Mikey360

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Posts posted by Mikey360

  2. Posted

    24 minutes ago, FHP11 said:

    We've been moved over to this new Autotrader portal 

     

    Does anyone else think its absolutely awful and they've spent a load of money fixing something that wasn't broken?

    Vikki asked me for some feedback on it as they're looking for things they can change if they're not working well!

  4. Posted

    Morning all,

    Is anyone else getting really crap customer services from Autotrader recently? I've had to call them everyday this week with technical problems and people not getting back to me via email or phone. It's just basic stuff like changing a phone number (had to call twice to get it changed over 2 days), address changes taking over a week, the "new business manager" not replying to emails etc. I've never spoken to my account manager, even after requesting he calls me when he wasn't busy on another call (this was back in early Jan)

    Called up today to make a complaint after the new trade portal has hidden things like retail checker and naturally my account manager wasn't available, spoke to a lovely lady called Vikki, she helped me find everything on the new portal, but she cant do much in the way of sorting complaints because shes not my account manager.

    Is it just my bad luck or are they always like this?

     

  12. Posted

    3 minutes ago, Jack Regan said:

    Audi & BMW 2.0 petrol 3 doors , that's why they ain't selling .

    Yeah I realised that, should have gotten diesels! Although I thought the Audi would be in the "hot hatch" market being a turbo petrol?

  15. Posted

    8 minutes ago, Mark101 said:

    What about aye up duck?

    Next car I film, I will try that - send you a spec of the car and you can waffle on in your broadcasting voice - could be interesting.

    Bloody hate being called duck! Mostly for common folk round here ;) 

    Sure thing, just let me know when!

  16. Posted

    1 minute ago, Mark101 said:

    See you're one of the lucky people with no accent, my better half is the same.  Whereas I have a black country twang, not strong but it is there.  AD has a West Country accent (an accent I really like by the way), EPV is always climbing up apples and pears and I haven't spoken to Nick in person and his videos have no voice over.

    I am considering sending you raw footage of my cars and getting you to voice them for me. ;)

    :D I was lucky enough to be born in the most neutral accent area in England! The east Midlands!

    If you do want me to have a look Mark, drop me a pm and I'll see what I can do!

  17. Posted

    2 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

    I agree, consider starting a youtube channel at least. 

    Once you deal in cars you will have lots of content topics. What to look, how to buy, how to sell, how to prepare an advert, how to negotiate (or NOT) with a dealer, what to ask, what not to ask etc etc etc :-)

    My first video will be "how not to talk to a car dealer" :lol: I'm sure it'll be over 30 mins long! 

    Thanks for the encouragement on the video side of things, might have a sit down and a drink and see if I can make it a viable side line 

  19. Posted

    8 hours ago, Mark101 said:

    You wouldn’t have forgotten for long because the second words out of punters mouths is always “has the cambelt been done.”  The first question being, “what’s your best price.”

    :D speaking from experience there!

    7 hours ago, Arfur Dealy said:

    Mikey, well in my book your adverts are a good 8 out of 10. I agree the location looks like you’ve dumped a body somewhere, but the choice of pictures and quality are good. Your photos need to be consistent, same background time and time again and not in direct sunlight. 

    Ive watched your video and you come across as a well spoken genuine guy, definitely start doing a walk around video showing the warts and positives. Show the history in the video because it really sells cars. Maybe consider an introduction and conclusion. Hope that helps

    Thankyou! I think what I'm going to start doing is some tour videos for more standard cars (Mondeos, golfs etc) as they attract the sort of buyer that will appriciate that! I'll save the current style of advert for more uniqe cars like M sports, S lines etc

    7 hours ago, BHM said:

    +1. I only watched the A3 video & my comments are forget the Audi-style advertising flannel and actually tell punters something about that specific car. You should be pointing out good & bad points - yours sounded like a manufacturers advert for a new car when in truth it’s an end of life product.

    You shoot an excellent video though, however it’s style over substance here I feel (although many will disagree with me & it’s not a market I sell to).

    Thankyou BHM! See above response ^

    5 hours ago, Nick M.K. said:

    But the Audi A3 as a product (irrespective of age) is all about style over substance and I think this video format makes this ad stand out compared to the typical walkaround used car video (including my own). 

    Remember that the person that will buy it will not see it as end of life and it’s good that the video steers them away from that thought. 

    Exactly my thinking, yes the Audi is 13 years old and isn't perfect, if the video clearly states that might be doing myself out of a viewing. Obviously the in person sales pitch would be VERY clear about the car to promote confidence and clarity.

  20. Posted

    1 minute ago, EPV said:

    No, it looks shit.

    One of the downsides to AT's format is they don't allow paragraphing, I've asked a million times for this but it seems to disagree with their in house IT nerds. Just keep the text interesting and don't worry about people getting bored and not reading the advert in full. If they are interested then they want information, if they want information give it to them. If you have to separate then use a string of hyphens. Even then I wouldn't do it. Just do a nice, interesting paragraph. 

    Noted and adjusted thankyou!

    It does surprise me that the biggest car selling website doesn't allow a bit more freedom in the layout of the text, it is difficult to read at the best of times! 

    3 minutes ago, Tom said:

    I like the videos, quick and to the point. 

    The photos are OK to be fair this time of year will be hard as the light is low and grey. If you have MS windows open the photos up in windows photo gallery and use the auto enhance to brighten them up. 

    The cars are getting on a bit age and miles so your phone wont make much noise. 

    Thankyou Tom! I do go through the photos with a bit of post processing in Darktable as I take them in RAW format. They do want a bit of brightening up, i'll have a play tomorrow 

  21. Posted

    Just now, EPV said:

    There's not much wrong with the background, pics 4 and 6 from the 120i for example are more than good enough. You'd be better off spending your time sorting the punctuation in the ad text, double commas and full stops, exclamation marks then a double comma etc. 

    Ah I think that's from hitting enter, for some reason it makes a ,, rather than a space, was hoping it'd break up the text a bit!

  22. Posted

    Just now, Tim H said:

    I don't think the location is bad... if you keep the background view as the one in your side on pictures... As long as the little lane is wide enough I suppose ... Don't forget the confusing bit about the MOT..

    Whilst its been in our care, it's had its MOT done, an interim service and a new battery clutch fitted! It also benefits from having Full Service History with 7 stamps in the book, Meaning you can drive away, happily knowing it's been well looked after., 3 months warranty, Next MOT due 27/11/2018,

     

    Ah I see what you mean! I changed the earlier bit but forgot to untick the MOT details on Autotrader! Thankyou!

  23. Posted

    4 minutes ago, Tim H said:

    Hi Mikey, I looked at the Mini... I'll say right away that I'm seriously impressed... The video and commentary is fantastic and will be way better than any other advert for a similar product that your potential customer will be looking at.

    Advice in an AT best practice video would suggest that when you take your pictures, try moving the car around so that the back drop is the same rather than moving around the car with the camera... I know and appreciate it will take longer but you will be able to choose a better background like the view from the N/S of the Mini, and not have to show some pylons,substation and clumsy old gate.

    In the Mini write up it does say MOT due Nov 2018 so you might want to change that...

    Well done for asking on here, you've had some great responses and super help... Sincerely hope the job picks up for you soon,

    Thankyou Tim! I'll be having a drive round tomorrow to see if I can find a better location 

  25. Posted

    5 minutes ago, NOACROSS said:

    I would also add that you take a pic of the speedo’s exact mileage if you’re going to do this. 

    As all the above (some great feedback). I too don’t like the location though, but it is being harsh. You come across very well and you’re obviouly ‘normal’  

    For me, maybe controversially, the cars and the mileages are the main issue. The Mini (while good for the young drivers) is 90k and boring. My feelings on german cars at this age and miles particularly are well publicised though  

    If you’re only stocking a few cars as EPV says, you need to buy better. And you’re definitely more than capable of marketing better stuff p- and that’s when your great approach and ability to string words together well & your videos will reap the rewards. 

    I would rephoto them and zoom in more and consider two approaches:

    One where, as discussed, you make the cars look better and try to get the people to come to you/ not giving them a reason not to buy just from the advert. 

    Second approach- inspired by our erstwhile member AD, where you shoot from a ‘warts and all’ standing -particularly on the type of cars you currently have; as Simon says ‘people buy from people’ and I’m sure you have the same great, no bullsit, honest manner about you that he does. And some person’s 90k German delight will be better than others & Simon’s approach may help you show that yours are ‘better than a lot of the rest in comparison’.

    Good work though considering how long you’ve been doing it and as TV says, don’t panic. Sometimes they just stick and, unless you need to blow them out to get the dough back in, then just hold your nerve. 

    Get a whiskey in me and I'm far from normal! :D 

    Thanks for the feedback Noacross, all taken on board. I am hoping to get out of this price bracket soon once some more capitals in the business and get some lower mileage and newer stock. I always try to stock something with a selling point, ie the Mini is cheaper on insurance as its a smaller engine, but it hasn't translated into a speedy sale unfortunately!

    With the speedo pic, do you mean to put it in the advert or just keep it filed? I'm just thinking in regards to Nicks advice of removing pics with a date on so it doesn't look like old stock