Are you Living in a Cave?
A long time ago (514a-520a,) one of our greatest philosophers shared an allegory: The Allegory of the Cave. In that allegory, he shared a person’s perspective as it relates to education and the lack of it. The story goes like this: A man lives his entire life from childhood chained and can only see a blank wall within the cave. Behind him is a fire. Other people would stand between him and the fire with puppets or things from the outside world that would cast shadows on the cave wall. Those shadows were the only thing he knew. He believed the sounds he heard were coming from the shadows. While not representative of the real world, that was his reality. At some point, the man is freed and can venture out of the cave and experience the world as it really is. This is what Plato posed to Socrates, and it has turned into an allegory that has stood the test of time.
How does this relate to the automotive space we live in?
We live in a time in which technology is advancing exponentially faster than at any other time in our history. While customer expectations and the market have changed, many dealers are still stuck in chains looking at the wall in the back of the cave unaware of what’s going on in the real world. Some of these technologies increase the dealership’s efficiency, some assist in nurturing relationships with customers who did not buy a car, as well as those who did. If you name it, it exists: social media, the Metaverse, AI, machine learning, text messaging, removing friction from website visitors, providing data and attribution and more.
Much of the time, the reason dealerships don’t adopt some of these solutions is simple. It’s because they don’t understand it, just like the man staring at the blank cave wall. Enlightenment and true reality (business solutions) can only come when a person is set free and able to differentiate the shadows from reality. Once that happens, the man has two choices: embrace true reality or run back into the cave to continue staring at the blank wall because that’s what he’s familiar with.
“We’ve always done it this way.”
How many times have you heard (or said) that? Times have changed and we can no longer live in the past. We’re living in the future. Even since you’ve been reading this, you are living in the past and any of this that comes after, is the future.
I challenge all dealerships to have an open mind and explore new technology. You might be surprised how the shadows on the wall on the back of the cave turn into a realization that you’ve been missing out on reality.
No solution is right for every dealership. Every dealer has different needs based on their market, competition, and volume. Simply knowing what exists rather than deciding to continue to look at the shadows that you have always known. Knowing is the first step. Doing is the second.
Do you want to live in a cave believing the shadows on the wall are reality or open your eyes and discover what actually exists that can help your business? In no way am I advising that you run out and adopt every new technology. Only that knowledge is queen, but education is king.
Troy Spring is the owner of Dealer World, Agency 345, and co-founder of Dealer Funnel. His roots in advertising started while he managed four automotive dealerships and the large advertising budgets for the stores. The dealerships all grew under his watch. He credits much of that growth to the advertising decisions he made to drive more business to each location. He has spent the last decade perfecting what he calls the four pillars of advertising: reach, frequency, creative, and cost. He is a strong advocate of this formula. He spends much of his time sharing these concepts as a national speaker and occasional guest on podcasts.
