Hey guys! I’m a little late to the party here, but figured I should chime in anyway. I’m one of the partners here at Rich Dealers. Of course, I realize you’re looking for feedback and input from other dealers, not from us, but maybe I can help and add some value nonetheless.
We are decidedly NOT for everybody. We’re so aware of this fact that we’ve intentionally set up our program so that there’s never any kind of a term commitment. Our members stay with us because they love us, and because it works. And if they don’t like it, or don’t feel like Rich Dealers is a fit, they can cancel any time.
The neat part about this is that it incentivizes us to deliver our best work, best ideas, and best results every month. We’re only as good as the results our members got last month. It definitely lights a flame under all of our chairs here at our office.
It has the added benefit of ensuring that our membership is only ever comprised of people who want to be here, want to be part of something fun and positive, want to learn from others, and want others to learn from them. We have built a unique and powerful group of dealers and managers that most people are really proud to be a part of.
Of course, our approach seems a bit unconventional because we don’t subscribe to the common thinking that says all car sales are made on price. We believe customers make buying decisions based on a number of criteria, and price is often the most important criteria only in the absence of other value. Our goal is to help dealerships maximize the value they deliver to their customers (through experience, solutions, confidence, expertise) so they don’t have to rely on price as their only differentiating factor. Add to that our campaigns, web strategy and media approach which often multiply the number of leads coming into a dealership by 10x, and you have a winning combination. Customers are happy and excited to buy from you, your employees are happy and excited to work for you, and you’re happy to see sales and profit increase simultaneously.
I’m embarrassed to admit that we have had our fair share of goofball sales people (haven’t we all?), and that some of them have failed to be engaging, useful, interesting, or helpful whatsoever. And, based on feedback from dealers, we’ve recently dramatically shortened the length of our initial presentation to dealers/managers so that prospective members can get the gist of the idea in 15 minutes, and if they choose to learn more and explore the opportunity more deeply they can.
Three quick, but really important points:
(1) We’re media-neutral. We help dealers generate results through all media (radio, TV, paid search, other digital, print, mail) and don’t have any specific media that we sell ourselves (in other words, we don’t have a direct mail piece that we’re trying to sell). Instead we help each member determine what media would be the best choice for their market, their budget, and their goals, and then guide them through the process of leveraging that media to the fullest, using the creative approach we provide. Advertising budgets among our members range from $5,000 per month on the low side to $250,000 per month on the high side. But the amount spent on advertising is meaningless—what’s important is the return on that investment, and ultimately, the net profit.
(2) Our references and testimonials are from real dealers who have achieved real results with our program, and have volunteered to share their experience out of appreciation for the impact we have made on their life and business. The suggestion that our references are partners is false. The only partners in our business are me and Jimmy Vee, and it’s been that way from the day we started back in 2004.
(3) We are not affiliated with the staffed event industry, and never have been. I’m not even sure where that idea could come from. To my knowledge we’ve never recommended a staffed event to anybody, though I do know that from time to time some of our members do host staffed event sales, with a range of results.
If it would be helpful, I would be delighted to arrange a private conversation between you (or any dealer or GM) and Jim and me. We’ll learn about any challenges you might be facing, give you some ideas and strategies for improvement, and help you determine if Rich Dealers would be a good fit for your business.