Sunday 24 May 2015

Cars

Imagine a factory that makes cars, blue ones and red ones. For every 5 blue cars they make they make 5 red cars then they send them to the car shops to be sold.

Now imagine a world where for every 10 people that want cars, 8 want blue and 2 want red.

Pretty quickly the cars shops run short of blue cars and consequently and the shops are full of red cars.
Very frustrating if you want a blue car.

Red cars are considered by many to be troublesome, needing frequent maintenance and attention but they do have character and can be quite funky. That may be why most people aren't sure about red cars.

However, some people always wanted a red car or feel a red car would suit them as they have a blue one and now fancy a second car and a red one would be perfect. They acknowledge red cars' wonky reputation but are willing to go with that anyway.



Many people who want blue cars have always wanted one, some from before they could even drive. Blue cars have a better reputation, more reliable, less wonky. So a red car is second best or not really an option. But, its a big but, can they wait or do they want to wait? So, being desperate for a blue car will they take a red one and hope it will feel blue. Or they re arrange their ambitions and accept a red car because it least it's a car. Maybe take a gamble on a red car?

So, what should we do.
Make less red and more blue would seem obvious but imagine the factory is in a distant land an they have no comprehension of the sales market.
Would we paint over the top of red cars and hope that nobody notices that they are really blue. Would we explain to buyers the situation and give them the choice wait in line or take a red car. Would we spend money on advertising and hope that more buyers would mean quicker sales and more people to buy red. We could but it also means more people who'd want to buy blue.

We could make bigger car shops, mega shops, have co-operation between shops, online shops, we could advertise in papers and magazines. But it doesn't change the colour of the cars or the preferences of the buyers.

We could make red cars a more attractive proposition.
A lifetime service plan?
Regular checks?
Free spares and breakdown cover?
Some people who rent the red cars get ongoing customer service which can be helpful. Maybe more could do that.
Perhaps a try before you buy scheme, it requires a bit of trust but can help to build buyer and seller confidence.

Unfortunately in this world the car shops are full of red cars and disappointed buyers looking for blue cars.

That's what I think about car sales.

I have a suspicion that if you look closely all cars are purple.








11 comments:

  1. Totally totally brilliant!!! This should be made into a leaflet for garage!!!!🚗🚗🚗🚗🚘🚘🚘🚘🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗

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  2. I like red and purple, wonder what that says about me 😜 brilliant x

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  3. I asked whether the unsold red cars matter? They do. So, after a conversation on twitter.... Selling cars started me thinking of 'marketing'. In particular, Ansoff and his matrix. Ansoff says there are both existing products and new products as well as existing markets (for your products) and new ones. We have red cars (existing product) and red cars will remain red cars. So, if there's a challenge selling red cars to the existing 'market', I ask how we find new markets - maybe it's the only option, hard as it may be. We need innovative thinking. Home for Good (www.homeforgood.org.uk) are doing it - perhaps refreshing an existing market in the church - where strong communities exist. The LGBT community are there too - a new market for red cars since the law changed. But who else? I came across an interesting new project last week, who are going into large employers with permission to get their interest in red cars. I wonder what other ideas there are out there...? And, I wonder if some red cars are more red than others - I am particular interested in FASD, but some red cars are sold in pairs or more, some are already older than others...

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  4. Jennifer Jones28 May 2015 at 22:19

    Absolutely brilliant. Will be sharing this far and wide.....

    I actually purchased two blue cars that later turned out to be red! However they were so fab that for my next car I chose red straight away :-)

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    1. Thank you. My first car was red and it will always be my colour of aspiration.

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  5. I freaking LOVE this post, more so after another read. Glad you kept it up. I also love my foreign made red car, which sometimes looks blue depending on the light.

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    1. I hold you personally responsible for my post. I actually deleted it but after your kind words I re posted it.
      As for the colour of my cars, being colourblind means I literally have no idea.

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    2. Just for clarity, I am actually colourblind, it's not a metaphor.

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  6. Very interesting post. Thanks for linking up!!

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  7. This is fitting for so many life's situations....in the end I would let all cars be as they were meant to be :) Thanks for linking!

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