I was recently doing some research to prepare for a prospect meeting, a car dealership. I found that locally, many dealerships were not taking significant advantage (if any) of the online platform. This seemed quite strange to me. Being heavily involved in the medium, I have seen it work 10-fold and deliver enormous revenue. Who wouldn't be interested in that?!
After meeting with the prospect I had a better idea as to why this mentality existed. It was "Old School Syndrome". I asked the client if his goal was to dominate the local online market or simply be seen in the mix with his competition; he actually opted for the ladder. While this puzzled me for hours, it finally occurred to me that the manager (feeling a bit forced into the technology) only viewed the expense as a hard cost to staying in business. Why was this thinking wrong? If implemented correctly (even mediocre), online marketing can't help but deliver a return. The expense of the effort was designed to increase qualified website traffic which would then convert to car sales. Therefore, the expense would be paid for with the first 1-5 sales (depending on the profit margin).
You see, the manager is from the era that sales are made face-to-face in the showroom or on the lot; while that thinking is true, never discount opportunities to bring those faces in the door. That is precisely the purpose of online marketing. Approximately 80% users use the Internet to pre-shop autos and seek a preferred dealership -- don't just be there...be dominant. That's my theory anyway.
I'll leave this entry with one more thought...when the Internet first hit the scene, it was meant to be an informational resource, a learning tool, if you will. The original vision wasn't even intended for eCommerce and do you have any idea how many millions are spent online in a given year? It will make the investment in online marketing look like prices from the 1800's!
Thanks for stopping by and as always, feel free to share your thoughts.
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