Jerry, I smell what the Rock is cookin...
And the thing-is, it may be worth $10K per month, right?
But IMHO there is a serious disconnect between what Dealers/ISM's expect from AT and what they get.
Dealers and ISMs are expecting measurable leads. They are not getting them. Dealers compare the portal to other properties that offer measurable leads. Only natural, right?
Thinking about this the other day, it occurs to me that perhaps the entire business model for AT's Sales Force has done itself a complete disservice! Along the lines of, from the get-go, take the ESPN approach: recognize the niche and market, and create your own Channel.
When I think of Autotrader as a TV Channel, like Discovery or Nat Geo or ESPN, and I start making some mental comparisons to the dollars involved with ads on the History Channel vs. ads (inventory) on the Autotrader Channel, I don't seem to have a problem justifying $5K - $10K per month.
The value-ad is that sometime you may even get a phone call or email lead...
We talk a lot about setting proper expectations, right? Kinda seems to me AT has been set-up all wrong. They're now backtracking, talking about myth/legend/reality of the "Heard About You" customers, but purely as a reactive measure. Hard to swallow after you've been promised those leads...
