DSES hashtag as preparations continue throughout the year.

See you in October for the most profit-building automotive event of the season at the Bellagio in Las Vegas October 21^st-23^rd!

*A minimum of 20 dealers must attend in order to qualify for free meeting space. Companies or dealer groups hosting the meeting will be required to buy a bulk group of tickets, at a discount rate. All dealers attending the meetings must be registered for DSES. Additional items such as A/V equipment, food, and drink are not included.

You can find the official release under the Recent New section at www.drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com.

Summer is in full force these days – the weather is hot, the BBQ is on, and people are out and about.  Hopefully that means they’re making their way to your lots looking for new summer rides or family vehicles to take the kids to soccer games.  While you’re keeping busy with your summer customers, we’ve put together this week’s Top 5 Trending posts – the most shared and most engaging posts from last week.  Be sure to check them out!

Facebook and Google On-Stage Together #DSES 2012! – Lindsey Auguste

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/LindseyAuguste/2012/06/18/facebook-and-google-onstage-together-dses-2012

Wi-Fi Tracking and Why You Need to Know About It – Russ Chandler

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/TricksforTrade/2012/06/19/wifi-tracking-and-why-you-need-to-know-about-it

Time To Change Group Portal Websites To Avoid Google SEO Penalties – Brian Pasch

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/paschconsulting/2012/06/22/time-to-change-group-portal-websites-to-avoid-google-seo-penalties

Cars.com Reviews Coming to Google+ Local – Russ Chandler

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/TricksforTrade/2012/06/22/carscom-reviews-coming-to-google-local-

Be a Beastie Boy – Joe Webb

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/joewebb/2012/06/18/be-a-beastie-boy

Have you seen the Oscar nominated movie, “Moneyball?”  I love that movie. Maybe it’s because I’m an Oakland A’s fan.  Maybe it’s because I was at the last two games of their history-making winning streak.  Or maybe it has a little something to do with the fact that it stars Brad Pitt… maybe.  Yes, the story strikes a chord with me, but it also hits home for automotive dealers. 

If you haven’t seen the movie or read the best-selling book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, here’s a run down: Billy Bean, General Manager for the Oakland Athletics, and his former Assistant GM shattered outdated MLB beliefs that big payrolls equated wins by implementing an unconventional methodology that inevitably led one of the worst teams in the American League with one of the lowest payrolls, to three American League West Division titles.   In a nutshell, in 2003, Beane lead the A’s to win just as many games as the New York Yankees with a fraction of the budget. 

What dealer doesn’t want to walk that path? Well, not the worst team in baseball part, but implementing a “Moneyball” style of management and leadership, which involves identifying undervalued assets to create and sustain a competitive advantage.  Well, now dealers can be one step closer to learning it straight from the horse’s mouth, as Billy Beane is set to keynote the fourth annual DrivingSales Executive Summit! 

Billy Beane is one of the most progressive and talented baseball executives in the game today. Put simply, he is an operational genius, and his message will resonate with the progressive dealers at DSES because they are always the first in our industry to embrace the innovative strategies that move our industry forward.

The 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit will be held at the Bellagio Las Vegas from Sunday, October 21^st through Tuesday, October 23^rd. Last year's summit was standing room only, and although DSES 2012 will allow for an expanded number of registrants, it is expected to sell out quickly. To register for this premier automotive conference, and to take advantage of early bird registration through August 31^st, go to: http://drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com/registration/

At DrivingSales, we pride ourselves in sharing business intelligence to help your business become more profitable.  Of course, that goal doesn’t materialize if we focus to closely on one topic.  SEO isn’t the only factor that you need to excel, nor is branding or strategizing your service department.  The fact is, it takes a combination of all of these topics and more to have a well-rounded operation and give yourself the best chance of success.

The Top 5 Trending posts of this last week elicit just that.  Covering everything from branding, Google Adwords campaigns, and even challenging your vendors to be of better service, are just a few of the topics that were actively shared last week on DrivingSales.com.  Variety is the spice of life, and you won’t want to miss these.

What's Your Brand? | Jim Bell

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/jimbell/2012/06/14/whats-your-brand

Car Dealers or Vendors: Who's Lazy? | Timothy Martell 

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/timmartell/2012/06/13/car-dealers-or-vendors-whos-lazy 

Are You Running Sloppy Google Adwords Campaigns? | Brian Pasch

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/paschconsulting/2012/06/14/are-you-running-sloppy-google-adwords-campaigns

Do You Have What it Takes to Speak at #DSES? | Lindsey Auguste

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/LindseyAuguste/2012/06/18/do-you-have-what-it-takes-to-speak-at-dses

Top 5 Digital Rock Stars You Need to Follow | Christine Rochelle 

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/christine-rochelle/2012/06/08/top-5-digital-rock-stars-you-need-to-follow

When people start talking about anything Internet-related, there are two names that inevitably come up: Google and Facebook. There’s no getting around it. These two companies have fundamentally changed how and why we interact online. They’ve fueled an entire generation raised on the Internet, forced “old dogs” to learn new tricks, and undoubtedly altered the way businesses operate. Whatever changes they make to their process, we study them, learn them, and adapt accordingly.

So when we bring together the most innovative and elite dealers in our industry at the premier automotive conference of the year, it only makes sense that we bring in the most elite icons of the Internet to get the information directly from the source. For the first time in our industry, Google and Facebook will be presenting a joint keynote at the DrivingSales Executive Summit, October 21 st-23^rd at the Ballagio in Las Vegas.

Doug Frisbie, Facebook’s Head of Automotive, Global Vertical Marketing, and Kate Balingit, Dealer Strategist for Google’s Auto Industry Development Team, will each present at the session and take a deep dive into how dealers should be leveraging digital advertising and social media to strengthen their brands, drive opportunities and build lasting customer loyalty. Following the presentations, sponsored by Dealer.com, Dean Evans, Chief Marketing Officer of Subaru of North America, will facilitate a candid, interactive discussion and Q&A where dealers can get their most pressing digital questions answered.  You can read the official release in the News Section on the DrivingSales Executive Summit website.

The presentation will surely be one of the most educational and inspiring keynotes at the Summit, and one you won’t want to miss. Last year's summit was standing room only, and although DSES 2012 will allow for an expanded number of registrants, it is expected to sell out quickly. To register for the event now, and take advantage of early bird registration, click here.

For more information about the DrivingSales Executive Summit, visit: DrivingSalesExecutiveSummit.com or contact dses@drivingsales.com.  Stay tuned for DSES news as it develops on www.twitter.com/drivingsales and on facebook.com/drivingsales. Participate in the conversation with the #DSES hashtag as we announce more outstanding keynotes, events, and exciting details!

Register for DSES now!

We know that time is limited for dealership personnel and there aren’t enough minutes in the day to accomplish all your goals and check off every task on the to-do list, let alone read all the articles on DrivingSales.com.  In fact, we hope you can’t read all of the content because you’re too busy selling cars and taking names.  But that’s no reason why you should miss out on the hottest articles and most shared topics on DrivingSales.com – the automotive social networking site dedicated to sharing dealer best practices.

So for your convenience, below is a list of last week’s Top 5 Trending Posts on DrivingSales.com – those with the most clicks and most shares by others.  Congrats and thanks to the authors for sharing such relevant and meaningful content, and thanks to our ever-amazing community for commenting, sharing, and interacting to make the space, and your business, better.  Without further ado:

The "Feel Good" Mindset | Chris Costner

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/costnerchris/2012/05/31/the-feel-good-mindset

Say Goodbye To Google Places... And Hello to Google Local | Greg Gifford

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/autorevo/2012/05/31/say-goodbye-to-google-places-and-hello-to-google-local

Google Local takes over Places: Important Changes for Automotive Internet Marketing | Matthew OSuch

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/automotive-seo-internet-marketing/2012/05/30/google-local-takes-over-places-important-changes-for-dealers

Do OEM Mandated Websites Trigger Duplicate Content SEO Penalties From Google? | Brian Pasch

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/paschconsulting/2012/05/25/do-oem-mandated-websites-trigger-duplicate-content-seo-penalties-from-google

The Backbone to the Dealership - Are You Using it? | Jim Bell

http://www.drivingsales.com/blogs/jimbell/2012/05/30/the-backbone-to-the-dealership-are-you-using-it

Do you enjoy educating and inspiring?  Do you have cutting edge information to share with the top Dealer Executives in the country?  Then DrivingSales wants you to submit a proposal to speak at the upcoming DrivingSales Executive Summit, held at the Bellagio Las Vegas October 21-23^rd.

The DrivingSales Executive Summit is 100% dealer-driven and designed specifically for the most advanced dealer principals and dealership executives in the industry. The summit has a vendor-neutral policy, meaning there is no vendor influence on presentation selection – no pay-to-play, no sponsor sway.  In fact, the dealers themselves suggest topics they want to hear about and our Dealer Advisory board selects the speakers themselves. 

Because DSES is dealer-focused, DrivingSales accepts applications for panelists and breakout session presenters from dealer professionals, vendors, and digital marketing experts.  Applicants should feel free to submit topics that are focused on providing information that will help dealerships drive results in their stores. The Summit’s content has always reflected the hot topics dealers are buzzing about and, in turn, creates the new buzz and actionable strategies for the year ahead. 

Experienced and creative speakers and automotive professionals are invited to submit presentation proposals on innovative topics and best practices/tactics to the DrivingSales Executive Summit. All speaker applications must be emailed to submissions@drivingsales.com by Friday, June 29, 2012. Selected speakers will be notified by Friday, July 27, 2012. For more information and to download the Speaker Submission Form, go to: http://drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com/about-dses-2012/speakers-2/

For more information about the DrivingSales Executive Summit, visit: www.DrivingSalesExecutiveSummit.com or contact dses@drivingsales.com.   Last year's summit was standing room only, and although DSES 2012 will allow for an expanded number of registrants, it is expected to sell out quickly.

Register for DSES today!

Stay tuned for DSES news as it develops on www.twitter.com/drivingsales and on facebook.com/drivingsales. Participate in the conversation with the #DSES hashtag as preparations continue throughout the year.

Register for DSES today!

Imagine:  A beautiful upscale ballroom, darkened except for a spotlight on stage where the world-renowned Gary Vaynerchuck finished giving quite possibly the most power-packed social business operational advice that dealers have ever heard, and dealers responding with a clamorous standing ovation. 

Those who walked out of that Bellagio ballroom at last year’s DrivingSales Executive Summit in October left the room feeling energized, empowered, and thinking, “How are they ever going to top that?”

DrivingSales has long been working on doing just that.  As a dealer-driven event, the dealer community has had a heavy hand in our preparations and is inspiring a world-class event unlike any other.  As always, dealers suggest and ultimately select the cutting-edge topics to be discussed, with absolutely no influence from vendor sponsors.  What was that?  No vendor influence on content, no pay-to-play.  Of course, we can’t spill all of the content beans just yet, but what kind of person would I be if I didn’t share a few of the details?

Now imagine:  A keynote from a sports world celebrity; an industry-first co-presentation from two of the largest and most influential digital companies in the world; the release of proprietary research from one of the leading marketing academics on the influence of the Internet on the auto industry, and a closing keynote from one of the world’s top 5 digital influencers, presented jointly with J.D. Power & Associates’ Automotive Marketing Roundtable.   And so much more.

More details will be coming your way ASAP, but in the meantime, DSES registration is now open!  The 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit will be held at the Bellagio Las Vegas from Sunday, October 21^st through Tuesday, October 23^rd. Last year's summit was standing room only, and although DSES 2012 will allow for an expanded number of registrants, it is expected to sell out quickly.  Register now to take advantage of early bird registration through August 31^st, go to: http://drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com/features/standard-registration/