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DrivingSales.com announces opening to all automotive industry professionals |
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Monday, 02 June 2008 14:31 |
DrivingSales.com, (www.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 contests, in which participants can win valuable prizes for taking part in activities such as submitting best practices for all areas of retail automotive sales and management. In keeping with the community spirit, all contest winners will be determined based upon community member votes.
DrivingSales is not sponsored by or directly affiliated with any specific company, so content is independent and freely contributed by members of the community. A third generation dealer, Hamilton realized the need for a neutral hub where dealers could get a wealth of unbiased information and learn from each other. "From the beginning, we've known the importance of keeping the site free from corporate ownership," said Hamilton. "This will ensure we maintain the grass roots nature of the site, provide dealers with the best content, and a great user experience. DrivingSales was built by dealers for dealers."
While at its heart DrivingSales is a social networking site, it has more in common with LinkedIn than MySpace or FaceBook because it is professionally oriented. A key difference, however, is that DrivingSales is customized for the auto industry and devoted to dealers and their specific needs. Further, DrivingSales members can have both public and private networks, sharing only the information they choose with the entire community.
As the community grows, DrivingSales is continuously evolving based upon member feedback and technological enhancements. "DrivingSales.com is Web 2.0 in action," commented Dean Evans, an industry expert, chief marketing officer of Dealer.com, and a close advisor. "As a vendor, I am jumping at the opportunity to get unbiased feedback from dealers and connect with them in a whole new way. As a former dealer and someone who's worked in this business my entire career, I love the idea of easily tapping into the collective knowledge of others in this business. DrivingSales has given us the platform we've all been dreaming about."
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