Ten Hot
Digital Companies
That Are Helping
Dealers Dramatically
Improve Their
Profitability.
Every new year begins with a season of refl ection
and anticipation as we look back at where the
previous year has brought us and look forward to
where the new year will lead us. It is the season
when the time clock is reset and the score card is
read to determine who and what put points on the
board and who fell short of expectations. Because
of this, it is also a season of change.
We understand that the vendor partners your choose and the decisions you
make right now have the potential to impact your entire year. This is why we
release our annual Top 10 Companies To Watch issue every year in January.
In this feature, you will learn about companies that lower marketing costs
by identifying and targeting your most profi table opportunities, that increase
repeat sales by shortening trade-in cycles and that increase the value of your
marketing dollars by giving you the ability to create more sales from the
same number of leads. You will learn about companies that deliver no-cost,
pre-approved appointments to your dealership and that use targeted video
marketing strategies to triple website traffi c and increase conquest sales. You
will learn about companies that increase appointment show rates and increase
CSI as well as companies that eliminate the effort and increase the ROI
associated with mobile and social media marketing.
In short, every company on this year’s list is at the top of their game for
their perspective category. Many of them are pioneers and all of them have
demonstrated the ability to produce tangible results for some of the most
successful dealerships in the country.
If you have changes to make in 2014, there are a number of great companies
you may want to consider, including several previous winners that did not
make this year’s list. However, in our opinion, these are the top 10 companies
to watch in 2014.
AutoAmigo is a membership-based Hispanic Buying Program that leverages America’s largest Hispanic Media Network to drive no-cost, pre-approved appointments exclusively to participating dealerships. This revolutionary new program is a joint venture between GroupCars, makers of the world’s most downloaded automotive mobile app, and Univision, the nation’s most powerful Hispanic media company. This program uses Univision’s vast TV, radio, and digital network to drive traffi c to a Spanish-language call center where automotive experts gather customer information and schedule appointments exclusively with certifi ed AutoAmigo dealerships.
Dealers waste too much money targeting consumers who are not likely to do business with their dealership. Team Velocity uses their proprietary Perfect Prospect Technology™ to deliver custom offers via e-mail, text & mail to prospects that are statistically most likely to purchase or service now. The targeted campaigns drive customers to a campaign Website that converts prospects into e-mails, calls and traffi c to the dealership, resulting in more sales and service business for less cost.
IntellaCar is a powerful iPad-based selling system that increases appointment rates, show rates and close rates by giving dealerships the ability to capture contact information, respond to internet leads, engage showroom customers and perform follow up activities from a single, easy to use, 100% mobile platform. This platform works seamlessly with the dealership’s existing CRM and has demonstrated the ability to boost appointment show rates by 25% and triple the number of customers being entered into the dealer’s CRM for some of the most successful dealerships in the country.
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DealerApp Vantage is the creator of the most popular mobile application, providing the nation’s top dealers with apps that will help increase retention, sales, and service revenue. Their mobile marketing platform combines sales and service targeting capabilities with stunning, dealer-branded mobile apps that allow dealers to deliver helpful amenities, including service reminders and sales promotions, directly to the pockets of their customers. Every app is customized for each dealer, so that each will have their own personal, unique brand, helping them stand out from the rest.
Driving Loyalty is a turnkey retention-marketing program that overcomes the inconsistencies associated with traditional equity mining products and helps dealerships increase their market share and retention while reducing their overall marketing expenses by upgrading consumers who can drive a better vehicle for a better payment.
Dealerships who use Driving Loyalty’s program not only sell more new cars but they source and sell more certifi ed pre-owned cars and generate more profi table service revenue when they certify them.
CallRevu is a full-service call management system that reviews all inbound sales and service calls and alerts a dealer whenever a customer is mishandled so deals can be saved and customer concerns can be addressed right away before it’s too late. CallRevu is able to keep dealers informed as calls happen with Real-Time Alerts via text. Dealers can fi nally know when a call goes wrong or an opportunity is lost in time to save a deal or a customer. Some of the most successful dealers and associations in the country – including Penske, Paragon, Rick Case and the New York Acura Dealers – work with Tier 10 to implement integrated marketing strategies that promote all of their profi t centers – new, used, fi nance, service and parts. Tier10 focuses on providing a consistent message delivered through all 10 tiers of marketing: traditional, digital, mobile, social, reputation management, publicity, targeted direct mail, niche marketing, merchandising and retention.
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Social Media has become a signifi cant advertising medium that makes it possible for automotive dealers to market to tens of thousands of local in-market auto shoppers and vehicle owners for a fraction of what traditional media costs. The problem is that it is diffi cult to effectively manage multiple advertising campaigns across the vast number of potential social networks without the right technology and properly trained staff. This is why SOCIALDEALER has become the premier Reputation and Social Media marketing platform and service provider that helps OEMs and dealers create, distribute, manage, and monitor entire social media strategies and reputation through one easy-to-use platform.
Car-Mercial is the most award-winning video technology company in the automotive industry. They pioneered video search engine optimization (V-SEO) for the automotive industry and they are the creators of the BROADCAST+ Network, a three-part targeted video marketing platform that combines V-SEO, targeted pre-roll marketing and video-based social media marketing into one integrated solution to give automotive retailers the ability to deliver targeted tv ads to in-market car buyers during every step of the online shopping process.
OfferLogix™ increases customer engagement by using accurate, compelling and compliant payment options to pull customers deeper into the sales funnel. This patented technology evaluates every program offered by every lender the dealership uses to provide customers with the most attractive loan and lease payments on every new and used vehicle in the dealership’s inventory. This allows dealers to display real payments on real vehicles on all of their dealer websites and social media sites without sacrifi cing profi t margins.
vehicle, whether they are eligible to upgrade into a new vehicle for the same payment, need a major service, or their warranty is about to expire. Customers are driven to a campaign website that provides more information on the offers, captures their e-mail and drives them to call and visit the dealership. When customers arrive at the dealership, the POS merchandising validates all the marketing messaging they have received up to that point with posters, hang tags, table toppers and window clings.
Dealers such as Paragon Honda and Rick Case Honda of Davie have used Team Velocity’s marketing system and have achieved #1 rankings on national levels.
Social Dealer gives dealers the ability to market to thousands of consumers for a faction of the cost of traditional media and other digital marketing programs. This, combined with their unique ability to schedule the delivery of social media content so that it can work hand-in-hand with the dealer’s traditional media campaigns has made SOCIAL DEALER the social media and reputation management solution of choice for multiple OEMs and top-performing dealerships.
Advertising spend in social media is estimated to increase by 230% over the next fi ve years from $4.7 billion to $11 billion. However, most dealerships still lack the knowledge and resources necessary to create quality content and manage campaigns across multiple social networks. To address this problem, SOCIAL DEALER offers dealerships a full service solution that allows them to reap all of the advantages of having a successful social media strategy without the internal effort or expense.
To assist with the production of relevant content, SOCIALDEALER gives dealers access to a vast library of content. This content has been optimized to increase engagement and is designed to help dealers maximize the reach of their social media campaigns. In addition to it’s dealership solutions, SOCIAL DEALER also offers OEM’s, associations and dealer groups the ability to syndicate content across their entire organization from a single location. This allows large organizations to manage complex campaigns and maintain brand consistency across multiple dealerships with minimal effort.
SOCIALDEALER also empowers its dealers to strengthen their relationships with customers, target in-market prospects, attract new buyers to their stores, and expand their social reach by leveraging the social media networks of their employees. Best of all, dealers can do all of this from a single, dealer-friendly social marketing platform.
THE TOPP 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH IN 2014
WEBSITE: www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com PHONE: (877) 832-6848
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WEBSITE: www.SocialDealer.com PHONE: (877) 326-7624 Team Velocity Marketing continues to be one of the fastest growing digital targeted marketing companies in America. Their 360 Sales & Service Marketing system is used by many of the country’s top dealers to attract, sell, and service and retain more customers for less cost than traditional mass marketing. Team Velocity’s Perfect Prospect Technology™ identifi es those consumers who have the highest statistical probability of buying and servicing now and in the future, thus generating the most lifetime revenue and return on a dealer advertising investment.
Team Velocity implements an integrated campaign through search marketing, email, text, calls and direct mail with custom offers that relate exactly to the customer’s needs at that moment, while also promoting all of the dealership’s profi t centers: new, used, fi nance, service and parts. These perfect prospects receive “perfect offers” based on where they are in the ownership cycle of their
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In 2013, Car-mercial expanded it’s award winning video marketing software to create the BROADCAST+ Network, the industry’s fi rst three-part targeted video marketing platform. This holistic approach works hand-in-hand with a dealer’s traditional cable TV advertising to deliver relevant, dealership specifi c video content to verifi ed in-market car buyers during every step of the shopping process and allows dealers to maximize their ROI by giving them the ability to deliver targeted TV ads exclusively to customers who are in market and live in the dealer’s desired market areas.
SEO+ uses Car-mercial’s award-winning video SEO technology to help dealers dominate search results by delivering OEM compliant, dealership specifi c videos to the top of page one for the most popular search phrases in each market.
Pre-Roll+ helps dealers convert verifi ed in-market shoppers by promoting their videos on over 300 of the most popular sports, news, entertainment and content websites. This exclusive network gives Car-mercial clients targeting capabilities that are not available with other pre-roll networks and maximizes ROI by automatically serving content to websites with the highest conversion rates.
Social+ helps dealers retain and engage customers by giving them a library of over 300 dealership specifi c informational videos that have been optimized to increase engagement and designed to work seamlessly with the dealership’s CRM, email marketing platforms and social media sites.
These three strategies combined have demonstrated the ability to increase website traffi c up to 300% and deliver signifi cant increases in conquest sales. The unprecedented results of Car-mercial’s BROADCAST+ Network has made them a valued partner for hundreds of the country’s top-performing dealerships and was recently featured by Google in their fi rst-ever case study of an automotive technology company.
Founded in 2008 in the midst of a struggling economy, Tier10 targeted dealers that spent too much money working with too many vendors, which usually result in disconnected ad campaigns that are often confusing for customers and the dealership staff. Tier10 focuses on handling all of its partners’ needs: creative, production, planning and executing full digital and social media strategies, media buying and planning, reputation management and everything in-between. With the rapidly moving technological landscape in the auto industry, Tier10’s multi-platform approach stays ahead of the curve to promote the dealership’s profi t centers: new, used, fi nance, service and parts. This approach is why some of the largest dealership groups and associations are working with Tier10, including Penske, the New York Acura Dealers, the Northern Ohio Honda Dealers and Paragon Auto Group.
In 2013, Tier10 increased market share for 100 percent of its association partners, even with
brands that decreased in market share on a national level. Tier10’s dealership partners also saw gains in market share, some even earning the top spots for new and certifi ed pre-owned sales in highly competitive markets such as New York City. Tier10’s partners also saw increases in CSI and customer loyalty. Tier10’s rapid growth
since its inception is now starting to garner national recognition. In the summer, Tier10 was ranked no. 999 on the annual Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing U.S. companies, which in the past has featured an impressive group of companies that gained early exposure, including Microsoft, Pandora, Oracle, 7-Eleven, Zipcar and Zappos.
WEBSITE: www.Car-Mercial.com PHONE: (877) 431-5292
WEBSITE: www.Tier10Marketing.com PHONE: (703) 552-4140
Tier10 was also ranked no. 26 on the Agency 100, another list of the fastest growing marketing and advertising agencies. Tier10’s projects and campaigns have also been featured on many renowned publications such as Autoblog.com, the Wall Street Journal, New York Daily News and Automotive News.
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THE TOP 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH IN 2014
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THE TOP 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH IN 2014
Delivery rates and open rates for messages on mobile are much higher than email it’s no wonder dealers are having tremendous success with the mobile app that DealerApp Vantage provides. To deliver exceptional customer service, dealers need to be available around the clock. With the majority of auto customers owning smart phones, the app has signifi cant advantages that allow consumers to save time and dealers to save money.
Year 2014 sparks a new era of the DealerApp Vantage app that begins with a new user interface and design. Combined, this enables customers to access the information they need quickly and with ease. With Advanced Push notifi cations dealers can target specifi c customers on a range of information (year, make, model, VIN number). With the use of Geo-Fencing technology, a dealership can become highly competitive within its local market, advertising to customer via the app as they walk into a competitor’s location. When a customer receives an offer, the dealer’s mobile app gives them a faster, easier way to schedule
service, buy parts, and get vehicle quotes. The V.S.M. (Virtual Service Manager) feature creates an interactive scheduling and service system using push notifi cations. This communication between service advisor and customers eliminates the need for phone issues while enhancing the service process. The latest update also includes inventory videos, real time payments display, and other customer retention features.
DealerApp Vantage creates an exclusive mobile marketing atmosphere for every one of its clients. Every app is customized to fi t the dealer’s brand with no third party advertising, eliminating competitor pop up ads. DealerApp Vantage provides dealers an opportunity to increase brand strength and customer retention that benefi t both the customer and dealer. DealerApp Vantage has become popular with Longo Toyota (number 1 Toyota dealer), Rick Case Honda, Paragon (number 1 Honda & Acura dealer) and other top performing dealerships because their comprehensive strategy combines sales and service targeting capabilities with stunning, dealer-branded mobile apps with features that customers and dealers both love.
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b Driving Loyalty is becoming one of the fastest growing retention marketing companies in the country. Their unique combination of OEM quality creative, automated marketing and industry leading engagement tools is quickly making them the solution of choice for top performing dealerships like Ken Garff, Rick Case and Germain Auto Group. The key to Driving Loyalty’s success is the way they give dealerships the ability to target, market and sell customers from a single easy-to-use platform.
Here’s how it works.
Step 1: Target. Driving Loyalty identifi es every sales
and service customer that has equity or can upgrade into a better car for a better payment.
Step 2: Market. The program automatically notifi es
all eligible consumers via email, mail, phone and in the service lane. Customers receive a personalized message that invites them to upgrade to a newer vehicle that offers more and costs less to drive. The customer is
then directed to a personal website that shows all of the vehicles they can upgrade to for a lower monthly payment and a vehicle upgrade analysis that shows all the benefi ts of exchanging their vehicle for a new one.
Step 3: Sell. When the customer visits the dealership
they are shown a Vehicle Upgrade Analysis on an iPad or print-out that reviews all of the advantages of upgrading into a newer vehicle along with a
personalized, side-by-side comparison that includes a cost-of-driving analysis.
Best of all, if a customer does not want to buy during their visit, they will continue to receive a personal vehicle statement every month, that includes all the vehicles they can upgrade into for a lower payment via email and mail for as long as they own their vehicle.
RETENTION MARKETING
MOBILE MARKETING
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WEBSITE: www.DrivingLoyalty.com PHONE: (877) 553-1112
531-On average, consumers consider up to 6 dealerships online but only visit 1.4 dealerships before making a purchase. This means that being the fi rst to engage with a customer can signifi cantly increase your chances of making a sale. This is why power house dealers like Rick Case Honda and industry leading companies like Dealer.com are now using OfferLogix to increase customer engagement and turn more online shoppers into real world car buyers. OfferLogix provides powerful tools that allow dealers to search by payment, integrate pricing and payments within digital advertising, explore multiple payment opportunities, and even integrate payments within social media sites, like facebook. These fully disclosed payments are accessible on the vehicle details pages, on search results pages, through banner ads, in a SearchByPayment™ format, in Facebook and throughout the dealer’s digital advertising.
These tools create convenience, clarity, and transparency, while maintaining gross profi t and giving customers the confi dence to start a conversation with the dealer. In short, OfferLogix gives Dealers, Website Marketing Companies, Digital Marketers, OEMs, Portals and others the ability to easily integrate lease and loan payments into their digital marketing and advertising strategy. Best of all, all of these tools are easily integrated into mobile and social platforms, to help capture consumers.
WEBSITE: www.CallRevu.com PHONE: (866) 796-0227
WEBSITE: www.OfferLogix.com PHONE: (512) 431-5677
Step 4: CallRevu logs every call-related activity in
real-time so you can manage opportunities and alerts and monitor the performance of ad sources from anywhere, any time from a Mobile App or web-based dashboard.
Step 5: CallRevu provides a full suite of management
and training tools so that a dealership can increase performance on day one and continue improving over time. C ALL MANA GEMENT C OMPLIANT P A YMENT MARKETING
According to a study of over 2 million monitored calls, 78% of sales calls are either missed or mishandled. To solve this problem, CallRevu offers a complete call-management strategy that helps dealers boost gross profi ts and close more deals from the same number of phone calls without spending a single additional dollar in advertising.
In 2006, CallRevu changed the way dealers manage their phone calls when it introduced call monitoring to the automotive industry.
In 2013, CallRevu continued its legacy of innovation with the addition of two new game changing technologies – BRIDGE-IT: a technology that automatically connects the sales person and the customer via a phone call when an email lead is received. And, Upgrade Alerts: a revolutionary new technology that automatically sends a text alert to managers if a caller has equity in the vehicle they are currently driving. This alert includes all of the customer’s vehicle information as well as a link to a personalized offer that compares the customer’s current payment to actual loan and lease payments
on vehicles from the dealership’s current inventory.
Both of these new tools work seamlessly with CallRevu’s award-winning call management platform to give dealers a single, comprehensive call management solution.
Here’s how it works.
Step 1: CallRevu tracks, monitors and
creates detailed summaries for every call coming into the dealership. This allows them to identify missed sales opportunities and detect when a call is lost or mishandled.
Step 2: CallRevu delivers alerts via text message and email
when an opportunity is missed.
Step 3: CallRevu automatically updates missing contact
information on every customer calling the dealership so that up to 100% of sales opportunities can be accurately entered into a dealer’s CRM for follow up.
Step 4: CallRevu logs every call-related activity in
real-i i i d l d p’s rk d-m ve nd ry his es is
IntellaCar is an iPad-based selling system that increases appointment rates, show rates and close rates by giving dealerships the ability to capture contact information, respond to internet leads, engage showroom customers and perform follow up activities from a single, easy to use, 100% mobile platform.
The key to IntellaCar’s success lies in it’s ability to increase customer engagement while helping dealerships overcome many of the challenges that interrupt the sales process. This begins with giving the salesperson the tools they need to set more appointments with fewer calls and continues throughout the sales process by giving users the ability to quickly combine OEM quality content with real-time personal videos to deliver multi-media communications. Here are just a few of the problems IntellaCar helps solve.
Customers consider up to 6 dealerships during the shopping process but visit less than two before making a purchase. IntellaCar allows the sales person to instantly access multiple sources of information from a single user-friendly screen. This allows the sales person to spend more time engaging the customer and less time returning calls.
Leads are often received when the salesperson is not at their desk. IntellaCar’s system is 100% mobile and allows sales team members to effectively engage with customers from anywhere and at any time.
Customers often request information that results in the sales person terminating the call without setting an appointment. Intellacar allows the sales person to quickly combine information from multiple sources and deliver real-time, multi-media communications while continuing the conversation with the customer.
67% of customers with smart phones use downtime in the sales process to cross shop other dealerships. IntellaCar allows the salesperson to easily communicate with other departments within the dealership without leaving the customer unattended. It also gives the salesperson the ability to perform multiple
side-by-side comparisons that emphasize the advantages of the vehicles they sell. This includes the ability to compare different makes and models, compare different trim levels, compare new cars to used cars as well as compare the customer’s current vehicle to the vehicle being considered at the
dealership.
The Hispanic population is growing rapidly within the U.S. AutoAmigo is a membership-based Hispanic Buying Program that leverages America’s largest Hispanic Media Network to drive no-cost, preapproved appointments exclusively to participating dealerships. This revolutionary program is a joint venture between GroupCars, makers of the world’s most downloaded automotive mobile app, (CarFactor) and Univision, the nation’s most powerful Hispanic media company.
Here’s how AutoAmigo works:
Step 1:
Univision uses its TV, radio and website network, which reaches 93 percent of the Hispanic market, to promote the AutoAmigo buying program through Don Francisco, one of the most infl uential personalities in Hispanic media.
Step 2:
Customers use the AutoAmigo website and mobile app to research and shop for the car they want and schedule an appointment.
Step 3:
Customers are directed to call a Spanish- language call center where they are welcomed by Don Francisco
and connected to an automotive expert who gathers information about their current and desired vehicle. The customer then gets pre-approved and appointment is verifi ed with a certifi ed AutoAmigo dealership.
Step 4:
Customers check into a certifi ed dealership via the dealership’s program manager or AutoAmigo’s mobile app.
Step 5:
Customers scan manufacturer’s window sticker to provide the customer with the retail price, the average market price and the AutoAmigo price that is set by the dealer and receives a certifi cate with the information as a result.
Step 6:
The certifi ed dealership delivers the vehicle for a fair, pre-discounted price to a customer who has a high probability of telling their family and friends about this exciting new way to buy a car.
THE TOP 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH IN 2013
WEBSITE: www.Intellacar.com PHONE: (805) 241-5000
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WEBSITE: www.AutoAmigo.com PHONE: (800) 339-0452
Step 7:
Customer receives personalized follow up after purchase via phone or letter.
Auto Amigo’s services help customers gain the confi dence they need to make a car-buying decision despite language barriers.
information that results in g the call without setting ar allows the sales information from ver real-time, ions while n with the smart the hop aCar to with the ving It the tiple be g co s de ed e dealership.
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