Crisis is a great classroom.
It can make you bitter.
Or, it can make you better.
Case in point: AutoNation, aka the now-largest car dealership network in the US.
As you may know, life is not easy for car dealers.
This is true in part because they are in the retail business, and in part because most people who run car dealerships don’t seem to have neither the humility nor the foresight to do what matters now.
AutoNation is not like most car dealers.
They embraced the fact that folks shop differently nowadays, made some smart investments in their business, and are now doing fine because of all of that.
“Wait, what exactly did they do?”
Since you’re likely pressed for time, let me point out just two things they did:
– They improved their website.
(Maybe it’s just me, but don’t most car dealers’ websites look like they were built by car dealers themselves, their trade publications, or the people who STILL print phone books?)
– They invested into unifying and elevating their brand.
// BTW, you don’t have to take my word on the above. You can read about this in an interview AutoNation’s CEO, Mike Jackson, gave to the Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/2imZRG0. //
Over to you: When was the last time you looked at your website and your other brand assets and asked, “Is this the best we can do?”
p.s.
I don’t know why, but AutoNation’s CEO referred to their new website as a ‘digital website’ in the above WSJ interview. Mike, or anyone at AutoNation, please send me an email to tell me if you know of a website that’s not digital.