The renowned author, Perrault, published a tale in 1697 that portrayed the outcome of actions and attitudes between two very different sisters and a fairy, “Les Fées,.” Perrault was a very influential and important writer of his time. While not relaying his shorter version of prose, another version was written by Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier only a year later that illustrates the thesis of this blog much better.

In her version, she tells the story of two sisters. One sister is younger and beautiful and lives her life in a mild, gentle and pure way while the older sister’s character was one of greed and climbing the social class through money and wealth. “L’Héritier has three main morals that she highlights in her version, all about how to use words in society: Sweet and polite language is worth more than money (564), If beauty is what catches someone’s attention, it is the sweetness that captivates them (557), and Vice is always punished and virtue is always rewarded (554).” The fairy rewarded the younger sister for her passion for helping the working-class subjects and punished the older sister for pursuing her greed and self-interest.

A similar story is being told in the relationships between some automotive vendors and their dealer clients. Dealers are already paying a vendor a, sometimes hefty, fee for their services. Then the vendor comes back and says if you want to advertise, give me another dollar and I’ll give you 75 cents worth of advertising while they pocket the 25 cents. And some vendors even require payment in advance so there is no “loan.” This sounds similar to pay-day loans to me. Give me $100 now and I’ll pay you $125 for doing that. Or vice versa in which “I’ll give you $100 now and you give me $75 back.” Either one is silly.

Management fees for ad spend, by following the story, are simply the older sister with the goal of benefitting themselves. Neither Facebook nor Google charge a “management fee” on ad spend. You tell them how much you want to spend and that’s the amount of advertising you get. Industry companies with management fees (which can range anywhere from 10-25%) are simply spending less of your advertising budget and pocketing the rest. Why?

Any advertising (or other service) dealer partner should be like the younger sister in the story looking out for her subjects (in this case clients) in order to help the clients be successful, not themselves. By doing so, both the vendor partner and dealer end up being rewarded. Both sides flourish and grow. Perhaps not with a fairy involved but through teamwork and karma.

If you want to spend $100 in advertising on ANY platform, you should be able to know that you will get $100 worth of advertising. Assuming you are already paying your vendor partner for their services, that is not an unreasonable expectation. The ideal vendor partner will help you when you need help, provide the services you need and not make your investment frustrating by removing your focus from selling and servicing cars to fixing problems with those services.

My advice: Find vendor partners invested in your dealership’s success. That’s what they sold you on, right? It’s not a complex choice. Do what you want your dealership to focus on and let your vendor partner help you accomplish – and that would be the one with the morals and interest in seeing you succeed.

Arnold Tijerina

Director of Business Development of Dealer World.

Arnold Tijerina has over 19 years experience in the auto industry, 7 of which were in retail before transitioning to positions which allowed him to share his knowledge and expertise in sales, digital marketing and social media with dealers. His retail experience encompasses most dealership sales and management positions with the majority of it as an Internet Director for two large auto groups in Southern California. He is an active and respected member of the online automotive community and is known for his expertise in digital marketing and social media.

Reach out to Arnold with your questions at arnold@mydealerworld.com