05 June 2011

Sometimes I read something and I think ‘that’s interesting’ and then, when I read it again more closely, I think ‘that’s really interesting’. Here’s a quote from Neil Packham, sales director at Manheim Retail Services, that I believe deserves reading twice.

“Just as the internet made car sales ‘global’, mobile marketing is making it more local”.

Maybe read that again and have a think about it. Unless I’m mistaken it means we’re all going to have to think again about our sales and marketing strategy – just when we got used to operating on a global (well, okay, national scale).

Remember the days when the only rivals for your business were the dealerships that advertised in your local paper? Then, along came the internet and changed all that. Suddenly customers were turning up on the forecourt with competing quotes from the other side of the country and, unless you got close on price, they were prepared to travel to buy.

That global perspective isn’t going to go away but are you neglecting the local competition? How quickly can you react if you do get a local enquiry? It needn’t be about sales; it could just as easily be aftersales – around one-third of searches on mobile devices are driven by the desire to find local information or for location-based services.

I’m sure this will be one of the hottest topics at our upcoming Web Workshops (30 June or 7July, take your pick) where we look beyond the basics of online retailing. The growth of mobile internet and smartphone apps is one workshop session, along with online advisers, social networking and legal.

You can find out more about the web workshops here: http://bit.ly/fgjxaz and I look forward to seeing you there. Do give Francis a call (01572 724687) if you haven’t booked your place yet.

Have a great week of selling, both on and off-line. Remember, if you’ve got a story to tell: rupert@auto-retail.com

Rupert Saunders

Tags: global, internet, local, marketing, mobile, phones