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Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on March 7, 2012 at 2:46pm

Sean Wolfington is responding to the question "Who is John Zeiglar" on ADM, here is his comment and my reply:

Reply by Sean Wolfington 22 hours ago

Hi. This is Sean. John Ziegler is a real person, actually he is my brother in law. He has helped us write articles about successful strategies we have implemented with our dealers. This has been a part of our PR strategy to showcase our dealers success so other dealers learn about us and the strategies that are working and our hope was that they would sign up with our company. We have always wanted our articles to be very informative, so whoever reads them can learn something they can use immediately, with our without our help. Our intention was not to mislead anyone, just to get articles written and published that showcase our dealers success. In hind site i wish we would just authored the articles ourselves because it wasnt totally transparent and it was the wrong decision. I am sorry and I apologize if in any way this offended anyone. Thanks for bringing it to our attention Thomas.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas A. Kelly 3 hours ago
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@ Sean Wolfington,

Thanks for coming to this thread. I still have concerns.

1) “John Zeiglar” may well be a "real" person, but are you saying he is a real person in the car business? Or was ten years of content written by you and/or others, all employed by you, using his name? The latter is how it appears, and others involved in this have claimed that is so. What is John Zeiglar's documented car business history?

2) Performance Company is not a real company that he was said to work for. I have it on good authority, “it” was used as a placeholder until you could create an entity for him. 10 years later, it is still holding a place. Who else works for Performance Company? What does it do?

3) The apparent intent of articles by “John Zeiglar” wasn't employment of your brother-in-law, in my opinion, but instead they were in pursuit of support of your businesses, both in profit and agenda. If I am not mistaken, “he” was promoting BZ Results prior to ADP purchasing it, at least I have been told so by those involved in that history.

You have come to this thread and implied that “him” being a "real person" (your brother-in-law) matters more than what I have outlined above. I don't agree. To summarize:

“John Zeiglar” was on the byline of articles at DMM as late as November of 2011. And “he” has a ten year history of articles with no documented car biz employment to validate them and no real "Performance Company". You apparently were using “him” from supporting BZ Results all the way to your work at Paragon Honda . . .”He” was presented, by these articles, to the dealer body as a 3rd party, independent source.
You apologize here and say “In hind site I wish we would just authored the articles ourselves…..” Well, I believe that is EXACTLY what you did. You, your employees, your family, and your business associates as they relate to “John Zeiglar”, are all you in the end. There never was an independent, 3rd party as he was presented to the dealer body, in my opinion.
In the end, I appreciate your apology to all of us, but I don't feel it addressed the real issues.

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on February 11, 2012 at 5:06pm

FTC: Bloggers who shill must also tell

Oct 6, 2009 4:22 PM

The Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously on Monday to require bloggers and other Internet opinion makers to tell consumers if they received payment for their review of a promoter’s product or service.

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on February 11, 2012 at 5:05pm

Sean Wolfington's "John Zeiglar" fattening up BZ Results prior to sale to ADP?

"With the claim of an effective and successful SEM strategy in place, Honda North of Danvers, Mass., has results to back it up. “We tried to manage our own online marketing, but the many challenges that arise from a constantly changing and evolving technology caused us to rethink our entire marketing strategy. BZ Results has been our SEO provider and has proven to be a great investment,” says Edward Naczi, Jr., e-commerce Director".

http://www.autodealermonthly.com/69/2142/ARTICLE/Fine-Tuning-Your-E...

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on February 11, 2012 at 4:21pm

                                                 THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on February 7, 2012 at 7:53am

https://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2011/032411-backspin.html

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on February 6, 2012 at 1:35pm

http://news.consumerreports.org/money/2009/10/new-ftc-federal-trade...

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on February 6, 2012 at 7:56am

Important.....Owning or denying should come from the senior most person familiar with knowledge of "Zeiglars" creation, if in fact he was created..

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on February 6, 2012 at 7:52am

@ Keith...In short, own or deny it publicly. Where I am wrong, if I am wrong, defend it vigorously. If I am correct, justify it to the dealer body and to any investors past or present. I would like to understand.

Comment by Keith Shetterly on February 6, 2012 at 7:37am

Thomas, if what you believe about this is correct, what steps by "John Zieglar/Zeiglar" would satisfy you personally, and also for the industry, on this issue?  What do you think should be done?

Comment by Thomas A. Kelly on February 5, 2012 at 3:22am

I would like to hear one honorable reason for the creation of "John Zeiglar", if in fact he was created and in fact is a pseudonym or worse, a sock-puppet.....or is it, manipulate and deceive the dealer body for profit once again. I have commented repeatedly about Paragon Honda on many forums....they are my heroes damnit.....and much of what I learn of them is in reading articles like this......I feel kind of foolish now.... what is real and what is not?

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