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3 Birds at our first Digital Dealer Conference
I loved everything about the whole experience of my first Digital Dealer Conference last week at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. I had the chance to speak to exhibitors, attendees and others, some of whom had been coming to the show from the beginning and, by all accounts, this was the best Digital Dealer Conference yet from an attendance and agenda perspective. The event was so successful, that where NADA was once THE must attend event, many exhibitors were commenting that going to NADA did not seem as important or essential anymore. Digital Dealer has become a much needed micro-NADA devoted to advanced technology for dealers.
This shift makes all of the sense in the world. It is a shift that is taking place in many other aspects of dealership operations and other business verticals. More and more dealers are moving away from aggressive, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink methods of advertising and marketing in recognition of the fact that consumers have more power and voice and are increasingly demanding timely, relevant communications and interactions with the companies with whom they chose to do business. More and more people would agree that time is as valuable a commodity as money. People are busy. Everyone has a long “to do” list and it seems like there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that needs to be accomplished. Dealers feel the pressure of too much to do and not enough time to do it more acutely than most given all of the moving pieces involved in running a dealership. I was impressed by the focus and advance preparation the dealers I met brought to the conference. Dealers had done their homework. They had identified needs within their stores, they had specific questions and they were at the show to find solutions and actionable ideas to implement. (more…)
