Part two · The machine

Selling Machine

We've defined the machine as having 2 parts: a selling machine and a sourcing machine. You'd usually aim for standardisation with any system, but there are some realities we need to bear in mind:

The realities

  • 01
    The right marketing approach depends on the car.
    Some cars sell off a single Instagram post; others need specialist outreach and little else. The car sets the best channel, not a fixed playbook.
  • 02
    Production/marketing lead times are usually tight.
    Shooting, reporting and running media takes weeks. We set cut-offs, but owners do things their way and ignore them, and we won't refuse a good car to enforce a rule.
  • 03
    Sealed will always be accommodating of Clients.
    Sealed is white-glove and will be for the foreseeable future. It standardises where it can but stays dynamic, responding to the car, the client and the lead time.
  • 04
    The system balances speed with lead time.
    Clients want it fast; good marketing needs runway. The system carries both and makes the trade-off visible up front.
  • 05
    The team is small.
    The system needs to ideally run with one good marketing hire behind it, with the support of the broader team and network.

The selling machine

The system has tell us the best way to market each car, and do enough of the work that a small team can move fast.

When a car comes in, the system tells us the best way to market it. It combines three layers of knowledge.

01Our categorisation

Pre-set car categories to media approach, built with the specialist team. The expert baseline.

Specialist teamCar categories
02CRM signals

How comparable cars performed, who bid or enquired, how past campaigns went. Our lived reality.

Comparable salesBids & enquiriesPast campaigns
03Market signals

Whether the car is in the zeitgeist right now, and how broad its appeal is.

Google TrendsRedditNewsYouTube
Intelligence layer
weighs the inputs, sharpens over time.
01 · Classify the car
Classification
What the car is: its class and how broad its appeal is.
02 · Match the media
Media playbook

Pre-set rules mapping each class to a media approach, agreed with the specialist team.

Class A / B / CChannel rules
Recommended media mix
Specialist confirms the mix
the system proposes, the expert adjusts
The plan, briefs, and marketing copy

Live market signals can bump a car up the reach scale.

Illustrative car-to-approach categorisation:

Car type
Example
Approach
Mass appeal, lives in popular culture
Ferrari F40, the Fast and Furious Supra
High-reach media, the full mix. This is what high reach is reserved for.
Broad collector appeal
A sought-after modern Ferrari or Porsche
Matched outreach plus selective reach
Deep niche
A pre-war car, or new but niche like a Singer
Specialists and matched outreach, little broad media

Selling Machine

Concept Demo: Selling Machine

Labs OS
Step 1Choose a car

Capacity

  • One good marketing hire to run both machines day to day.
  • The real investment is the system and its intelligence layer; that's what makes one hire enough.
  • Owner: Jack, with us.

Next steps

  1. 01Start launch production now. The creative idea, hero content, website copy and Monterey activation. The August timeline only holds if this begins immediately.
  2. 02Walk a real car through selling, with Valerie and Harvey. Map how it works today and define the car categories and the media approach for each.
  3. 03Build a working demo of the selling machine in Lovable, so you can see the concept: input a car, get the plan and the briefs.
  4. 04Scope the intelligence layer. What it categorises, what it auto-prepares, and what it takes to build.
  5. 05Come back to the sourcing machine, once selling is defined.
  6. 06Size the hire, once the machine is defined.