Car data industry - networking

@Paul Norman may have some insights to this.

I'm sure you are aware, this is a big mountain to climb - and climbing a mountain starts with some time in the foothills

Thank you for the tag, Mark.


As Mark has said, this is an immense mountain. I worked in that world for a big chunk of my career, and people like Arnold Clark already have a range of tools providing that kind of information. Not least, the larger retail players have substantial data from their own records, and their own sales history.

They also have access to industry wide date, too, on what is selling, and for how much.


So you challenge is this. You need to show that your tool really punches harder than the existing ones. It will need to give information they do not currently have, or give information in a massively faster, and easier to use, way.


You could, as you suggest, try to get a stand at a motor show. I doubt that would have much impact, though.

I would start by trying to contact people within the industry and get into conversations with them. They will give you feedback on the usefulness of your tool. Maybe start with the medium sized groups, rather than the really big players.

Also, it might be worth getting into contact with IT providers to the industry - people like Ebbon - who provide systems into the industry other than the main dealer management systems.

In short, you have to talk to players in the game, and listen to some feedback. Some will be dismissive, but your mission is to gain a supporter or two.

Perhaps an editorial and some advertising here might support other marketing and give reference to your brand https://www.motortrader.com/

Not sure if this lot might be of use for networking - https://www.iloveclaims.com/

It is always wise to come on here and showcase your tool

Are you able to give better data than the likes of Carvertigo as I use them and I don't think there is anything that they can't find

The only trick that nobody has come up with yet is online or ap data with fault history from the vehicles computer now if you could come up with this concept you would probably getting some backing. Probably from this site!

From a marketing perspective, I want to ask the question 'what is your sales goal?' and work backwards. So if your goal is to sell to a small number of big players, you're going to need to find a way to get meetings with them. There's no magical piece of marketing that will get them to call you, so you're going to have to call them.

While cold calling is good, a much better way with much stronger results is 'warm calling.'

So the single most important factor in someone taking a call is whether they know you or your company. If someone from Apple calls me, I like Apple products so I'll take a call. I've heard of them, have a positive impression and will listen. I might not take a meeting with them but I will listen.

So the idea of marketing is to warm up your prospect base so they know who you are, have a positive impression and they'll take a cold call from you. This will greatly increase your chances of getting in front of them so you can demo your solution.

To warm them up, I'd do the following:

1. Create a load of marketing collateral. I'm video production so I'd show the reaction of consumers when they see the tool. I want to see them say 'wow, this is amazing' etc... I'd then put this online in places like Linkedin and YT and pay those platforms to put that marketing in front of your prospects. Maybe even a YT PreRoll targeted purely at your prospect base.

There are other videos for YT like Videonapping (you won't find that online, it's something new that our customers are doing). However, you can do the above for free with just your phone. Videonapping's much harder and you'll need to pay for professionals.

2. A 'pain point' series of emails directly targeting your prospects and social with the pain and solution. i.e. Is this your business pain because if it is, here is the solution. Also, one video of you and why you founded the business. The social stuff would be targeted. i.e. You're paying to get the vids in front of your prospects so you can be sure they see your stuff.

3. I'd personally put the calls in myself. However, if you're uncomfortable about this then pay a professional. If you're only targeting 20 or so major players, each lost opportunity will mess you up. So getting someone else to make the call might work if you're feeling uneasy.

Alternatively, you could do it the expensive, field marketing way. This would be to put on a small, industry forum. Literally something about how to get the most of your data and pay a couple of industry people to talk at it. Then market it to the people who are in the industry. At this event, market your product to them. It will need to be super slick, a beautiful presentation, a phenomenal video etc...

And forget about events. Less and less decision-makers are coming to events, especially the level of decision maker you'll need to engage with at larger organisations.

I'm video production so picked the elements above because they're video and I know a lot about how to warm up prospects with video. They work for our customers and you can see a ton of them talking about it on our website. Other people might have other suggestions.