As we watch more and more dealerships close their doors, the opportunities amass for those still in business - if you are willing to adopt and adhere to certain principles with a vengeance.

Here is a stark but simple fact: the marketplace offers fewer active buyers than are needed to sustain the current dealer community. A Darwinian fight for survival is underway; an alarming percentage of dealers will go out of business in the next 12 months.

The latest Digital Dealer conference was great for a number of reasons. I reconnected with friends, the weather was 90 degrees, the conference was at a top notch hotel, and there was a definite increase in the number of dealer principals attending the conference with key managers from their dealerships.