Is my competitor going too far or are we not going far enough?
I love competition! It makes me, and hopefully my dealership, better as it keeps you on your toes to keep thinking outside the box and come up with unique and interesting ideas. We all use SEM and SEO to get the jump on our competition and I for one would never begrudge a dealership for bettering me. I will, however, try to one up them next time.
I also believe the expression All is fair in love and the car business is not true. I have always tried to do things on the up and up with fair competition without resorting to untruths. There is a dealer in our market that I feel is operating in a less than ethical way and I'm curious how everyone else feels. Is what they're doing part of the game or is it just over the line.
What they are doing is getting P.O. Boxes in our immediate area, (Our Area Of Responsibility as Acura puts it) and putting up false Google Map locations (Their Princeton location is smack in the middle of Princeton University). We've tried diplomatic ways to get them to stop to no avail. They had pulled it down for a few months but now they're back with force.
Is this fair business practice or over the line? If fair, then should I begin a war they can't win or, maintain my dignity and fight unfair with fair?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I also believe the expression All is fair in love and the car business is not true. I have always tried to do things on the up and up with fair competition without resorting to untruths. There is a dealer in our market that I feel is operating in a less than ethical way and I'm curious how everyone else feels. Is what they're doing part of the game or is it just over the line.
What they are doing is getting P.O. Boxes in our immediate area, (Our Area Of Responsibility as Acura puts it) and putting up false Google Map locations (Their Princeton location is smack in the middle of Princeton University). We've tried diplomatic ways to get them to stop to no avail. They had pulled it down for a few months but now they're back with force.
Is this fair business practice or over the line? If fair, then should I begin a war they can't win or, maintain my dignity and fight unfair with fair?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by DealerELITE on
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Like the topic!
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Permalink Reply by Brad Newsome on
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Have you brought this to your DSM's attention? I would imagine that this goes against Honda/Acura Compliance. Each Acura dealer has a Market Area and I was under the assumption that it originates from the Physical address of the Dealer. I was only a General Manager for our Acura Dealership for 1 year so I am not quite clear on this issue but I would take it as High up as possible if it is costing you money.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Misra on -
How many customers have gone to that ghost location and then told their friends thatthat dealer is out of business ?
Once dirty , always dirty.
STAY CLEAN MY FRIEND
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Permalink Reply by David Lu on
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Mitchell,
Have you attempted to contact Google about this? Does your facing Honda dealer or the one in Hightstown have the same issue? If they do you may be able to unite with them to get more factory involvement in stopping your competitor. You might also contact your state association and see if they may be able to help you.
Have you tried to appeal to the owner him or herself?
Do capture the violations with a screen capture program to "prove" what is happening. Snag-it is one program that can capture screens, Heck you might see if you could make the entire thing into a YouTube video, poking fun at your competitor's sense of direction.
Use humor to show you are beyond it. Once they know they have you rattled, they win.
Dave
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Permalink Reply by Mitchell Brenner on
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Believe me, I don't rattle easily. I've gone through all the usual routes Google, Factory etc. and just want to avoid having to play at their game. I'll bury them if I do but I've actually decided to just let them be on their little Google Maps crusade and I upped my SEM campaign by $$$$ and it's all going to their Zip and a 10 mile radius! I bid them adieu!
David Lu said:Mitchell,
Have you attempted to contact Google about this? Does your facing Honda dealer or the one in Hightstown have the same issue? If they do you may be able to unite with them to get more factory involvement in stopping your competitor. You might also contact your state association and see if they may be able to help you.
Have you tried to appeal to the owner him or herself?
Do capture the violations with a screen capture program to "prove" what is happening. Snag-it is one program that can capture screens, Heck you might see if you could make the entire thing into a YouTube video, poking fun at your competitor's sense of direction.
Use humor to show you are beyond it. Once they know they have you rattled, they win.
Dave
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Permalink Reply by Rob Hagen on
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Mitchell,
Stay true to your values. With the increasing popularity of social media, businesses are becoming more and more transparent. Would you prefer customers to see the way you look or your competition?
Bill had a the right idea of going after Honda customers for service business. Even though I have always been in sales, I truly believe your service department creates customers for life. JD Powers says a customer is 3 times more likely to buy a car from a dealership they had a positive service experience.
Another idea would be to create a marketing campaign that plays on the on going situation. Something like "We have been neighbor in the same location for 20 years". Its subtle but it highlights your positives while bringing some attention to the situation.
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Thank you but we're an Acura dealer, not Honda! I have no problem beating the floor with them. I just do it the legal, right way. They spend nothing on SEM yet try to fool Google and customers with fake addresses in Princeton and Trenton. I was just considering doing the same in 20 towns surrounding them after 15 contacts to Google (they are useless) and my dealer principal talking to the factory failed to get it changed. Keep in mind this is the same dealership that took a billboard right outside our dealership, bought an ad on OUR Dealer Rater page (we were still named the 2010 DealerRater.Com Acura Dealer Of The Year so that did them a lot of good) We, my dealer principal and myself, believe in fair and honest trade and I have decided against falling to their level! We'll just continue our SEM and SEO dominance. All the Acura Dealer Principals and Acura are in meetings this week so it looks like my competitor might have pulled down his illegal tactics while they're all together or all this talk and my constant contact with Google has finally put them back to PA where they can stay! We'll see what happens when the meetings are over. As a 28 year auto business veteran, the last 13 on the Internet, I will continue to wipe the floor with them. I just want them to play fair and not as the lying sniveling weasels they obviously are! !
Bill Harrell said:Mitchell,
I pulled a count for you of Honda owners 50 miles form your stores zip. The number is pretty high, I would take the list mail to these owners for their service. More ROI quick repeat business, and when their service writers and techs are standing around wondering where the business went then come back and take their new customers for the front end. 90 days from now his google map will be the only thing he has left. ha ha
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Permalink Reply by phil florentino on
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Hey,, How are you.
you know im at the Honda store in hamilton, and the store your talking about also has a honda store 18 miles south of us. we opened a year ago and were crushing them now. There management is week.
Mitchell Brenner said:
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We're crushing the Acura store also. We just needto put a stop to the crap they're pulling! Come by and say Hi! Ray Fagin is with me at Acura!
phil florentino said:Hey,, How are you.
you know im at the Honda store in hamilton, and the store your talking about also has a honda store 18 miles south of us. we opened a year ago and were crushing them now. There management is week.
Mitchell Brenner said:
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