I was watching TV last night and I saw a commercial for LISTINGALLCARS.com.  Another 3rd party lead provider is entering the market.  Seriously how many more to do we need.  Autotrader, Cars.com, Carguru, KelleyBlueBook, CarSoup, True Car, CarFax and now another one.  

As dealers we are told and taught that we can't live without them.  The reality of it is they need us as much as we need them.  Without are millions of dollars of inventory they wouldn't have a product and without their searchers we wouldn't be able to sell cars.  So although I am not totally anti 3rd party lead provider I often wonder that given the model why doesn't it ever feel like more of a partnership?  Why do I feel like I am working for them every time I write the check?

PAYMENT. I think it comes back to the way the pay is done.  When the market is down I pay the same.  When SRPS go down I am told it isn't them its me and my inventory quality.  When I have manager turn over or fewer staff I can't make any adjustments.  Whenever a decline in business occurs people all across an organization feel the financial hit, but not third parties.

There is no doubt that sometimes a dealerships failures with third party listings are their own but if I don't have any inventory would I write the check?  So if I know the market is down, particularly in the winter months, or if I have staff turn over why am I still writing the same check?  Wouldn't it be nice if I can make the dollars make sense for whatever obstacle my dealership is trying to overcome?

ANALYSIS. As more and more companies have tried to conquer the third party listing business model I often wonder why the increase in competition hasn't driven change in some companies pay to play model or at least the costs down.  

I think it may be dealers inability to truly analyze the numbers.  When working for a dealer I analyze the following:

• Cost/SRP
• Cost/VDP
• Cost/Lead
• Cost/Conversion (I define as call, visit, chat)
• Cost/Sale (harder to get to)

I keep it simple and the ones that are to high will tell me that they drive showroom traffic.  That is when the SRP and VDP cost comes in handy.  

So even if one is way higher than the other why don't we leave until costs are more inline?  Fear and lack of understanding.  I have never met a vendor I can't live without is my new favorite saying because it is true.  It is true if you have your marketing house in order.  SEO, SEM, Display, Retargeting and traditional advertising!  If you have this organized and well funded you will be able to be more flexible with who you keep and who you lose without sacrificing business.

ACCOUNTABILITY. The last thing that amazes me in our industry is that to my knowledge there is no 3rd party entity monitoring the numbers. In television we look at Neilsen ratings, in radio it is Arbitron, but for sites like Cars.com, Autotrader, KBB, etc. they give us their numbers with no auditing process.  Remembering when customers could only get the numbers on a car from a dealership before the internet...think about it...remember the grosses?  Imagine what could be going on here.  If there is an auditing company please let me know.

Third party listings, with maybe the exception of True Car in some states, have no skin in our game.  When we lose they win.  When we win they win.  Dealerships aren't set up that way so why should there be such little flexibility with third party listings?

This entry will ruffle a lot of feathers but it is not to state that third party listing are bad or wrong for your marketing plans.  It is to challenge us to look for better ways to partner and a more practical way of doing business.