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DrivingSales Executive Summit: Day 3 Recap | DrivingSales News

DrivingSales Executive Summit: Day 3 Recap

October 20, 2015 0 Comments

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Here are some of the highlights from the final day of DSES 2015.

Day One Recap

Day Two Recap

Master of Ceremonies Charlie Vogelheim greeted dealer professionals from around the globe this morning at the final day of the DrivingSales Executive Summit at the Bellagio, Las Vegas.

In the two days prior, attendees heard presentations from both dealership employees and vendors with cutting-edge ideas and products in the Best Idea Competition and Innovation Cup Contest. The winners were announced this morning.

The $3,000 cash prize for the Best Idea Competition went to Josh Pogue, Digital marketing manager at Weins Canada. Pogue related his own behavior while house shopping on Zillow to the behaviors he hoped to drive in conversions from dealership search description pages to VDPs. He tested his theory that interior photos on SRPs drive conversion to VDPs better than exterior photos. The results? Weins Canada experienced a 90 percent increase in leads and increased their conversion rate from 2.77 percent to 4.96 percent over the last three years.

The Innovation Cup winner was VirtualDeal™. CEO Joe Orr impressed the audience with his product for the online deal creator that plugs in to the dealer’s existing website. The tool allows customers to select the vehicle and complete the transaction from home from financing to trade-in and reserve the vehicle for 24 hours. VirtualDeal™ was co-created with a technology company and a dealership.

Next, president and founder of DealerKnows, Joe Webb, moderated Digital Media Debates. Five perspectives took the stage to dispute dealership issues relative to Internet marketing. The participants included Aleksandra Banas, digital marketing manager at Lexus of Edmonton, Rob Campbell, director of product marketing from CDK Global, Jeff Kershner, founder of DealerRefresh, Danny Benites, general manager at Greg Lair Buick GMC, and Joe Chura, CEO of Dealer Inspire and Launch Digital Marketing.

The onstage experts debated polarizing issues like whether a dealer should use only the OEM-approved and dictated site for consistency or a secondary site for more flexibility and tailoring of brand message. They discussed performance metrics, the evolution of the sales process, transparency, and lead handling.

The audience then dispersed from the main ballroom for the last set of breakout sessions. The sessions offered attendees strategy and highly specific tactics to make improvements across the dealership from people process to digital marketing.

Trace Przybylowicz from Facebook addressed dealers on how to reach real people with precision and scale and answered the prevailing question, “why the loss of organic reach?” He enlightened listeners with the fact that Facebook delivers to a Super Bowl-sized audience daily; but offered cross-device retargeting as the lowest hanging fruit for dealers to make highly targeted impressions.

In an address that rivaled the speed of our own fast-talking redhead, Erik Radle brought a cognitive approach to the dos and don’ts of branding and marketing. He demonstrated that cognitive biases gain your attention over time and become familiar…and familiarity turns into “like.” What does this mean in terms of marketing? Be easy to think about and more people will buy from you.

Fact: Consumers take more risk if in an environment perceived as safe.

Application: Improve your dealership website with simplicity, trust badges, and testimonials.

Fact: Mental state is impacted simply by the words you use.

Application: Use positive words like “fair” instead of “no-haggle.”

Fact: We remember things that are unfinished better than those that are finished.

Application: Stop finishing your stories.

The message to dealers was to critically evaluate their messaging to consumers and take one tidbit and incorporate it in 2016. If nothing else, he suggested, take one of the don’ts or “brand grenades” and eliminate it. Radle brings expertise from the OEM perspective on both marketing and financial operations, with a history of working for Subaru, Mazda, and DiamlerChrysler.

Jared Hamilton, CEO and founder of DrivingSales, summed up the conference and left attendees with a call-to-action; he said, “None of this has any value unless you go home and do something with it.” Hamiton encouraged dealership executive to keep the conversations going on the rebuilt community page on DrivingSales.com, a free networking tool for dealership professionals.

All the videos from the conference will be available on DrivingSales University and to attendees over the next month. Hamilton also announced March 7 of next year will also be the first of an all new regional staff-level training opportunity for individuals throughout the dealership ranks to hone their skills and elevate themselves in the industry. DSES 2016 will be held October 23-25 once again at the Bellagio, Las Vegas.

About the Author:

The DrivingSales News team is dedicated to breaking the relevant and the tough stories affecting car dealers. Have questions for DrivingSales News? Reach the team at news@drivingsales.com.

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