Congrats JK,
Get a video camera and keep it workin'. You will not believe how fast time flies. My kids are 22 (twins) and they LOVE to see themselves back in the day. I, on the other hand, cringe when everyone comments on where all my hair went!

Welcome to "The Establishment".
WTG!
Joe

Congratulations.

Congratulations Jeff. New additions are fun and give a whole new meaning to why we do things.

Paul Rushing

Dear Kershner Family,
Thank you for bringing a new life into the world that is sure to make everday in yours a blessing.

Jeff,

To one of the real good guys in the industry - congratulations from us at Ward's!

Cliff

Congrats Jeff!

... and I agree with Alex. But hey, life is about living well right?

Cheers!

Alex,

I have no sympathy for Jeff since I have 4 daughters of my own and the last 2 are identical twins. I hope Rilynn milks him for all he is worth!!!

Congratulations.

CONGRATS!!!!!

Congratulations Jeff! I'm sure you are already used to the late hours (from working in this industry, lol). Enjoy every minute with your new daughter! Kevin

COngrats Brotha!

Congratulations Jeff to you and the wife. Have a wonderful holiday with your new bundle of joy, Rilynn Victoria.

AWESOME!!. Dude..Alex, HUGE THANKS for the post and congrats! Gerber for Guchi? Oh hell NO. I sure hope not, but I do have a feeling this is one is going to send me to the poor house for sure.

Rilynn was born last Monday about a month early at just a little over 3 lbs., so it's been a hand full over the last few weeks here at the homestead. Excited to report that she's doing fantastic and we are hoping to bring her home early next week.

A BIG THANKS to David, Mel and the crew over at MileOne for all of their support and flexibility with the schedule. I couldn't ask for more understanding.

And the BIGGEST THANKS to my WIFE for the women she is and for going through everything she has had to endure over the last 8 months.

Thanks again!!

looking for some ideas new to this i have been in ford sales for about 15 years my top sales are over 200 a year top salesman for 13 of 15 years in the maine state

There's huge opportunity for any industry to really develop thought leadership, networking, customer service, loyalty, collaboration, public relations and acquire customers through social marketing. I'm especially shocked that more dealers don't enforce their reputation within the marketplace.

For those interested there are some managed solutions out there that do it! I manage a dedicated team of dealership evangelists through our program here at Cuneo and we're seeing some spectacular results.

Great Initiative Dubis. This is going to be huge. Sales 101, people buy you (the salesperson) first and to date no one out there gets that as it is difficult even today to find a face and name on the web besides the Internet Sales Manager on 60% or more Dealer sites. The Hard working good guys get the shaft at the dealership because they have no competitve advantage to reach new prospects. www.carfolks.com (Social Networking for Autmotive) this is going to be huge! After all Social Networking is about people (folks) and relationships not about the object or vehicle.
Good luck Mark. If i sold cars, i would sign up today, to get my face and name in front of as many people as i could.>>>

Great comments and grasp of what it takes to succeed. As the feedback above states mypace and facebook are not designed to brand dealerships or sales people. CarFolks.com is going to do just that. It is an automotive social network designed to build brand recognition for sales people, their dealerships and the manufacturers.

Consumers can come in and search not for a vehicle, but for the best sales people in a given market. Now that's building the brand. Consumers will also be rating dealerships, sale people and any other point of contact they had in the dealership.

Hard working and customer focused sales people, its now time to rejoice. Fast talking, "what's it gonna take to put you in a car today" sales people. . . your days are numbered.

Sales people who want a jump start on their peers can pre-register now at www.bestcarsalesperson.com

More info at CarFolks.com

Sorry I got quiet on this thread. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the security side of the Google/FaceBook stuff, and it ain't working too well. Some days I'm just a simple car dealer - lol.

Amen Tim to the point on branding....Now if we could get the garden variety dealer to accept it.

The artice from ABC spells out in better detail what the "programming interfaces" provide you the capabilities to do. Facebook, Google and others provide the technical details of how it could be done for free. This part is for your boss Alex, the cost comes from paying a programmer or company to take that knowledge and turn it into a working application. The costs can vary from minimal to "HOLY COW!". Since you pay to for the development though, you get to brand it as your own.

I've have a Facebook account and the applications developed so far that tie into Facebook are branded by that company. A dealership that developed something that Alex described would be able to maintain and protect their brand while extending their marketing reach into various social networks. Try a Google search for "Facebook applications" to see some applications already developed using the API/ programming interface, most of the ones developed so far are geared toward teens/twenty-somethings. If your boss or co-worder asks what your doing...just tell them its "Marketing Research".

Happy Holidays - James

Alex, I thought you in particular might find this article appealing: Facebook to License its Social Networking Platform

If I understood your goal correctly, maybe this is just the break you have been looking for...now all you need is someone to build your platform and you can run facebook style apps on it.

I also thought I would throw my two cents in on the subject as well. I think that any dealership or dealership employee who uses social networking tools are on the right track. Dealership employees, salespeople especially, seem to rely solely on the dealer's efforts (I know this is a generalization, so I will tread lightly...certainly nobody paying attention to DealerRefresh is guilty!!!) to generate leads and sales. It is the proactive and the progressive ones who can be successful with this type of marketing tool.

There are only two reasons to advertise: to generate leads, and to generate brand awareness. Thats it. The salespeople who understand that building their own "brand: me" is important, will take advantage and be successful with these great new tools.

I have to pat myself on the back and say I am ahead of the curve

Forbes Article:


CNet Article


-B

Thanks for the heads up James - I'm looking forward to something like that for my own personal SNing.

Google Apps aren't the most secure things, so I'm hesitant to use something along those lines for our company. I also don't want our well-branded name to be associated with MySpace or FaceBook - I want something we can brand ourselves. I assume this is going to be a free solution? Don't let my boss hear this, but I'd like to pay for something. This way we can hold a company accountable and then management will want to see it succeed. When it is always free, it is too easy to forget about it.

Alex:
The program you described which linked a company intranet and the various social networks is possible. Facebook has a programming interface for building apps that connect with or run on their social network. The real key though is the new initiative by Google called Opensocial, it provides a programming interface that allows one application to run on different social networks or to connect different social networks. Two of Google's biggest partners in this initiative are MySpace and Linkedin, so the tools exist to build such an application. At least in theory, I'm not a programmer myself but from what I've read it certainly seems possible.

Hi Everyone,
Working with these networks on a regular basis on the SEO and SEM side of the automotive industry, its not just about getting the sales staff an immediate sale (maybe in a perfect world) but to achieve improved organic placements and increase avenues for consumers to learn about the dealership, its staff and provide positive internet exposure. The end result leading to more sales and lowering the cost per lead and making your internet advertising dollars go a little further.

Ron Northbird
Dealer Fire