I most certainly agree the consumer can give two entirely different answers on the same issue. My favorite quote for this was from Henry Ford, "If I asked people what they wanted they would have said faster horses".
Again ruggles, I am not suggesting Transparency is a big deal as a reality, but it is a big deal as a feeling. For example, simply not having a process where a salesperson walks away from a customer at a desk during a negotiation improves transparency, and it's not because you are revealing everything you are doing, it's because the customer will "feel" as if you are not hiding everything you are doing. We just need to get out in front of this stuff a little bit better because we tend to have the same disadvantage prison guards have in prisons: We only think of this stuff in between customers (Shifts) whereas the forces working against us are at it 24/7.
I politely disagree that any market factors are going to rewind the clock on this stuff because technology will continue to evolve either way and with it, expectations. If the information is going to flow let it flow equally to both sides. Negotiations, as you mentioned, worked well with little information on each side but they can work just as well with more information on both sides. But hey, if a buyer will take a lesser car somewhere else because you won't move off your price like the 3rd party pricing tool says you should, you probably would have run into another obstacle somewhere else with that person anyway. The consumer that's difficult to deal with doesn't become any easier by telling them more and on that, we can all agree.
Again ruggles, I am not suggesting Transparency is a big deal as a reality, but it is a big deal as a feeling. For example, simply not having a process where a salesperson walks away from a customer at a desk during a negotiation improves transparency, and it's not because you are revealing everything you are doing, it's because the customer will "feel" as if you are not hiding everything you are doing. We just need to get out in front of this stuff a little bit better because we tend to have the same disadvantage prison guards have in prisons: We only think of this stuff in between customers (Shifts) whereas the forces working against us are at it 24/7.
I politely disagree that any market factors are going to rewind the clock on this stuff because technology will continue to evolve either way and with it, expectations. If the information is going to flow let it flow equally to both sides. Negotiations, as you mentioned, worked well with little information on each side but they can work just as well with more information on both sides. But hey, if a buyer will take a lesser car somewhere else because you won't move off your price like the 3rd party pricing tool says you should, you probably would have run into another obstacle somewhere else with that person anyway. The consumer that's difficult to deal with doesn't become any easier by telling them more and on that, we can all agree.
