TRUE CAR and ZAG Cyber Bandits, Parasites or Good for the Car Business?
Jim Ziegler asks...
I am hearing a lot of discussion about True Car and ZAG. I continually scratch my head and wonder if desperate dealers are doing the marketing limbo "How Low Can You Go?"
Are we so bad at what we do that we have to line up and pay vendors to lose money? AND, who is giving these people access to your data that is used against you?
Who owns these companies and what might be their ulterior motive? Sometimes I ask questions to which I already know the answer.
Am I wrong?
What do you think... JIM
Jim Ziegler's Guidance and Recommended Action Plan:
Ten Areas We Need to Concentrate on to Bring This Monster to It's Knees...
- Government investigation of ALL Data Aggregators taking consumer information from dealers' DMS. Sadly enough, dealers who do business with TrueCar are exposed to liability charges. Cut off all access to unecessary data, no matter who takes it from the dealers DMS and make it illegal to "resell identifiable consumer data" and "transactional data".
- Educate Your Fellow Dealers; If anyone takes financial transactional data, they expose the dealer that allowed it to violations, especially if it is passed on to other vendors or shared.
- Educate Consumers to what they're doing with their information...
a. You buy a car from a dealer, do you really want your personal information, and maybe even your financial information, passed along and sold and shared by "God knows who?"
b. These People Charge the Dealer $300 which the dealers have to build into the deal
c. Your Privacy and the Security of your Information could theoretically compromise your identity if you do business a company that takes data from the dealership. - Educate Investors and potential investors they could possibly be mislead if anyone is telling them this is a safe investment because of all of the dealers pushing back, associations pushing back, and government regulators in many states coming after TrueCar's business model as NOT compliant, in some cases they're saying it is Not Legal.
- AMEX, USAA and all of their affiliates do not want the bad consumer relations this push back is creating with their members and customers.
- Cancel your dealership's Affilation with TrueCar. Tell people with TrueCar certificates that YOU don't honor TrueCar and you feel the company is NOT reputable. Educate consumers as to perceived data exposure if they buy from a TrueCar dealer. Make sure that each consumer knows that using TrueCar actually increases their vehicle cost by $300 to $400.
- Make the dealers selling at huge losses take all of those deals. Big problem right now is too many Nissan Dealers and others are taking huge losers to get the factory money. The TrueCar reverse-auction business model will continually push those numbers down until the factory money is non-existent. Consumers need to hear from many dealers, "We don't do TrueCar"
- Keep calling your National and State Dealer Associations demanding they get involved and stay involved... No excuses.
- Get the Manufacturers into the game. If GM, Ford, Toyota, and other majors change the rules about how we advertise and do business to protect the dealers, we can cut off their ability to set pricing. So keep it up at every dealer meeting. Call your Dealer Council Members and protest to your factory reps. Tell the manufacturers, if they want showroom and facility improvements, we need the ability to make fair profits.
- Tell everyone you know. Educate other dealers and industry people. Watch the Painter interviews... I believe this is the first time a vendor has publicly announced they intend to bring down the dealers and hijack our business, taking our profits and starving us out with our own data. Painter has said manufacturers and dealers should go bankrupt and he, in his God-like way "will control distribution..."
When the TrueCar-Yahoo Deal kicks in we need to stand firm and "Just Say No" we don't honor TrueCar deals.
Read this article as a reference: http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20110831%2FFIN...
AND, if you doubt the mission... read this... http://www.zag.com/websiteASSETS/whitepapers/ZAG-WhitePaper3.pdf
Comment
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Comment by James A. Ziegler on March 30, 2012 at 8:34am
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Hello Alpha Dawg Tribe, get ready to ratchet up phase two of the Data Wars. We're NOT done with TrueCar yet.. they say they've changed their ways BUT, in fact, they haven't changed at all...
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Comment by George O'Sullivan on March 23, 2012 at 12:45pm
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This job is for my area. The last time the old rep was in my store, about 6 months ago. He asked for the Internet Manager and when I walked out he dropped his head and said "Oh you are still here, sorry for bothering you". It is those same communication abilities that I hope they find for their new rep!
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Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on March 23, 2012 at 9:30am
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A couple of bullet points that stick out with commentary:
• Represent TrueCar at industry conferences and trade shows (Kevlar gear provided)
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written (must NOT have attended Painter-Deitz Communications seminars)
• Experience giving presentations to key decision makers (megaphones provided as we do not listen very well)
• Offer TrueCar Dealers specific recommendations to help them succeed (recommend Craigslist, Autotrader and Cars.com)
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Craigs List
Date: 2012-03-22, 5:14PM CDT
Reply to: see below [Errors when replying to ads?]Area Sales Manager
Kansas City Area
Who We Are: TrueCar, Inc. is a revolutionary Internet company that is fundamentally changing the automotive industry. Our business model is innovative and profitable: we're creating a transparent, intelligent automotive marketplace that benefits both buyers and sellers, using technology to ensure dealers thrive and consumers get a great price. Since its launch in 2006, TrueCar has facilitated the sale of over 400,000 new and used vehicles, and works with a nationwide network of over 5,000 dealers. Our partners include some of the most prominent brands in the U.S., including Consumer Reports, AAA, USAA, GEICO, Progressive, American Express, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Yahoo Autos, AOL Autos and U.S. News. Our acquisition strategy recently resulted in the purchase of automotive residual values industry leader ALG as well. With triple digit revenue growth and offices in Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Austin, we've made the list of fastest growing companies for both Inc. Magazine and Los Angeles Business Journal and our growth in 2012 is expected to more than double.
Now, we need more great people to help us pull off the next big thing. Join us.
Who We're Looking For: Right now, we're looking for an Area Sales Manager who is responsible for acquiring and developing new TrueCar Dealers within an assigned geographic territory as well as retaining and growing existing TrueCar Dealers. This person will report to the Regional Sales Director, Western Region.
Responsibilities:
• Pitch and close target dealers on TrueCar's various dealer services
• Personally conduct weekly onsite TrueCar Dealer trainings
• Offer TrueCar Dealers specific recommendations to help them succeed
• Consistently exceed all territory goals, including dealer acquisition, retention, growth, training, dealer satisfaction and other metrics
• Personally build and strengthen key dealer relationships
• Represent TrueCar at industry conferences and trade shows
• Provide feedback and specific recommendations to management for how to improve TrueCar's various dealer services
Qualifications:
• Proven track record of consistently exceeding sales and/or other quantitative goals, as well as qualitative goals
• Cold calling, networking, business development and consultative sales experience
• Experience giving presentations to key decision makers
• At least 10 years of auto industry outside sales experience
• Strong understanding of auto dealerships, both larger dealer groups and family owned
• Customer fixated
• Availability for overnight travel up to 60% of typical workweek
• Self-directed, rolls up the sleeves and overcomes obstacles
• Engages in problem solving activities regularly and autonomously
• Sets, pursues and follows-through with achieving goals with a sense of urgency
• Demonstrates confidence and assertiveness in an interpersonal manner
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Collaborative attitude and desire to contribute outside primary areas of responsibility
• Well organized with good attention to detail
• Bachelor's degree required
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:) ...well, I can't fly Keith.
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Comment by Keith Shetterly on March 19, 2012 at 8:28pm -
@ Thomas: I don't understand. Are you calling yourself a donkey's ass?? :)
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Kinda like the birds riding on a donkeys ass picking ticks...Don't really care for the pecking on my butt but.....
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This is where TC did the industry a favor...they were not the first by a long shot....the majors and minors have been trashing dealers for many years and we allowed them to co-exist on our dime....it always puzzled me??
For that and that alone, I thank TC...They certainly did raise awareness.
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Comment by Keith Shetterly on March 19, 2012 at 7:33pm
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@ Thomas: Without thinking, I just wrote the names down of SIX major vendors that fall into that list. Chilling.
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