Auto Breakdown, Social Media Breakthrough

0 Comment(s) | Posted Dec 21, 2009 by Pat Morrell

Patrick Morrell

With every tragedy comes a lesson.  Mine and my Dad's came in the form of a shot radiator and a busted transmission.

This past weekend the Morrell min-van - a time-tested standby of family roadtrips and beach vacations - finally kicked the bucket.  En route home from the Farmer's Market with Christmas tree on-rack, smoke suddenly poured out of the engine and the emergency indicators blinked as festively as the lights we hoped would soon adorn the just-procured 9-foot tannenbaum.

Minutes from home, we had the car towed to the neighborhood mechanic and lugged the tree home.  Learning of the van's ultimate unsalvageableness, my Dad proceeded to the home office and began the requisite new van search.  An ecommerce veteran of the first order, my Dad (to borrow from "A Christmas Story") "loved bargaining as much as an Arab trader, and he was twice as shrewd" - he contacted local dealers online, fielding bids and finding the best deals.

After a while, we had received several offers.  And as my Dad juggled another round of back-and-forth emails, the proverbial lighbulb went off in my head. 

"Pops - why not Google Wave this thing?"  Ah-HA!  By no means an online greenhorn, my Dad and I immediately saw the utility in moving such online negotiations and wheel-dealings to an interactive forum like Google Wave.  Instead of wasting time bouncing around emails, waiting for replies, and then conveying the competing dealers bids to the other dealers, we could just open up one big wave, invite the three dealers in, explain the kind of car we want, and let them go at it in real-time.  This, we realized would save us incredible time, and ensure we get the best deal.  And it would save the dealers a good bit of time as well - were they unable to capitalize on us, they could then move on to another Wave with another customer and try their luck there.

But Google Wave was just the first forum that came to mind - we could've conducted this exchange anywhere (ex: on Twitter with a "MorrellVan" hashtag.)  In explaining this to my dad - who recently gave me this t-shirt to show his thoughts on social media - you could see his eyes light up. ("Save time, save money - this social media thing ain't bad!")

This a great lesson for all small business owners.  Don't shirk social media as a mere conversation or photo-sharing tool. Learn to use it, and use it often.  It is an integral part of any small business marketing strategy, and is defintively one of the best ways to find customers and make deals.

What are you doing to take advantage? 

NOTE: Want an invite to test Google Wave?  Drop me a line at pat@threeshipsmedia.com.  We have dozens of invitations still to give out.

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