They say that if you can dream it, you can build it. That’s exactly what happened with AddOnAuto, our phenomenally successful accessories solution. It all started when I met Sidney at Galpin Motors in San Fernando Valley, Southern California. He was one of the best Internet Managers in the automotive business and not only understood how to use the Internet to sell cars, but also had a deep understanding of its ability to impact how we do business.

Sidney had seen it all – from a struggling entrepreneur to running a public company he founded to being the most successful Internet Manager in the industry. Always a dreamer, he had some great ideas of what should be done in the automotive business and one of them was an accessories sales solution. I was skeptical because I knew the technical challenges involved and it required the building of a huge database of accessories with accurate mapping to vehicle trims and the need for all vehicles in each and every model, trim and color. I would listen to him and politely agree because it seemed like such an impossible task that it would probably never happen.

He seemed very committed and I wanted to help in whichever way we could so we gave him high resolution images of automobiles from time to time. This went on for a while, till one day I called him to ask how things were going and he said that his product was ready.  It was the most exciting piece of news that I had heard in a long time and I flew down to LA to meet him. When he demonstrated AOA to me for the first time, it completely blew me away. Here was a product that would change the way dealerships did business, the way accessories were sold, and would impact the industry as no other product had done before.

 The deal to acquire AOA itself was easy as we shared the same ideals, vision and goals. Before we knew it, Sidney was an integral part of izmocars and AOA was well on its way to creating history. But it took a lot of guts, pain, and hard work by a highly committed team to bring it to where it is today.  We made mistakes, learnt a lot of lessons, and slowly but surely got AOA to being a very effective solution for selling accessories in dealerships.

 Accessories are a $44 billion industry with franchise dealers having less than 10% market share. That is surprising because independent customer surveys show that consumers would rather buy accessories in-dealership than in the after-market. However, in the absence of an effective tool to sell accessories, dealerships are losing that business and have an uphill battle turning it around.

 When we first launched AOA, no one believed that accessories could be sold in dealerships and we won them over one dealer at a time. We went into dealerships and built sales process, negotiated between part and sales departments, actually sold accessories for them, and showed them that this was true and not some marketing gimmick. With little or no marketing, but with a lot of customers as raving fans, AOA emerged as the only effective solution in selling accessories in dealerships.

 The numbers are astounding – growth of anywhere from 100% to 300% in accessories sales, an average of $400 a copy and an ROI to dealers of more than 1000%! No other product in history has produced such results and yet it takes less than an hour to learn how to use it!

 Today AOA is lighting the way for dealerships across the country, increasing sales and profits, creating a new profit center within dealerships. If you don’t believe us, ask our customers…

It was originally created for http://blog.izmocars.com/ceo/

It’s impossible to miss the phenomenon called Lady Gaga.

I don’t follow the latest pop culture, but the other day I was driving past the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco and saw a line of young people lined up in front and round the block and then some more and wondered what was going on. A small sign displayed the name Lady Gaga which didn’t strike a chord, so I went on with my day, but over the next few days I just couldn’t escape the lady. She was on radio, on the Grammy award show, on YouTube, basically everywhere one looked, there she was.

It got me thinking about how modern pop culture has evolved into something that can go from unknown to known in a day or even a few hours. When you really get to the bottom of it, Lady Gaga and her marketing machine belong to the generation that they’re serving and that’s what makes them so successful. They are in tune with their listeners, their positioning is unique and their message resonates with their target audience.

In many ways, we in the business world and especially in the car dealership world exist in a different time and space. Some things are changed forever; the Internet has become the market place for autos, and even though cars are not sold on the Internet yet, customers are most likely to encounter their next car on the Internet and then email or call for more information. The demographics are changing and it’s the Lady Gaga generation that will be our customers tomorrow. It therefore becomes an important business lesson to learn from the lady and teach ourselves a new way to market, communicate and sell.

So here goes: Tailor your message to resonate with your audience. When Lady Gaga sings about a bad romance, its not Romeo & Juliet stuff, its gritty, bad boy love. The young audience get it, she talks about their life experience, hopes and desires. We need to do the same in business. Let’s think for a moment – Is price the only thing our customers care about today, do people shop purely on that? Is it convenience? Is it safety? Is it service?  Do your communications speak to your audience in the same way the lady speaks to hers?

Positioning. This is the next lesson to be learnt. Lady Gaga is clearly the darling of pop. She’s found a place right in the center – Not Hip Hop, Not Rock, Not Country, Not Ballad, Not Jazz; she has her own unique positioning. Her audience is the Hanna Montana crowd growing up. I would even go so far as to call her an aspirational brand.

Dealers need to create their own unique positioning in the market place. Many dealers have done it in the past and have been wildly successful. Be unique and your message should be what your target audience resonates to.

Accessorize. Have you ever seen Lady Gaga and her outfits? Truly unique, edgy and amazing. She is wearing art. Dealers need to start selling accessories on cars. They are cool, customers want them and they are highly profitable.

Be everywhere. Make it easy to be located. Be where your audience is. Lady Gaga had a gazillion hits to her YouTube listings. You need to spread the message and spend some money doing it right. Pay Per Click advertising is as blasé as vanilla ice cream, move on to using new media to market. And spend some time along with the money your spending. Attention to detail and commitment to your cause is the key.

Take a little risk. Lady Gaga pushes the envelope and challenges her audience to keep up with her. You do just a little bit, but venture out with a unique message and unique positioning and you’ll get the attention of the customers.

Here’s to the Lady. 

The content was original written for http://blog.izmocars.com/ceo/ by me.