AutoTrader.com Pricing???

[Wayne Anderson]

Alex,

We don't have to appease our vendors to get them to work with us - we pay them. That should be enough to start. Sure, if they do a good job, that could build a foundation for friendship, but not before they produce results. I've been chummy with vendors when they are producing. But when they stop, we don't hear from them again. No one calls me after they are let go. So much for being friends.

We shouldn't have to worry if our vendors will work with us or not. If they don't, they'll likely go out of business. If a vendor won't work with me now because I'm calling them out, that's weak.

But when a vendor does produce, we'll put them on our shoulders and carry them like they are champs. We've provide MANY referrals to the vendors who are 'productive' partners. There is a two-way street, but the vendors have give first.

I'm all for a big love fest, but there are some problems that need to be addressed. Conversion is dropping. Why have a I read from many here that say we're behind other industries? If we are, which I do believe we are, who's fault is that? Ours.

And if a vendor wants to get on here and complain about us complaining, at least stand up and identify yourself - provide a link.

 

[T.J. Loftus]

great post Wayne, and I agree about the "identify" yourself it seems the anonymity of internet helps vendors do a hit and run - blast a comment but not share what company or market they represent.

I take comments from people like that with a grain of salt..it's funny how I find that there hasn't been a comment about ATC pricing being raised higher every year for two weeks and ATC just had annual meeting.. coincidence?

maybe Scott James just came out of the ATC vs. Traditional Media traingings as he was sharing his thoughts on TV ads- sell exposure not leads meetings -

I say ATC as great value in certain markets with certain brands in each market - bottomline is its all about ROI - Price only matters in the absence of value.

 

[Wayne Anderson]

TJ,

"Price only matters in the absense of value"

That's right on. Where's the beef?

Why can't ATC also provide us with a click history of their leads so we know what they were looking at, how often, etc?

Its because they're not thinking about the problems hard enough, just pointing fingers and deflecting the argument back onto us.

It's easier to raise prices to satisfy their stakeholders then think outside the box.

 

[T.J.]

wayne - agreed on all statements

sometimes companies choose to go the wrong way in my opinion
shareholders -employees - customers

sometimes they run a company like Southwest Airlines one of the most profitable airlines in history in its prime(haven't kept up on what they are doing now) and focus on the customers (external) first, then internal (employees) - and shareholder value comes all on its own with this focus or alignment
CUSTOMERS - employees - Shareholders

good blog about it here: but it looks like you already get this point -some companies lose sight.

Loading…

blog.holtz.com

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

"We don't have to appease our vendors to get them to work with us - we pay them. That should be enough to start."

I didn't want to be that obvious, maybe I should have said - Open other dealers' eyes.

 

[Ruby]

Wayne and T.J. you couldn't be more right when saying "Price only matters in the absense of value". I find that more Auto Trader customers are dropping them because they are always raising there price but not adding more value. They soley rely on there name Auto Trader, yes Auto Trader is very well know nation wide, but watch out because Cars.com is also known nation wide. If you do not know who/what Cars.com is you will. I PROMISE! We have increased our advertising/marketing budget to $200 MILLION for 2008. More exposure for Cars.com is more exposure for all of our dealer partners that are on with us. Yes that's right Dealer Partners, everyone is a partner with us. Dealers are not just customers and money to us, they are partners with Cars.com. We don't just call to collect payment or to make the sale. We are in constant contact with our dealers to make sure they are successful. We answer their questions and work out their issues right away. In addition to Auto Trader raising prices and not adding value, I have also heard many times that they only care about the sale. I have dealers that hardly ever see or hear from there Auto Trader rep.

Oh and if you haven't figured it out yeah, I am not ashamed of where I work. I am an ISM for Cars.com

Go Cars.com!!! Watch February 3rd to see us at the Super Bowl.

 

[T.J.]

Ruby - thanks for sharing -I will definitely be watching as I'm sure it will be my NY GIANTS vs. the Pats :0) for a rematch thats needs to be made as we have some unfinished business as the wrong ELI gave up that game to them.

 

[Ruby]

Not a problem T.J. I am so excited about everything we are doing at Cars.com and want to make sure everyone knows it.

I wish your NY Giants luck.

 

[Lightnup (blog)]

Ruby dear,

The dealers in my area tell me they never hear from their (see the proper use of their and there) cars.com rep and quite a few have canceled cars.com because of that. So, just because the ATC rep in your area is not doing their job properly, don't generalize that they are all that way because it's not a fact, any more than all cars.com reps are "constantly" in touch with their dealers. It just isn't so.

I think it's great that you're enthusiastic about your company...you obviously have been sipping the cars.com kool-aid. But that doesn't mean you should exaggerate and tell untruths about your competitors just to make your company look better.

Is it true that cars.com is raising their rates 20% for all dealers by March 31st?

 

[Frank S]

I see my cars.com & autotrader.com reps every month. We have a good relationship. Over the past year our used car activity has gone down considerably from both venues. Our dealership does market new vehicles on both sites and we get very little attention on either. We have decided to cut back on both ATC & cars.com products this year and increase our ad spend with SEO & SEM and are considering adding online display advertising w/a local vendor. We have seen real growth in activity from SEO & SEM in conjunction with manuf new vehicle promotion in our market for the past 6 mos or so. The latter has been driving much more phone traffic, sourced deals than either of our third party classified sites products have been experiencing. Are others having the same results? Seeing my rep is great but having the products provide less results for an increase in costs is the issue. Third party classified sites are good, don't get me wrong, but I believe the "psychology" in the consumers mind in using these sites has changed dramatically over the past two year period as internet advertising is always a changing venue we are changing our ad spend to reflect where we have been seeing the lions share of growth in customer activity.