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The new ROI?

ryan.leslie

One of the good guys
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Apr 20, 2009
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Mashable released its list of Buzzwords for 2013 you’ll surely hate by March, that isn’t exactly what they called it, but nevertheless… Here is the list of new terms they expect to catch a foothold in 2013:

http://mashable.com/2012/12/31/buzzwords-2013/

I’m convinced that the same person responsible for conjoining celebrity couples into Brangelina and more recently Kimye are probably also at the root of this. I imagine a focus group of 13-15 year old girls devising these things, but I did see one concept that I felt might be worth sharing here on the forums. It is a simple twist on that familiar acronym ROI.

Most in the industry immediately associate ROI with “Return on Investment.” It is a relatively simple concept that attempts to assign a value to advertising regardless of spend. For every dollar that goes out, how many dollars can I expect to see in return? Many advertisers have died a thousand deaths on the Used Car Manager’s ledger at the end of the month due to ROI.

Tucked in amongst such winners as “Alphanista” and “Phablet” on Mashable’s list is a concept that I actually like. The new ROI, “Return on Involvement.” Interesting concept, right? What am I getting for my time to be involved in a particular activity? Since time is the only non-renewable resource it certainly begs the question, what is YOUR “Return on Involvement” in those areas that you invest your time?

This is admittedly a huge topic to explore. I want to narrow the focus to just two aspects of Return on Involvement.

First, the return on involvement in your online reputation is tremendous. YOUR reputation is YOURS to earn, defend and promote. I can’t say it emphatically enough; you MUST be involved in your reputation strategy in a meaningful way. Your reputation can’t be outsourced! If you decide to outsource some of the functional process you need to be acutely aware of anything with your reputation riding on it. This is a great example of Return on Involvement, because without your involvement, there is no return.

I'm hopeful that this will spark a discussion here on DealerRefresh. There are often positive sentiments shared about the community, but, what is your ROI (involvement) here in the forums? What measurable value do you get from the time invested here? Does your return go up as you become more involved?

I'm anxious to see some thoughts from the community and share my own experience as well...
 
You saw it here first:

ETE.

Effort to Engagement.

How many phone calls, emails -- prompts -- does a Salesperson need to create "Engagement" with a prospect?

It is ALL about Engagement in today's marketplace, no?

Sooo... if you have a stud who requires no prompts and creates 1 engagement (actually conversing with a human being) per every 2 contact attempts, how much would he/she be worth compared to THAT GUY who sends 47 emails, makes 4 phone calls, needed 10 reminders to do that and actually only speaks to 1 client?

New math a-comin', folks :)
 
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I love that! I have always tried to verbalize that the point of social media and the "new marketing" is to have conversations and create a volley with customers in an effort to brand yourself . It's not "how many cars did we sell off Facebook?" but "how many conversations did we have?" or "How many people did we reach?".

Return on Involvement is JUST As important!
 
Subi101, I recommend taking a minute and reading Harvard Business Reviews article: "Return on Influence". It's exactly what you are talking about. Quantifying the warm metrics of engagement and how they lead to conversion.
Return on Influence, the New ROI - Amy Jo Martin - Harvard Business Review


I love that! I have always tried to verbalize that the point of social media and the "new marketing" is to have conversations and create a volley with customers in an effort to brand yourself . It's not "how many cars did we sell off Facebook?" but "how many conversations did we have?" or "How many people did we reach?".

Return on Involvement is JUST As important!
 

✨ AI Highlights

Dealers discuss evolving marketing metrics beyond traditional ROI (Return on Investment), proposing alternatives like "Effort to Engagement" (ETE) and "Return on Involvement" (ROI) that measure the quality of customer interactions and conversations rather than just sales conversion. The thread emphasizes that in modern marketing, particularly social media, the focus should shift to quantifying engagement metrics—how many meaningful conversations occur and people are reached—as leading indicators of eventual sales success. A Harvard Business Review article on "Return on Influence" is referenced as academic support for measuring the "warm metrics" of engagement that ultimately drive conversions.

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