How to Succeed and Avoid Failing at Digital Retailing

Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich continues to be as relevant today as ever. It doesn't matter what business vertical you're in and I'll use a recent chapter I re-read to make my point.

In the auto business dealers are searching for ways to align better with what consumers want. Many stores are either in the very early stages of digital retailing or they're considering it.

Currently, the auto industry has more dealers who have attempted digital retailing - failed - quit - and returned to what they were comfortable with than dealers who have succeeded.

The dealers who are succeeding at a high level with digital retailing failed and failed often prior to finally breaking through with huge wins. They too were tempted to quit.

They know the pain of having to listen to their BDC manager tell them how the quality of leads are not strong enough. Or having the fear of giving away all the information they once guarded (a long time ago) by requiring a signed buyers order and security deposit.

Dealers who do not take the shortcut by listening to others who have navigated these early stage rough waters will be tempted to give up and go back to what they are comfortable with. Those who quit will set their stores back years by losing market share to stores who adopt and optimize digital retailing early.

Every dealer is searching for ways to be different. Digital retailing (depending on how you define that) can give you an incredible competitive advantage when trying to develop or promote your Dynamic Marketing Differentiator. I say this as a dealer who has successfully navigated three stores through this process.

Re-read this short section of Think and Grow Rich and see how it applies to the current challenges you're facing. Remember... breakthroughs are what make people wealthy.

BTW... I made a few changes to modernize the writing. Napoleon Hill wrote as if only men could succeed at great things - so many of the references to men have been updated. My updates are in italics.

Three Feet From Gold

One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another.

An uncle of R. U. Darby was caught by the “gold fever” in the gold-rush days, and went west to DIG AND GROW RICH. He had never heard that more gold has been mined from the brains of men and women than has ever been taken from the earth. He staked a claim and went to work with pick and shovel. The going was hard, but his lust for gold was definite.

After weeks of labor, he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore. He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. Quietly, he covered up the mine, retraced his footsteps to his home in Williamsburg, Maryland, told his relatives and a few neighbors of the “strike.” They got together money for the needed machinery, had it shipped. The uncle and Darby went back to work the mine.

The first car of ore was mined, and shipped to a smelter. The returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! A few more cars of that ore would clear the debts. Then would come the big killing in profits.

Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Darby and Uncle! Then something happened! The vein of gold ore disappeared! They had come to the end of the rainbow, and the pot of gold was no longer there! They drilled on, desperately trying to pick up the vein again—all to no avail.

Finally, they decided to QUIT.

They sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars, and took the train back home. Some “junk” men are dumb, but not this one! He called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer advised that the project had failed, because the owners were not familiar with “fault lines.” His calculations showed that the vein would be found JUST THREE FEET FROM WHERE THE DARBYS HAD STOPPED DRILLING! That is exactly where it was found!

The “Junk” man took millions of dollars in ore from the mine, because he knew enough to seek expert counsel before giving up.

Most of the money which went into the machinery was procured through the efforts of R. U. Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives and neighbors, because of their faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so.

Long afterward, Mr. Darby recouped his loss many times over,when he made the discovery that DESIRE can be transmuted into gold. The discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance.

Remembering that he lost a huge fortune, because he STOPPED three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work, by the simple method of saying to himself, “I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because people say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy insurance.”

Darby is one of a small group of fewer than fifty people who sell more than a million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his “stickability” to the lesson he learned from his “quitability” in the gold mining business.

Before success comes in any person's life, they are sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man or woman, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to QUIT. That is exactly what the majority of people do.

More than five hundred of the most successful people this country has ever known, told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them. Failure is a trickster with a keen sense of irony and cunning. It takes great delight in tripping one when success is almost within reach.

Take the Shortcut

There are many dealers who have already paved the way for you to succeed at a high level with digital retailing... take the shortcut and model their processes and success.

You have a variety of options when selecting a digital retailing tool. For me, the tool is not what will make your store successful. It's your store's ability to work the process. Yes, a great tool will be needed and some are better than others but you can have a great tool and fail without the right mindset and processes.

I cover some of my early mistakes in a recent article Don't You Make the Same Huge Mistake I Made with "Digital Retailing" - take a moment and read it.

For me the greatest benefit of digital retailing is the marketing opportunities it has given my stores and the claims we are able to make.

Our ads are just different and much more valuable to consumers. So, our engagement and leads have shot through the roof!

If you're struggling with transitioning to this new world of automotive retail, there’s no need to learn the hard way. There are several people out there who overcame early struggles and are succeeding at high levels today. Listen to the advice they offer!

Feel free to download this FREE case study.

If you want us to show you the exact ads we are running and more importantly... the marketing system and how we are tracking, testing and measuring all this activity... you can click here and schedule a meeting.

If you liked this article, please like it, share it and comment.

Be unique and show up like nobody else!

Scott

Scott Joseph is an automotive dealer and CEO of J&L Marketing. With nearly 3 decades of automotive sales, marketing and leadership experience, he helps automotive clients grow predictable sales with his engineered, proven marketing process.