Page 14 - GIADA-Oct 2017-Final

SALES

3 Lessons from the Impending Sale of

Rolling Stone

By Dale Pollak, Chairman and Founder of vAuto, Inc.,

When I was a teenage kid, if you wanted a teenage kid from the Midwest want to get Resistance to change hurts. Rolling Stone’s
to keep up on music and politics, you read his hands on the latest copy. founder and publisher, Jann Wenner,
Rolling Stone. reportedly didn’t think a print magazine
These memories come to mind as I read the would ever fall out of favor, even as
I credit my older brothers for introducing news that, on the eve of its 50th anniversary, subscribers declined and shifted online in
me to the magazine. Once I’d read it the Rolling Stone is up for sale. recent years. There’s a lesson here, I think,
first time, I was hooked. in the way many dealers regard (and often
The news didn’t surprise me. It’s been years resist) the purchase preferences of today’s
I especially remember the writing. For me, since I’ve read a copy, and it’s tough, in car buyers. I suspect Rolling Stone would be
Rolling Stone was a way to be in the front general, for magazines to be successful in better off today if it had opted to reinvent its
row at concerts, or behind the scenes of a today’s digital age. business and distribution model a lot earlier.
political campaign, without actually being The same seems to be increasingly true for
there. But I was struck by some of the reasons that dealers and the rise of online retailing. In
apparently led to the sale, and the lessons the end, there may not be much “it” to get
It didn’t hurt that the magazine had an edgy they offer for dealers: around to if you wait too long.
reputation—just the sort of thing that made Continued on next page

12 | GIADA Independent Auto Dealer OCTOBER 2017