When Your Tech Stack is Wack!

[Chris Leslie]

I was trolling some other chevy sites outside of my market last night and happened upon this site using something I hadn't seen before. It's called Nabthat. Basically its its an info grabber with the promise of Super Secret Pricing of some sort. But after everything was said and done the final email I got from the dealer not only was automated but apparently, is pulling its info from somewhere else because the price difference was $2,000

I started thinking to myself "Who should be responsible for a dealers tech stack?"

I did my best to remove any identifying info but if I missed something I apologize. My goal is not to point make an example but rather a point as to why the more things you add the more you are setting yourself up for failure.

* This is what I saw on the dealers site.

After filling out the info i got an email that wanted me to click a button to go to another webpage (Which is horrible user experience by the way) which presents me with this certificate.

No more than 3 minutes later I get an automated email from the dealer with this quote which is using a different service.

I can only assume that things like this make us all look like we have no idea whats going on.

 

[Alexander Lau]

I was trolling some other chevy sites outside of my market last night and happened upon this site using something I hadn't seen before. It's called Nabthat. Basically its its an info grabber with the promise of Super Secret Pricing of some sort. But after everything was said and done the final email I got from the dealer not only was automated but apparently, is pulling its info from somewhere else because the price difference was $2,000

I started thinking to myself "Who should be responsible for a dealers tech stack?"

I did my best to remove any identifying info but if I missed something I apologize. My goal is not to point make an example but rather a point as to why the more things you add the more you are setting yourself up for failure.

* This is what I saw on the dealers site.

After filling out the info i got an email that wanted me to click a button to go to another webpage (Which is horrible user experience by the way) which presents me with this certificate.

No more than 3 minutes later I get an automated email from the dealer with this quote which is using a different service.

I can only assume that things like this make us all look like we have no idea whats going on.

Interesting, I believe there is a user here that represents https://www.nabthat.com. I could be wrong.

 

[AdamMurray]

I dare say this is not common but does happen more often than not. Internet manager sees cool new widget, signs up and product goes live. Between then and now he's had to hire/fire two salespeople, go to 12 meetings with the other managers, rework all of the save-a-deal reports for the new F&I director, confirm all of his team's appointments, take TO's and, well, you get the idea.

Unfortunately, setting up pricing rules and mapping them between all of their different outputs usually takes a back seat to everyday life in a dealership. Most of us on this forum have been fortunate to work with dealerships that see the value in these efforts and allocate the resources to stay on top of inventory and pricing. Many don't, though, and just pile it on a list of chores that always get trumped by the "just sell cars" edict.

 

[Alexander Lau]

I dare say this is not common but does happen more often than not. Internet manager sees cool new widget, signs up and product goes live. Between then and now he's had to hire/fire two salespeople, go to 12 meetings with the other managers, rework all of the save-a-deal reports for the new F&I director, confirm all of his team's appointments, take TO's and, well, you get the idea.

Unfortunately, setting up pricing rules and mapping them between all of their different outputs usually takes a back seat to everyday life in a dealership. Most of us on this forum have been fortunate to work with dealerships that see the value in these efforts and allocate the resources to stay on top of inventory and pricing. Many don't, though, and just pile it on a list of chores that always get trumped by the "just sell cars" edict.

Not to mention it completely compromises the user experience. How many times has a dealer said, "hey look at that cool widget, let's apply this to our site!!", without user / usability testing.

 

[Chris Leslie]

Unfortunately, setting up pricing rules and mapping them between all of their different outputs usually takes a back seat to everyday life in a dealership. Most of us on this forum have been fortunate to work with dealerships that see the value in these efforts and allocate the resources to stay on top of inventory and pricing. Many don't, though, and just pile it on a list of chores that always get trumped by the "just sell cars" edict.

I agree and makes me want to know if vendors or as they like to call themselves "partners" really have the dealers best interest in mind or are they just after that monthly check.

 

[AdamMurray]

Not to mention it completely compromises the user experience. How many times has a dealer said, "hey look at that cool widget, let's apply this to our site!!", without user / usability testing.

Agreed! I, too, have been guilty of new shiny thing syndrome looking for that magically automated bullet. In a perfect world, we could shut off 90% of these plug-ins and just focus on communicating with our customers.

 

[yagoparamo]

@Chris Leslie

Have you tried to control a pricing structure on a CDK system?

Funny thing is that the unlock your price was recently re-started by Toyota/Honda dealers because the OEM doesn't allow to offer a lower than MSRP + official discounts UNLESS the customer has engaged the dealership. So no advertising to the bottom.

The funny thing is that this was copied by other dealers as if it was a good solution! If you don't have to play tricks and you can present an awesome price... do it!

 

[AdamMurray]

I agree and makes me want to know if vendors or as they like to call themselves "partners" really have the dealers best interest in mind or are they just after that monthly check.

I'd like to think it's a little of both, actually. I can't recall ever coming across a product or rep that was just there to maliciously suck up my budget with zero return. We all believe that our solution can help a dealership in some way. We're not in a vacuum, though. Your screenshots in the OP are a perfect example of cool widgets intended to increase leads and decrease response times but working against each other in a very negative way for the dealership.

 

[ryan.gerardi]

@Alexander Lau yes @Jason@nabthat is a Refresher here.

Chris let me get this straight...

You act on a CTA offering a secret special price that when triggered presents you a price that is the same price already being advertised?

You then receive an email delivered to you by a different party, but this time the price delivered is actually higher than the advertised price on the site.

Do I have this right?

 

[Chris Leslie]

Yes and No. taking action on the CTA sends an email its not like a click to reveal or anything. but yes, for the rest of it.