As a car guy, I often have this picture of a Dealer Principal or GM sitting at their desk and thinking “Am I a lemming or an eagle?” Unfortunately, many of these same people, either consciously or unconsciously seem to opt for the lemming answer. Here's what I mean ...
When we car guys consider our dealership advertising and look at our dealership marketing budget we tend to make decisions that are in line with what our local competition is doing. If I had a dime for every automotive dealer who has told me that they are in the newspaper or on the radio because everyone else is, I could probably retire. Like the lemmings that get pushed off the cliff because of the press of the crowd (they don’t really commit mass suicide, it just looks like it) they do it just because the crowd does it.
The reality of the situation is that automotive dealership management is sitting on a potential marketing goldmine ... and that is their own customer database. On top of that, if they have a powerful Auto CRM system that was easy to use (of course, we'd suggest you begin with Autobase CRM), they have many options to market directly to that database at little or no cost.
It is well known that these clients and potential clients offer a much more fertile group than the blind shot advertising of the newspaper or radio. Too many auto dealers simply are not mining their own data and, unfortunately, are the lemmings mindlessly following the flow. A great opportunity still exists if you are willing to be the eagle. Go on -- SOAR!
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