Oh Good! Another OEM Mandated Digital Partnership program horror Story

[JGottschalk]

Thank you for your feedback and I’m glad to have theopportunity to respond on behalf of FordDirect. Just as many Dealers around thecountry have used online feedback to display great customer service and createlifelong customers, we appreciate the opportunity to have an open dialogue thatwill hopefully be mutually beneficial.



This program was created with the input of the Ford andLincoln Dealer Councils and the FordDirect Dealer Advisory Board with the goalof owning more of the search results page to help Ford and Lincoln Dealers sellmore vehicles. Ford and Lincoln are providing funding for a base level ofSEM for all Ford and Lincoln dealers nationwide and this financial support hashelped many dealers enhance their digital presence. If dealers opt out,there is a hole in coverage that will be filled with competitors and thirdparty aggregators and we will also lose the scale that allows us to keep costdown.


Dealershave an active voice at FordDirect. At the highest level, our board ofdirectors is comprised of Ford and Dealer representatives, including some ofthe most successful Dealers on the cutting edge of all things digital. Beyond our existing Dealer Advisory Board, we’re always in the fieldtalking with Dealers so that we can hear feedback and continually improve ourprograms to help you sell more vehicles. We’d love to come down and visit you(especially since you live on the ocean and it’s pouring snow in Michigan) andtalk further. Let me know if we can arrange a visit soon.

 

[Tim Martell]

Happy to have made an ally on this one Tim. What's your issue with DDC out of curiosity

I don't really have it out for dealer.com, just website providers in general who provide little to no value with relatively outdated site structure. I mean, they don't even know how to canonicalize inventory properly. This in turn creates a domain level disadvantage in search. They deny that reality of course just like all the other website providers that don't understand how to properly code inventory.

They rely on that fact that Google will "guess" if they don't do it. But you never want google guessing when it comes to your businesses SEO. Plus they sell a BS "SEO service" that is not SEO. Now they're trying to bring a "real" SEO service to market, but what the hell kind of SEO are you going to get on a site that doesn't redirect or canonicalize properly and worse litters it self with duplicate meta data through automation? Not to mention the fact that unless you personally write every page of content on your site, you likely share all of your content with thousands of other websites!

OK... breathe... I get fired up on this. I wrote about this last month in my article, 3 reasons to fire your website provider today. Anytime you want to chat about this, let me know. And I'm not a website vendor so I have no hidden agenda.

 

[Daniel J. Mondello]

Thank you for your feedback and I’m glad to have theopportunity to respond on behalf of FordDirect. Just as many Dealers around thecountry have used online feedback to display great customer service and createlifelong customers, we appreciate the opportunity to have an open dialogue thatwill hopefully be mutually beneficial.



This program was created with the input of the Ford andLincoln Dealer Councils and the FordDirect Dealer Advisory Board with the goalof owning more of the search results page to help Ford and Lincoln Dealers sellmore vehicles. Ford and Lincoln are providing funding for a base level ofSEM for all Ford and Lincoln dealers nationwide and this financial support hashelped many dealers enhance their digital presence. If dealers opt out,there is a hole in coverage that will be filled with competitors and thirdparty aggregators and we will also lose the scale that allows us to keep costdown.


Dealershave an active voice at FordDirect. At the highest level, our board ofdirectors is comprised of Ford and Dealer representatives, including some ofthe most successful Dealers on the cutting edge of all things digital. Beyond our existing Dealer Advisory Board, we’re always in the fieldtalking with Dealers so that we can hear feedback and continually improve ourprograms to help you sell more vehicles. We’d love to come down and visit you(especially since you live on the ocean and it’s pouring snow in Michigan) andtalk further. Let me know if we can arrange a visit soon.

Why is your response in two different font faces? Seems like a Cntrl C + Cntrl V job... I think we all understand the fundemental thinking applied to this move however your strategy only aids those Ford and Lincoln dealers who haven't put any skin in the digital game. How will you assist us more forward thinking dealers who have been doing this stuff all along and get penalized by this kind of decision? I think its great that you want more market share, my dealership does as well and you're making harder on your better dealers.

Further more SEM is great when your site is built to rock. Ford-Direct sites are exceptionally limited. Give us more access to improve our ford direct site and you'll get more benefit from the added search budget. Otherwise your just wasting money. Ours and yours.

 

[ddavis]

This program was created with the input of the Ford and Lincoln Dealer Councils and the FordDirect Dealer Advisory Board

Those are made up of the who's who in digital marketing ... internet gurus all!

 

[Tim Martell]

Come on Daniel, don't you get it? They don't want forward thinking dealers. They want dealers who will keep their heads down and just comply. They are not interested in dealer profitability. They are interested in selling the most vehicles in market by creating simple duplicatable experience. They want to be Walmart and McDonalds. Period. And remember, if they ever got the chance to do it without you, the dealer, they would feed you to the wolves in a second.

 

[ddavis]

Come on Daniel, don't you get it? They don't want forward thinking dealers. They want dealers who will keep their heads down and just comply. They are not interested in dealer profitability. They are interested in selling the most vehicles in market by creating simple duplicatable experience. They want to be Walmart and McDonalds. Period. And remember, if they ever got the chance to do it without you, the dealer, they would feed you to the wolves in a second.

Right on the mark.

Here is a good example. Years ago, I was running a Nissan dealership. The factory called district wide meetings because they were swimming in vehicles. They needed help and were offering increased factory to dealer incentives and floor assistance. They presented each dealer with a "fare share" of what they wanted them to take. Most of the better dealers stepped up to the plate to help the factory. Many, mostly the weaker stores, told them to stick it. Those additional vehicles started arriving in a couple of days. Within a week, Nissan came up with a new program on the remaining cars with much bigger incentives and additional flooring assistance. Understand, the dealers that stood up to the plate were near or above their floor plan. This allowed the dealers, that hadn't taken any additional cars, to order them from the port with a price advantage over the rest. This was Nissan but they are all cut from the same cloth.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Come on Daniel, don't you get it? They don't want forward thinking dealers. They want dealers who will keep their heads down and just comply. They are not interested in dealer profitability. They are interested in selling the most vehicles in market by creating simple duplicatable experience. They want to be Walmart and McDonalds. Period. And remember, if they ever got the chance to do it without you, the dealer, they would feed you to the wolves in a second.

I used to be a member of some OEM councils and I can say the groups I participated with certainly were not dealers who just "complied." There were extremely confrontational arguments at every corner and never once did the council(s) ever agree to go in the same direction.

 

[joe.pistell]

... They are interested in selling the most vehicles in market by creating simple duplicatable experience. They want to be Walmart and McDonalds. Period.

Sounds about right.


fran·chise ˈfranˌCHīz/
noun

• 1. an authorization granted by a company to an individual enabling them to carry out specified commercial activities, e.g., ...acting as an agent for a company's products.

It's a marriage. The franchisor's financial performance is very dependent on the franchisee's abilities and visa-versa.

 

[yagoparamo]

Adding to Mr. Pistell great point,

"Simple duplicatable experience" has been the mother of all major companies success story in almost every industry in every part of the world.

Isn't that what the customer wants?

 

[JGottschalk]

Ford Motor Co.’s Ford and Lincoln National Dealer Councils are elected by dealers in the regions they represent. FordDirect is a joint venture that was started in 2000 by dealers, and to this day, dealers retain voting control. Additionally, our Dealer Advisory Board is made up of a cross segment of dealers across the country who are passionate about digital, and are dedicated to helping all Ford and Lincoln dealers sell more cars and trucks. Daniel, we welcome your input and would like to invite you to join our DealerConnection Elite pilot to provide feedback on enhancing our websites. We will also reach out to you today regarding your search spend through the Digital Advertising Solution. What we’ve done with other dealers who have successful independent search campaigns is create “swim lanes” to maximize effectiveness and ensure that we do not compete over search terms. Again, we appreciate the dialogue and look forward to working with you.