Hello Bill,
I appreciate you reaching out and getting involved in this post. Simply put, I'm not discounting the value that the GM Digital Marketing package brings to their clients. We have a couple dozen clients on the previous Digital Marketing package through GM (and Cobalt), all with varying degrees of success and satisfaction. For the money, the package improves dealers' online performance. I've seen the video introducing the new version of the GM Digital Marketing package in your dealer portal (that our clients give us access to) and I'm excited about the much needed changes.
With that said, my client (and I) are more disappointed with how this required "upsell" was brought to their attention. It has been years that GM dealers have asked Cobalt to be more competitive with website design, SEO, and lead conversion strategies and the "Flex" sites appeared to be Cobalt and GM's long-awaited answers to their needs. While we're a fan of Flex platform compared with the previous templated offerings, the dealers were simply never alerted that it was a "gotta take this to get that" scenario. Many dealers will take the Flex sites willingly, and never notice an upcharge because they're on the Digital Marketing package. However, for those dealers that were simply looking to take advantage of the improved platform, but not sign on for a costly package, they'll be quite disappointed. Whether we, as a consulting agency or not, recommend Cobalt/GM's Digital Marketing package or something else, the end decision is left up to the dealer.
Those dealers looking to squeeze all of the value out of their vendors (specifically, their OEM-required website vendor) for the money are unable to do so without buying into a much more costly package (whether they choose to or not) in this instance. That is my only concern with this package moving forward. It delivers great value to dealers... sure. It is an drastically improved website platform...yes. It is the OEM and its approved provider trying to better their franchise dealers' online presence... of course. It comes at virtually no additional cost to the dealer? Unfortunately, no. It comes at a significant cost. And there is the rub. The pay to play format that is about to be thrust upon dealers attempting to stay competitive is, in itself, an unfortunate event that they will be unable to avoid if they want improved tools.
If you can shed light on the fact as to whether or not a dealer is able to use Cobalt's Flex platform without either a $699 monthly increase or signing on with the much more expensive GM Digital Marketing package, please let me know. I will gladly call you tomorrow to get more details, and I am scheduled to attend one of your Thursday webinars about the enhancements to the DM package through your OEM portal already. In the end, I want my clients to lean on their OEMs to be as technologically advanced (for the money) as humanly possible, but I also want to be their advocate if vendors are over-playing their hands or positions when it comes to forcing in services. I'm sure you understand. You'll hear from me tomorrow. In the meantime, feel free to respond on this forum.
