Thousands of dealers across the country keep taking their money and putting it right into their competitor’s bank accounts. It’s one of the weirdest things in automotive…what’s going on?
If you are spending money on 3rd party leads or software from any automotive vendor that also markets directly to consumers, you are funding your competition.
The big name brands have big marketing budgets and big teams all highly specialized in winning the marketing war for search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and paid social, TV, and the list goes on.
When someone starts shopping for a car, they want to come to them first, obviously.
But if they’re trying to win that war, who are they trying to beat? They’re trying to beat each other, but they’re also trying to beat every dealership.
If they capture that person first, they get to re-sell that lead to you and your competition.
The big name brands also sell lots of software directly to dealerships. And for the most part, it’s really good software backed by great people.
But there’s a conflict of interest. That money you’re spending with them, whether on third party leads or software, is putting your dollars back into their bank, for them to then turn around and keep competing with you directly.
Maybe you’re aware and okay with that, or maybe it’s news to you, but one thing you can be certain of: here at TradePending we don’t do this. We don’t compete with you for customers.
Call it a brand promise: our job is to build your brand, not ours.
