This is real life.

Last month two Texas dealerships within 60 miles of each other advertised the same unit on CycleTrader.com. One dealership did what too many other stores do – they posted the unit with two stock photos of the bike. They did no extra work other than to use the photos the OEM provided them. Meanwhile, 60 miles down the road, another dealership took the same two stock photos plus shot an additional nine photos of that unit and posted all of these online on CycleTrader.com. The second dealership – the one that invested time into their online marketing – had 17 shoppers check out their unit. The first one, the one did nothing but post stock photos of the unit? They had one shopper view that unit. 17 vs. 1.

Which dealership are you?

If you’re the store posting just OEM stock photos, you’re losing. Every week. Every day. Every hour.  You’re losing 80 percent of our unit shoppers. These are the shoppers that begin their unit search online. And when they go online, they want to see photos and videos of those units. Not one or two stock photos from the OEM, but a wealth of photos.  If you’re the store getting one consumer vs. 17, you’re probably not shooting photos of every unit because the sale guys get too busy. That’s what I usually hear. If that’s you, it’s time to change. Because you’re losing. Every day. Every hour. My thought? Go invest in a decent camera ($200-$300 will easily cover it) and hire yourself a part-timer who knows what a flash drive is. Put them to work for 20 hours a week and your unit leads should absolutely grow. Or, change your priorities and make this lead-mechanism a must and not a request for the sales department.

This is not rocket science. This is simple stuff. But it starts with identifying that the excuse “the sales guys got too busy this week” is actually saying, “we prefer to have our business slow down because we’re making too much money.” Change. If you’re that store, change. Because you’re losing. Every week. Every day. Every hour.