Conner’s presentation “Close the Dealer ‘App Gap’” joins an agenda that also includes Billy Beane of ‘Moneyball’ fame, Facebook, and Google

Medford, OR – October 8, 2012 – Mark Conner, assistant vice president of Marketing for Lithia Motors, Inc. has been selected to present at the fourth annual DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES), the most authoritative profit-building event for innovative dealers. Conner joins an impressive agenda that also includes high-profile keynotes from Billy Beane of ‘Moneyball’ fame, SEO ‘superstar’ Rand Fishkin, mobile experience expert Luke Wroblewski, renowned leadership trainer Jim Dance, prominent Northwestern University marketing professor Florian Zettelmeyer and an exclusive presentation from Facebook and Google. The DSES will be held Sunday, October 21^st through Tuesday, October 23^rd, 2012 at the Bellagio Las Vegas.

All speakers and content for the summit were selected by the DSES Dealer Advisory board. On October 23^rd, Conner will present a breakout session at the summit titled “Attack the Dealer “App Gap”: Reach Gen Y – Keep ALL Customers CLOSE – and Seriously Boost Your Service Appointments”.

“Most people, especially the hard-to-reach, dealer-resistant Gen Y crowd, are now spending much less time with desktops/mobile websites, and far more time with mobile apps, so we went into action with our own mobile app,” said Conner.  “I am excited to have the opportunity to share new data, best practices and our success with our dealership apps at the DrivingSales Executive Summit. Attendees should walk away with a comprehensive, new, mobile APP-TITUDE: an understanding of why their dealerships need to tackle this – how to do apps right – and what real results/ROI they can drive.”

According to Conner, mobile app usage actually represents as large a shift in consumer behavior as the 80s PC revolution or the 90s Internet boom. And yet, only a small minority of dealerships has adopted a mobile app to connect with customers. It is this “APP GAP,” that Conner will address in his presentation, including how Lithia has addressed this often missed opportunity – as well as detailed best practices based on what’s been learned in the trenches through Lithia’s 60+ stores experience with their own app.

“Mark Conner was selected from an outstanding field of nearly 100 applicants, and we are confident that DSES attendees will learn a great deal from this extremely relevant topic. We are proud to add Mark to our exciting line-up for 2012,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder, Jared Hamilton. “His presentation on Attacking the Dealer “App Gap” resonated with the dealer board, and will be an important part of the profit-building takeaways for summit attendees as they craft their 2013 business plans.”

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 no vendor influence on presentation selection and adherence to a strict dealer-to-vendor ratio.  The DrivingSales Executive Summit is the only automotive conference where dealers decide the agenda, not the vendor sponsors. This translates into the highest level of learning for the dealer attendees versus other events where workshops are little more than glorified sales pitches.

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 the DSES at: http://drivingsalesexecutivesummit.com/registration/.

For more information about the DrivingSales Executive Summit, visit: www.DrivingSalesExecutiveSummit.com or contact dses@drivingsales.com. Stay tuned for DSES news as it develops on www.twitter.com/drivingsales and on www.facebook.com/drivingsales. Participate in the conversation with the #DSES hashtag as preparations continue throughout the year.

About Lithia Motors, Inc.

Lithia Motors, Inc. is the ninth largest automotive retailer in the United States. Lithia sells 28 brands of new and all brands of used vehicles at 86 stores, which are located in 11 states. Lithia also arranges finance, warranty, and credit insurance contracts; and provides vehicle parts, maintenance, and repair services at all of its locations.

About DrivingSales

Founded in 2008 and dedicated to the dealer community, DrivingSales is a business intelligence and data company that delivers unbiased*, profit-building information to make automobile dealers more successful through three distinct channels: DrivingSales Data, DrivingSales University and DrivingSales Media. DrivingSales Data houses the largest database of cross-vendor, dealership performance data in the North American auto industry and provides dealerships with the most statistically accurate performance benchmarks and metrics for their marketing and technology investments. DrivingSales University is a fully interactive online university that offers advanced profit-building strategies to automotive professionals through hundreds of classes taught by world-leading experts. DrivingSales Media connects dealers to peers and information through its global media assets, including DrivingSales.com, the world’s largest automotive social network; The Dealership Innovation Guide, an industry leading quarterly publication; DrivingSales Executive Summit, the top automotive conference for progressive dealers, and DrivingSalesTV, Web TV covering everything car-dealer related. Approximately one in every three dealerships in the United States has a registered member in the DrivingSales community.

*Vendor Neutral Policy: Dedicated solely to making dealerships more profitable, while also providing benefit to automakers and the industry as a whole, DrivingSales adheres to a strict vendor neutral policy through each of its channels. This means the company only provides unbiased information, not ‘pay-to-play’ follow up services -- and never accepts payment in exchange for media coverage or lets potential advertisers dictate messaging or create bias in any of its channels.

Media Relations: 

Crystal Hartwell (crystal@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 714.987.1016