Does this ring true with other dealers?

[Dealer research 4]

Do any of these ring true? Any changes to be made? Which one hits the nail on the head (If any)

1. Dave the car dealer just wants to sell cars. He uses Autotrader because it’s the market leader and although he sells cars through it, he feels unappreciated and annoyed by them when they make changes that work against a good paying customer with no thought about them.

 

2. Dave the car dealer just wants to sell cars. He feels he has to use Autotrader because they are the market leader. Daves has used Autotrader for many years but feels annoyed and frustrated by them making changes that work against him, increasing prices and locking Dave into long contracts. Dave feels like he has no other option but to continue with them.

[metcars 397]

Dave the car dealer doesn't 'have' to use Autotrader?

[Dealer research 4]

2 minutes ago, metcars said:

Dave the car dealer doesn't 'have' to use Autotrader?

Hi Metcars, 

I said "feels" not "have". Whats your thoughts though? 

1 hour ago, tradex said:

you have read the threads on here?

Aye i have. Whats your thoughts? Have we missed the mark? 

[Mojo121 229]

I appreciate what you're trying to do here but wouldn't buying a dealer database, formalising an email survey and sending that out with a small participation prize draw (5 dealers with £50 Amazon voucher) be a better, more measurable, way to go about things? Flooding a forum with questions just comes across a bit amateur and doesn't fill me with confidence - especially when talking about taking on a huge business like AT

[Dealer research 4]

Hi Mojo121.

Thanks for the email. We've actually done the emailing a DB around 9 months ago which led us to the product we have today (M and S vouchers plus free to use our service for 3 months). 

Apologies for flooding and noted. Probably no more posts for us (promise Admin!) as you have given us valuable feedback. I dont think its amateur coming here as this is a very powerful site and gives powerful insights which are just as good as surveys to be honest if not better because conversation flows

Can i count on you to give us a try? 

Cheers 

[Mojo121 229]

2 hours ago, Dealer research said:

Hi Mojo121.

Thanks for the email. We've actually done the emailing a DB around 9 months ago which led us to the product we have today (M and S vouchers plus free to use our service for 3 months). 

Apologies for flooding and noted. Probably no more posts for us (promise Admin!) as you have given us valuable feedback. I dont think its amateur coming here as this is a very powerful site and gives powerful insights which are just as good as surveys to be honest if not better because conversation flows

Can i count on you to give us a try? 

Cheers 

We'll give it a go. Don't get me wrong, I wish you all the best, I just know how hard it is.

Anyway, what will your site be called and how are you planning to get buyers to it?

[Dealer research 4]

32 minutes ago, Mojo121 said:

We'll give it a go. Don't get me wrong, I wish you all the best, I just know how hard it is.

Anyway, what will your site be called and how are you planning to get buyers to it?

Thanks Mojo121 and thanks for the kind words. 

Site name is still a secret until 1st August when we go live with the site, message and essentially asking dealers to get involved and get stock on pre launch 1 Sept. 

How do we get buyers on...Thats what our marketing team have been up to for 9 months working on a 16 week initial ramp up via all channels. Hand on heart truth....its chicken and egg which is why we are here. We need stock on it. if i personally went somewhere and there was no stock. i'd never visit it again so it really important for us to get stock on from the dealers so that people browse. Hope that make sense. 

Cheers

Dave 

BTW current commitment (whether we get these or not) is approx 20k cars. Its not enough currently. 

Anyone interested please let us know! lol. 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

This sounds just like a dreaming student writing a thesis Which will inevitably turn into a quickly disappearing flop. 

[Dealer research 4]

21 minutes ago, Arfur Dealy said:

This sounds just like a dreaming student writing a thesis Which will inevitably turn into a quickly disappearing flop. 

Hi Arfur, 

Thanks for the comments. I do understand the sceptasim but we're all in with this and have a refreshing change to others out there. We came here to hopefully get a positive response which we have got but others have also been negative about it. It's the negative people like yourself that we'd love to win over. 

Can we count on you to give us a go? 

Thanks 

Dave 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

Dave, I'm not negative, I'm a realist. You ultimately are researching here with the potential to trial a product which you hope to sell to us. So far, from your approach you haven't given me the slightest confidence to believe in you. You sound to me like a market trader trying to offer an "amazing" new product, then when you show the product it'll be an apple peeler. Big build up with a huge let down. I wish you the best of luck and would love to be proved wrong  I mean that. Simon 

[Dealer research 4]

23 minutes ago, Arfur Dealy said:

Dave, I'm not negative, I'm a realist. You ultimately are researching here with the potential to trial a product which you hope to sell to us. So far, from your approach you haven't given me the slightest confidence to believe in you. You sound to me like a market trader trying to offer an "amazing" new product, then when you show the product it'll be an apple peeler. Big build up with a huge let down. I wish you the best of luck and would love to be proved wrong  I mean that. Simon 

Hi Simon. We have some work to do! 

What aspect doesn't give you the slightest confidence in us. We need to resolve that asap! We're new and wet behind the ears for sure and wouldn't hide that fact. We know we're an underdog but relish in that. If it doesn't work, we've at least tried it. Not amazing BTW but refreshing! 

Can we count on you to give us a go? 

Dave

[Arfur Dealy 823]

Dave, I admire your enthusiasm. But you are just "Dave" an anonymous phishing  researcher. Or pretending to be. 

Let's be frank. Your anonymous build up is BS, if you want people to get behind you, show us proof, you show your cards, otherwise your just a dreaming faker. Don't say believe in me or it'll take time because that's BS aswell.

Proof.......... 

 

[BHM 994]

This man sounds like a dreamer milking us for free information, if you're stupid enough to waste your time. **** him, he's a nuisance.

Edited August 1, 2017 by Becca Chaplin
Edited due to bad language.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

On 25/07/2017 at 10:15 PM, BHM said:

This man sounds like a dreamer milking us for free information, if you're stupid enough to waste your time. **** him, he's a nuisance.

Were "Wet behind the ears". If you need advice on how to pass your gcse look elsewhere 

[Tadams 29]

11 hours ago, Arfur Dealy said:

Were "Wet behind the ears". If you need advice on how to pass your gcse look elsewhere 

I mentioned this on the other thread, If your planning to go after the big boys like AT where giants such as Ebay and motors have failed to make a real impact you need to bring something huge to the table .

So to build a platform based on a few threads on here i cant see it working.. It seems the sum total of all the research so far is "people don't like the AT pricing"  which everyone already knew ! as covered above some evidence of what you planning would be great..

20k confirmed (maybe) cars but no one on here knows about it so where are the cars coming from ? average dealer stock is say x 40 cars so that's about x 500 dealers agreed? 

What did you tell those dealers you won't tell us to get them to agree?

You wanted a sample feed but surely you have one if you already have cars you say will go live (maybe) ? 

I've personally not seen any mention of a new website in regards to a market place so not sure what marketing has been done by your "team" ? 

P.S can you stop copy and pasting " Can we count on you to give us a go? "

Sorry if the above seems harsh but sit at your computer from the other side of the desk and read your posts from a dealer's point of view... would you provide the information your asking for based on well nothing really? 

Thanks 

[MotorJam 0]

Dave

Agree with everything Tadams says above.

None of us have to use AT or any of their competitors for that matter. I'm not saying you said that just pointing out the obvious because I personally think you're asking the wrong questions to the wrong people and focusing on the wrong things. We may resent paying AT prices and I'm going to ignore all of the well documented issues we have with them and point out that the simple reason we use them,  is because they put our cars infront of our customers, give them the add ons that they want and make them pick the phone up/email/chat.  AT research is largely not focused on dealers, it is focused on car buyers, they have millions of visitors to their site and the technology to track and analyse their movements. They then offer the dealers more than just a lead...they record calls, offer chat services, videos, websites, stock valuation tools, ways to connect to other dealers to trade stock and the tools to analyse response etc. We use them (grudgingly) because we get a return on investment.

We have had contact from three businesses like the one that you appear to be launching in the last week alone. One wanted £200 for 20 cars a month, three months free, no stock feed and were "going to do it all on social media"...couldn't show us what the site looked - it was a landing page, couldn't tell us how many cars they were going to launch with and beyond the "going to do it all on social media" did not appear to have a marketing strategy.  Another wanted £200 a week for 20 cars, they had an app with a few cars on, no stock feed, two months free and were then charging dealers at least 20% more than joe public. To be honest, by the time the third one got to us with the line "We're going to take AT down" we were a bit fed up to say the least.  For your information, we won't be going with any of them.

There are two simple questions that you need to find the answers to, to make your business a success:

1. How do I get dealers to advertise with me (what is my USP and is different from AT, Gurus, EBay, Exchange and Mart, Gumtree, AA Cars, Car cliq, Autovolo, Piston heads, Motors etc etc etc?)

2. How do I get buyers to use my product?  (What is my marketing strategy) This is where you will come unstuck without VERY deep pockets that go a lot deeper than remortgaging your house(s)

So you get the whole chicken and egg situation?  Without the customers you won't get the dealers, without the dealer's stock you won't get the customers.  You should be providing dealers with six months to a year's worth of free advertising WITH a stock feed to have the remotest of chances, no matter how good your site/app/product. This is not to benefit US, this is to benefit YOU because if you don't have the stock on your site, you won't get the customers, you don't get the customers, you don't sell cars, dealers stop paying (if they ever started), pull their cars and customers go elsewhere and your business fails. 

The stock feed...even for free I'm not going to sit putting every single one of my cars on your site, there will be those that will but I'm guessing they will be relatively few and far between and you won't get any traction at the volume end of the market. You need to make it easy for me to use you and at least get me some enquiries (what I do with them after that is down to me) before I decide to use you instead of one of the channels I'm already using, or increase my spend in an already saturated market.

Your focus on our dissatisfaction with AT is misplaced. You need to be working on what I would love about you and that has to be more than the opposite of what I don't like about AT. There's stuff I do like...are you incorporating that? What about the stuff I don't like about EBay/Gumtree/Motors/Gurus ? What about the stuff I like?  More importantly what about the customers?

So in answer to your question would we give you a go?  The answer, based on what I have read so far, is "no". That's not to say I won't change my mind but you've not dangled any carrots that will make me bite or said/shown me anything that I've not heard before.   That said...I hope you do make a resounding success of your business, if you can sell me more cars than AT at a fraction of the price, trust me I'll backtrack with bells on.  

 

[Dealer research 4]

2 hours ago, MotorJam said:

Dave

Agree with everything Tadams says above.

None of us have to use AT or any of their competitors for that matter. I'm not saying you said that just pointing out the obvious because I personally think you're asking the wrong questions to the wrong people and focusing on the wrong things. We may resent paying AT prices and I'm going to ignore all of the well documented issues we have with them and point out that the simple reason we use them,  is because they put our cars infront of our customers, give them the add ons that they want and make them pick the phone up/email/chat.  AT research is largely not focused on dealers, it is focused on car buyers, they have millions of visitors to their site and the technology to track and analyse their movements. They then offer the dealers more than just a lead...they record calls, offer chat services, videos, websites, stock valuation tools, ways to connect to other dealers to trade stock and the tools to analyse response etc. We use them (grudgingly) because we get a return on investment.

We have had contact from three businesses like the one that you appear to be launching in the last week alone. One wanted £200 for 20 cars a month, three months free, no stock feed and were "going to do it all on social media"...couldn't show us what the site looked - it was a landing page, couldn't tell us how many cars they were going to launch with and beyond the "going to do it all on social media" did not appear to have a marketing strategy.  Another wanted £200 a week for 20 cars, they had an app with a few cars on, no stock feed, two months free and were then charging dealers at least 20% more than joe public. To be honest, by the time the third one got to us with the line "We're going to take AT down" we were a bit fed up to say the least.  For your information, we won't be going with any of them.

There are two simple questions that you need to find the answers to, to make your business a success:

1. How do I get dealers to advertise with me (what is my USP and is different from AT, Gurus, EBay, Exchange and Mart, Gumtree, AA Cars, Car cliq, Autovolo, Piston heads, Motors etc etc etc?)

2. How do I get buyers to use my product?  (What is my marketing strategy) This is where you will come unstuck without VERY deep pockets that go a lot deeper than remortgaging your house(s)

So you get the whole chicken and egg situation?  Without the customers you won't get the dealers, without the dealer's stock you won't get the customers.  You should be providing dealers with six months to a year's worth of free advertising WITH a stock feed to have the remotest of chances, no matter how good your site/app/product. This is not to benefit US, this is to benefit YOU because if you don't have the stock on your site, you won't get the customers, you don't get the customers, you don't sell cars, dealers stop paying (if they ever started), pull their cars and customers go elsewhere and your business fails. 

The stock feed...even for free I'm not going to sit putting every single one of my cars on your site, there will be those that will but I'm guessing they will be relatively few and far between and you won't get any traction at the volume end of the market. You need to make it easy for me to use you and at least get me some enquiries (what I do with them after that is down to me) before I decide to use you instead of one of the channels I'm already using, or increase my spend in an already saturated market.

Your focus on our dissatisfaction with AT is misplaced. You need to be working on what I would love about you and that has to be more than the opposite of what I don't like about AT. There's stuff I do like...are you incorporating that? What about the stuff I don't like about EBay/Gumtree/Motors/Gurus ? What about the stuff I like?  More importantly what about the customers?

So in answer to your question would we give you a go?  The answer, based on what I have read so far, is "no". That's not to say I won't change my mind but you've not dangled any carrots that will make me bite or said/shown me anything that I've not heard before.   That said...I hope you do make a resounding success of your business, if you can sell me more cars than AT at a fraction of the price, trust me I'll backtrack with bells on.  

 

Hi MotorJam and thanks for the message. Thats why we're here to find this kind of info out for release. Could you advise on the comment you put to help us out and give us an idea of this? 

"There's stuff I do like...are you incorporating that? What about the stuff I don't like about EBay/Gumtree/Motors/Gurus ? What about the stuff I like?"

We have a marketing strategy but until we go live with the site on 1 August, theres not alot more we can say until then. After 1st August we may either get people interested or fall flat on our faces. 

Thanks

Dave

BHM and Arfur, Obviously we're never going to win you over but all i can say is that we were here to find more info out on what dealers would like from something that could genuinely challenge competitors to give you a "near perfect" solution for dealers from the start that you could get behind. We've had some valuable feedback and also some people who think we are dreamers. 

I never came here to annoy anyone and can only apologize if i have.  

If i can summarize what you 2 have said, then basically, everyone is happy with the current options and the market doesn't need anything else and we are destined to fail. 

I'm really sorry you feel we have offended you by coming on here and (as mentioned before), I wont create any new threads and keep my messages to replying to comments only

Thanks 

Dave

[MotorJam 0]

Dave, I think you're missing the point.

The market doesn't need more of the same.  No matter how "near perfect" another option offering us paid for classified advertising is, it is still paid for classified advertising that can't guarantee us anything. The market needs something different, if that's what you're offering then perhaps you can make it work. If you're offering more of the same, to be frank, as a new, unknown player you don't stand a chance.   The cynicism you're encountering is because we don't know what your offering looks like and to be quite frank have heard it all before. The car industry is tough. Margins are tight, customers are demanding and everyone thinks they can milk a dealer for a profit or a deal, especially when they realise how much we pay AT. 

So what will make me buy in to you as a new, unproven, unheard of player? Do something different and make it easy for me to use you. My advertising bill is massive, more than I make from the business, and I won't be spending a penny more until I'm almost certain that it will provide a return. 

Don't get me wrong, I wish you luck and hope that your business is a success.  When it looks like it's going to be, I'll happily put my hand in my pocket to line yours. 

To answer your original question about which of your statements ring true - Both of them but only the first nine words - Dave the car dealer just wants to sell cars. 

[Dealer research 4]

Cheers MotorJam

[Mojo121 229]

Why not start setup an aggregator?

A site that feeds from all dealer's car sites free of charge and charges them per lead (click or contact). Worries about excessive costs can be restricted with monthly/ weekly or car specific caps. This would put an emphasis on a car dealer creating good branding on their websites and also mean their spend would be directly attributed to the platforms's ability to attract buyers. 

Buyers visit the site because it feeds cars in from everywhere in one place - for example; think about what Indeed did in the jobs market. Even Reed (a rival job board) advertise on there. Maybe you could get AT on.

I'm just thinking out of the box. Another classified site isn't what's wanted from looking at the comments above.

[have a word with the wife 299]

what is all this **** ? stick your head up, or go away !

its like bleedin dragons den 

Edited August 1, 2017 by Becca Chaplin
Edited due to bad language.

[BHM 994]

On 26/07/2017 at 7:40 PM, have a word with the wife said:

what is all this ****? stick your head up, or go away !

its like bleedin dragons den 

Pure ****, that's what!

Edited August 1, 2017 by Becca Chaplin
Edited due to bad language.

[RH Trading 80]

On ‎25‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 4:38 PM, Dealer research said:

Thanks Mojo121 and thanks for the kind words. 

Site name is still a secret until 1st August when we go live with the site, message and essentially asking dealers to get involved and get stock on pre launch 1 Sept. 

How do we get buyers on...Thats what our marketing team have been up to for 9 months working on a 16 week initial ramp up via all channels. Hand on heart truth....its chicken and egg which is why we are here. We need stock on it. if i personally went somewhere and there was no stock. i'd never visit it again so it really important for us to get stock on from the dealers so that people browse. Hope that make sense. 

Cheers

Dave 

BTW current commitment (whether we get these or not) is approx 20k cars. Its not enough currently. 

Anyone interested please let us know! lol. 

Dealer Research what are you going to do differently? are you just another classified car website, every man and their dog has tried this, you have to be different not just try and be a copy of a market leader as that's what has tripped up everyone from motors to autovolvo. also you say "Dave the car dealer just wants to sell cars. He uses Autotrader because..." I'll complete it for myself "Rob the car dealer just wants to sell cars for a decent margin. He uses the autotrader because it works for him and he gets a good return on his investment, better than any other classified car site".  Also its a secret until you launch? Motonova have been shouting about their new site for past 6 months, generating interest with us the dealer and will launch with a TV campaign. don't keep it hush hush if you want to attract car buyers - shout about it and why its different to others

[BHM 994]

On 25/07/2017 at 10:15 PM, BHM said:

This man sounds like a dreamer milking us for free information, if you're stupid enough to waste your time. **** him, he's a nuisance.

I repeat. Although feel free to exchange the word "nuisance" for "cunt".