Autotrader and VinSolutions; good for dealers?

[Matt Watson (blog)]

My $.02 about google:

The vast majority of the web traffic that goes to AutoTrader.com and KBB.com are due to their brand power and marketing efforts. The consumers go directly to their website and skip google. They are household names. The traffic on their sites continue to grow every year.

Could a shopper potentially go to Google to find vehicles in the future? Perhaps... but will the user experience be as good as AutoTrader? I doubt it. A website 100% tailored to the automotive shopper with ratings, reviews, etc will always be the best site.

If I want to get an idea of what my current car is worth, am I going to go to google as well? Nope... KBB.com

Maybe I'm wrong.... but if I look at google's keyword traffic tool for what would seem like a common phrase like "dallas honda accord" the traffic estimate is so low it doesn't register... long tail and vehicle make model searches don't seem to currently exist. "Dallas honda dealer" does show traffic. So people seem to use google to find dealerships and not cars.

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Joe - I read your comment over the weekend and one thing didn't sit well with me:  "Look at how hard it was to replace you! "

To this day I speak to Checkered Flag a lot.  That's my family; I cannot turn my back on them.  With that said my leaving has done a lot for them.  In fact, I would go so far to say that my leaving has helped them to grow more than anything I could have ever done being there.  This is simply because I was not there to do everything.  They had to learn how to do it themselves.

I'm watching all sorts of things happen today that I only dreamed of while I was there.  I'm really liking what I'm seeing!

Your question made me think long and hard about all this over the weekend and I think people like you, Jeff, and me really help to set the stage.  I think we do a lot and bring a lot, but we could possibly be  impeding our dealership's potential in the long term.  Once we get them used to a certain level of performance, maybe it is best to get out of the way.  This way they have to learn it themselves.

I don't know.  Maybe Checkered Flag and Alex Snyder is an anomaly.  Maybe Checkered Flag and Christine Knowles is another anomaly.  Maybe Checkered Flag is the anomaly. 

Your statement got me thinking and I have still not arrived at a final hypothesis.   

 

[Joe Pistell]

Alex, you write:

"...I think people like you, Jeff, and me really help to set the stage.  I think we do a lot and bring a lot, but we could possibly be  impeding our dealership's potential in the long term."

I totally agree Alex & this ties right into this thread's theme (smaller companies selling to larger companies).  Visionaries see ideas and get them off the ground.  The SMART visionaries look for the opportunity to get out of the way and hand them off to players skilled in Operations (2 completely different skills)

This is exactly why Founders of companies RARELY evolve into CEOs.

 

[Joe Pistell]

Alex, you write:

"...I think people like you, Jeff, and me really help to set the stage.  I think we do a lot and bring a lot, but we could possibly be  impeding our dealership's potential in the long term."

I totally agree Alex & this ties right into this thread's theme (smaller companies selling to larger companies).  Visionaries see ideas and get them off the ground.  The SMART visionaries look for the opportunity to get out of the way and hand them off to players skilled in Operations (2 completely different skills)

This is exactly why Founders of companies RARELY evolve into CEOs.

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Damn Joe - are you saying we'll never be CEOs

 

[D. Rawls (blog)]

Aha;

Alex, Joe and DealerRefresh community, the AT buying spree was once simply a jockeying for position related to a gigantic forthcoming IPO - at least from all I was privvy to.

However, late in May, Peter Brown of Automotive News moderated a webinar that indicated to me the absolute value of what AT is doing, and it revolves around two other tangible values; 1) Content 2) Data.

All the while knowing VIN was going to be acquired, I thought an industry outsider would make their play with them.  Cliff Banks and I discussed this at DD10, and his viewpoint was that the same huge auto internet players would be the most likely acquirers.  How right he was!

About the IPO, Atlanta has become a centerpoint for Auto Retail Future as a result of AT being so large - and under the tutelage of an even larger communications conglomerate in Cox.  The buzz about how AT would have a 'Billion Dollar IPO' has been around for a long minute.  After putting together the pieces of what I learned from IBM leadership on its 'Smarter Mobility' project, and developing a more dynamic perspective of what exactly is going on at AT, I know now that the value of these acquisitions is not a speculative event.

At Cox, the strong relationship with Cox has been nurtured to include the AT division, and thereby, I see an impending partnership (if it hasn't happened, already).

What do yous think? 

Automotive News Webinar featuring IBM 'Smarter Mobility' insights:

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wcc.on24.com

An IBM project leverages comprehensive content and date from industry:

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www.eweek.com

 

[D Rawls]

That would be, "At Cox, the strong relationship with IBM...", my apologies for the typo.