Autotrader.com Annual Sales Meeting 2009 - Another Side of AutoTrader?

[SJBconsult]

Kat,

We are in the worst economy that anyone of our generation has ever seen -- and it sucks to see anyone lose their job at any time but we need to keep things in perspective.

First, Cox companies are all seperate entities and Autotrader.com and Cox Autotrader are not managed from the same balance sheet.

Second, every company on the planet has had to look at their business and scale accordingly.

Third, ATC (not cox autotrader in which you worked apparently) is one of the few companies that didn't cut sales people -- and in fact we brought on some of the cox autotrader people)

Finally, you said "While they were having a good ole’ time in Vegas, people were getting canned everywhere else with Cox AutoTrader. Greed comes back to haunt companies."

That's almost like saying, team -- since your local newspaper closed down we decided to not reward your hard work this year. (Remember, you company is owned by the same but not managed by the same)

Also, It's cheaper to go to Vegas during this time of year then it is to go to Buffalo NY (kidding) but seriously. We worked hard in 2008 like everyone else and had another year of growth while most companies landed in the negatives. Why shouldn't they reward the sales people per the tradition. I bet if they didn't you'd see a different thread on here that says the same message (ATC is horrible, blah, blah, blah)

Don't direct your anger at the wrong people.

In fact, channel your anger and look at your situation as an opportunity to start fresh somewhere else.

Honestly, I feel your pain like everyone else in this economy but if you work hard and stay focussed you will thrive in another role somewhere else.

Best of luck!!!

 

[andwrig]

Alex and I agree on a lot when it comes to Autotrader. The shortcomings of the product were compounded by a sales and support staff that left a lot to be desired from a policy and procedure standpoint. If things are changing from an attitude standpoint and rates are dropping, then I would consider them again. However, I have a used car ad plan that is producing results so why should I add them back and all the expense that comes with it. I'm happy for ATC and their customers that things are changing. Thats good business. I just think the whole medium is on shaky ground. If local or regional dealer associations pool their resources, they could come up with an alternative to the cars.com and AT's of the world, advertise the heck out of it and cut out the middle men (and they might even save some money in the end).

For the record, I didn't mean to set this off on a negative chain so my apologies to David Metter if it appeared that way. Thanks again for sharing your insight. DR is a great place to exchange news, ideas and provide feedback. Thanks again to Jeff et al for keeping it going.

Lets go sell some cars and get this thing going again!

 

[Kat]

SJBconsult,
I must say your response is nothing but a complete contradiction. Here is my response to your reply:
We are in the worst economy that anyone of our generation has ever seen — and it sucks to see anyone lose their job at any time but we need to keep things in perspective.
***Really is our economy the worst our generation has have ever seen? I was completely unaware; no wonder why our dealers are doing so terrible. This is good info to share with them then.LOL!

First, Cox companies are all separate entities and Autotrader.com and Cox Autotrader are not managed from the same balance sheet.
***Your right on that one, but when ATC needed help in Blitzing under Performing Markets and decided to publish a reverse ATC Magazine, I do believe it was the CAT employees that had to come over and work hand-in-hand in doing so.
Also I do believe the Private Party Segment always worked with ATC in building your private party content on your website. So we did work a lot closer than what you are leading everyone to believe.

Second, every company on the planet has had to look at their business and scale accordingly.
***Scale is right. Keep the performers and get rid of the under performers. Not get rid of the entire company....unless that was the plan from the very beginning.

Third, ATC (not Cox autotrader in which you worked apparently) is one of the few companies that didn’t cut sales people — and in fact we brought on some of the Cox autotrader people)
*** ATC did bring over CAT employees. You now get our president, who came from there in the first place, or vice president and the top sales reps from each office. The only thing wrong with that is, everybody in their right mind knows the plan for the sales reps. Use them to capture what revenue they can from the magazine and then dispose of them or give them the option to transfer to another city so they can say they tried to keep everyone. Those are the people I really feel sorry for. They didn't get the opportunity to get the "Generous Severance Payout" and probably will never see such a thing.

That’s almost like saying, team — since your local newspaper closed down we decided to not reward your hard work this year. (Remember, you company is owned by the same but not managed by the same)
*** I agree that hard work should not go un-noticed but that is in a perfect world.... and obviously we are not in one. A lot of people lost their jobs and because of that anyone under the Cox Enterprise umbrella probably should show some type of empathy to those thousands that lost their jobs and refrain from putting comments about Vegas Trips on the Internet. Take your team out to eat, tell them thank you and save your money. After all our economy is the worst our generation has ever seen.

Also, it’s cheaper to go to Vegas during this time of year then it is to go to Buffalo NY (kidding) but seriously. We worked hard in 2008 like everyone else and had another year of growth while most companies landed in the negatives. Why shouldn’t they reward the sales people per the tradition? I bet if they didn’t you’d see a different thread on here that says the same message (ATC is horrible, blah, blah, blah)
***My region was a performing region and it didn't matter how hard we worked at the end of the day we still lost our jobs. It wasn't shutting down offices that were underperforming it was shutting down the whole CAT organization. And don't tell me about Tradition, the Magazine is what made your name so valuable. Without that, you would have been nothing.
And taking pride in the fact Vegas was cheaper than Buffalo NY; people have just lost jobs....low class and now is not the time for kidding remarks.

Don’t direct your anger at the wrong people.
*** My anger is not towards the people who still have jobs, god bless them and I truly hope they get to keep them. My anger goes out to those flaunting Vegas trips. Once again we are owned by the same company Cox Enterprise. Show empathy towards not just the people who are without jobs, but also to their family's they are trying to support. After all, I have to go back once again to your comment "We are in the worst economy that anyone of our generation has ever seen"

In fact, channel your anger and look at your situation as an opportunity to start fresh somewhere else.
***Seriously, you have a job. So do you really know what it is like for the millions who are competing against each other in the "worst economy that anyone of our generation has ever seen"? I think not. Opportunity’s...LOL!

Honestly, I feel your pain like everyone else in this economy but if you work hard and stay focused you will thrive in another role somewhere else.
***Ok, so let's really be honest. You feel my pain? No you don't, you’re not the one trying to find a job (sorry, I gotta go there again) "in the worst economy that anyone of our generation has ever seen". So just stop, you said enough.

KAT

 

[andwrig]

My apologies to David if my comment set off a chain of negative comments. I am glad to hear that things are changing at AT. Thats just good business. They have a lot to make up for after years of bad policies and procedures when it came to their relationship with their dealers. If things are really happening as they were presented to David then I would look at AT again. However, my used car ad plan seems to be working for me so why go to the added expense of signing up with Autotrader. This whole medium will have problems if local and regional dealer associations get their act together to form websites similar to AT and Cars.com. They can advertise they heck out of them in their local markets and maybe even save a little money. I agree with Alex in many respects on this and other issues. The landscape is changing.

 

[Brian in Etown]

Just curious maybe I have missed this somewhere
but how strong is the infrastructure at ATC. Seems like a lot of data being pushed these days. What kind of upgrades have they made in this area?

 

[Dan Fagan]

Wow, there is a lot of energy out there. I am a pulilsher of a regional magazine that is a direct competitor to AutoTrader. So the new is good for us, but former peers and friends are in a bad place. Ask most of us, it is rough and hard out there right now.

Print is certainly less important than 10 years ago. Yet, direct mail, targeted advertisng, and many other advertising programs that rely on printed materials are popular and growing. All dealers need to be online. No doubt about. But is the cost per sale climbing out of reach?

There is no way a dealer can dominate a site provided by a third party internet provider. They can pop up earlier, add colors, add logos, and make the posting appear nicer. But that dealer can dominate printed materials and can get very impressive returns for adverting investments made in print.

Trader print was a strong competitor and got very impressive results if used properly. What are deaers going to do to replace those units that were sold because of print?

Print lives and is very healthy if the material is targeted and put into the hands of people who have an interest in the message. That requires very good distribution and the proper print runs. Ask for proof and verify what agencies or publlishers claim as print runs, mailings, and results. It is EASIER than you may think.

AutoTrader.COM cuts boths ways, it is the largest, but how do you get responses when so many dealers are there?

 

[Joey (blog)]

You don't. It's the luck of the draw. Buy all the bells and whistles they want to sell you and you may do better than others. Spotlight the heck out of your cars and you might get a few more requests. The consumer is going to surf and it doesn't matter if you spotlight it or put naked pics on it. They look at make, model, miles and price and they will surf all the ones they are looking for. If you SEO/SEM your inventory off your own site, you don't have pay ANYBODY huge sums of money for a crap shoot. Would you rather spend $5K plus a month on some listing site or $5K a month on your own site(s) etc....with better results?

Crazy why any dealer would want to do that anymore, CRAZY!

 

[Alan Bechler]

Nice to see all these smart people on here that have the magic formula on selling more cars! Boy, if you could bottle it, you'd be richer than Bill Gates. Seriously, I've been in automotive advertising for 23 years. I sold newspaper during the glory '80's. Dealer's thought it was way expensive, told us "we were the only game in town" (No, there was TV and Radio and Magazines and Direct Mail, etc. they could choose from). There were tons of dealers in there--everyone of them. No one dealer could dominate. But guess what....it sold cars for them and was easy to do. My point is. Newspapers don't work now, the internet works better (not just ATC, Cars.com, but all of it). Dealer's--shift your old tired, non-working media budget (yes it includes blow up Gorillas)to more online focus. Don't spend "more" but shift it. Also, doing it right takes work....make your lazy salespeople and/or internet manager (not all dealerships--don't kill me)use the tools available to bring more attention to your inventory! Many, Many, Many dealers are being very, very, very successful with more of an internet focus even in today's crappy economy. (I'll give you some references if you want). OBTW, I got out of "traditional media" a few years ago, because I knew where the train was headed. I'm now helping my dealers sell more cars on the internet. Lastly, Thanks David! You "Get It"

 

[Scott Falcone]

David,

Quick story: A guy owns a restaurant and has been buying plastic forks for 10 years from the same guy for a penny a piece. He liked the fork rep and thought for sure he was his partner in success not just a vendor. Along comes a new vendor who offers the same fork for half a penny. He says he will get back to him on buying forks. The owner calls his normal fork vendor to tell him the story and ask about the price. His partner/vendor says he could do it for the same price too. The owner then decides that he has been getting raked by this guy for 10 years...why would he give him any more business... and promptly fires his vendor and hires the new guy. Do you see enough similarities in this story as compared to the pandering you received at this conference? How many times will they "fix things"? "Straighten out the pricing, etc". "Really give you exclusivity now..." Companies should not be penalized for trying to change and do better, but there are HUNDREDS of dealers (and stories) whose memory must be longer than yours. Eventually one must decide what this company is all about. After all of these years of arrogance and manipulating price and arrogance, oh I said that, I have voted with my checkbook and invested heavily in microsites and additional online resources to help sell cars, but those resources will not include AutoTrader. I have overspent on forks long enough. Best of luck with your business and vendors.

 

[Glenn (blog)]

Bravo Scott, someone had to say it. I love how ATC is the "victim" all of the sudden. I wonder if any of the ATC folks realize the company will be sold within the year? The purple mustaches from all that kool aid must effect memory. They can't put the Genie back in the bottle.