After all the doom and gloom the media has bombarded us with regarding the current financial crisis and auto sales in particular you can imagine how surprised I was when one of my customers told me they were having the best year they have ever had. When I asked him to what he attributed his success he stated that, while there are a number of factors the number one reason unquestionably was the success of his internet strategy.

When I considered his statement I thought about all of my customers. I would like to state that all of my customers have experienced the same kind of success but that would be untrue. However, what is true is that e-Dealer’s top performing customers who have experienced positive sales all share a common characteristic; they have embraced the internet.

Commitment and Dedicated Resources a Prerequisite for Success

They have not just dipped their toes in the internet waters they have dedicated resources and demonstrated a commitment to develop a strong internet strategy. These customers are eager to learn and understand the critical metrics essential to measuring the performance of their internet strategy. Car Dealers who rank amongst our top performers contact us regularly to ask questions to further increase their understanding of the internet. I would venture to guess that we receive at least 10 times as many calls from our top performing cars dealers.

Many top performers have become internet experts in their own right. On the other end of the scale dealers who has not experienced the same kind of success do not exhibit the necessary commitment, rarely call and often do not return our calls. Many of these customers have not made the internet a priority and find it extremely difficult to dedicate resources to an internet program with all the demands of running a dealership. I understand the demand on dealerships resources but as long as the internet does not rate as a priority they will be shut out from what is becoming for some dealers the goose that laid the golden egg.

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