Data-mining and sales-generation platform AutoAlert announced Thursday that it has combined its efforts with MotoFuze.
The latter is best known for FuzeCast, its customer experience management (CEM) solution, that can combine content marketing, reputation management, social selling, employee engagement and dealership communication and integrate with any existing customer relationship management solution.
Through their partnership, the two companies hope to provide dealers with influential car-shopper insight for in-market, in-equity customers.
One example provided by the company is in regards to how AutoAlert and ProfileFuze interact, allowing dealers to view and manage the following information from any CRM:
- Analysis of all CRM leads marked lost, highlighting customers back in-market
- Makes/models customers are shopping and equity position in their existing vehicle
- Information about customers' previous dealership interactions, including online reviews
- Social connections with the dealership to help deliver a better customer experience
"Dealers using AutoAlert currently access deep customer intelligence that can boost vehicle sales 10 to 20 percent or more," said Brian Skutta, chief executive officer at AutoAlert. "Adding ProfileFuze data further enhances this intelligence by identifying current customers who are in-market shoppers, often times before they have had a chance to engage with the competition."
Todd Crossley, the president and owner of Gary Crossley Ford in Kansas City, Mo., told AutoAlert that a lot of his company’s growth in the last year can be directly attributed to FuzeCast and AutoAlert working together.
"This combination of tools keeps a constant watch over my entire consumer database indicating which current or potential customers are both in equity and currently shopping for a vehicle,” Crossley said.
"These 'hot' customer leads are added to the dealership CRM as a new or reactivated opportunity," he continued. "This makes it easy to measure their overall effectiveness. These tools are tracking to represent 20 percent of my total sales for the year — that's a huge number.”
AutoAlert and MotoFuze will be present at the Digital Dealer 19 Conference and Expo from Monday to Wednesday at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.
Continuing the theme of digital proliferation in the automotive industry, The Appraisal Lane announced Wednesday that the Gettel Automotive Group in Florida is the newest dealer group to put the company’s trade and communications platform solutions to task.
Gettel has rolled out the The Appraisal Lane system across all 11 of its dealerships in the Sarasota, Bradenton, Gainesville, and Ocala markets of the Sunshine State.
With TAL’s solution, Gettel’s employees can now post pre-owned inventory and receive quick cash offers from TAL’s network of appraisers.
“We’re extremely pleased to support Gettel Automotive Group’s daily business operations, and we look forward to improving its business and enhancing its consumer offerings,” said Jeff Risner, TAL’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “Until now, the wholesale used-car appraisal and acquisition process was inefficient. The Appraisal Lane is transforming this process by providing dealers like Gettel with the most accurate used-car offers, quickly and easily, in a fully optimized mobile platform that makes it easy for them to conduct business virtually anywhere, at any time.”
Kurt Fisher, Gettel’s pre-owned vehicle operations manager, says he looks forward to the future business opportunities that TAL brings to his business in the form of increased sales and improved customer service.
“There’s a confidence level and validation that comes with using The Appraisal Lane platform to put the most accurate numbers on our used-car inventory, and on hot trades when the customer is physically sitting at the sales desk ready to transact,” Fisher said. “In addition to accurately valuing our full spectrum of used inventory, and getting cash offers in the process, The Appraisal Lane enables us to move aged inventory much faster than before. It has been a great tool for us so far.”
For those unfamiliar with The Appraisal Lane’s offerings, at its core, dealers and auctions can utilize TAL in three different ways:
- Submit vehicles for appraisal. Whether those are pending trade-ins, stubborn vehicles on the lot that are proving to be a tough sell, cars that didn’t sell on the auction block, or anything in between. Depending on the situation, TAL will respond with a cash offer within 10 to 15 minutes. Many times, those cash offers stem from outside buyers, which typically include dealer or auction partners.
- Buying cars. TAL has partnerships with many dealerships and a handful of auctions, some of which only utilize TAL services to buy inventory.
- White label customers. Dealerships or dealer groups seeking to utilize the TAL platform to power their own internal trade network can license a solution from TAL.
TAL is optimized for mobile use – appraisal submissions, purchase offers and communications between dealers, appraisers and wholesale buyers can be managed completely from a phone, tablet or computer. It tracks sales info, like costs, transportation, and profit and loss information, along with fulfillment channels through which used-vehicles are sold, including direct-to-dealer, physical auctions and online auctions.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg — stay tuned to upcoming digital and print editions of Auto Remarketing as we take an up-close and personal look at some of the other digital pioneers in the industry.
DealerRater has overhauled its dealer platform, the company said in a news release Wednesday. New to the review site is a customizable dashboard for dealers to view and track reviews, additional reporting capabilities, automated performance updates and a new mobile interface.
Dealers can also build custom reports that track their reviews and reviews on their employees and competitors.
Through the upgraded Dealer Panel dashboard, alerts to negative reviews in need of response are displayed more prominently. The panel also sends performance updates automatically to the dealership. Additionally, Certified Dealers can use the panel to manage employee profiles more easily and more effectively monitor how individual employees are progressed toward DealerRater Certified Employee status.
“When it comes to online reviews, individual dealerships almost always face a unique set of circumstances, whether it’s local competition or unfavorable reviews, so the customizability of our dealer platform is critical,” said DealerRater chief executive officerGary Tucker. “For the first time, we are introducing a Dealer Panel dashboard that can be tailored to display portions of the panel to fit the needs of that particular dealership.”
Tucker added: “We are dedicated to refining the tools our dealers use to help connect with more in-market shoppers on DealerRater. The great improvements and new features introduced in our reimagined Dealer Panel experience are a direct result of the incredible feedback from our dealership customers — and we think they’ll love the result.”
Elcometer has rolled out a new auto paint meter known as Elcometer 311, the company announced this week.
Among the key features shared by Elcometer include automatic switching between steel and aluminum panels, the ability to conduct 60 readings per minute, water-resistant design with built-in temperature compensation and more.
“The truth is, you simply cannot rely solely on public or commercial condition reports to get an accurate vehicle history,” company vice president Joe Walker said in the news release. “These reports only disclose what’s been reported to the authorities.
“If a car owner does not inform their insurance provider of a collision and gets the car repaired at a body shop for cash, the history report remains clean,” he added.
The company said that Elcometer 311 shows statistics like number of readings, average coating thickness and lowest paint thickness to help users determine the overall condition of the paint work.
Additionally, the Elcometer Index Value offers a frame of reference for the overall paint condition and quality, plus a quantifiable measure for the extent of rework on the car.
Live readings can also be transferred to proprietary inspection apps or to any PC, Android or Apple mobile device via Bluetooth or USB data output.
More information can be found at www.elcometerusa.com or paintmeter.com.
The Ken Garff Auto Group has added CarStory Market Reports to the websites of its nearly 50 dealerships.
These reports embed research directly into the dealership VDP, with the aim of keeping consumers engaged on the site.
Chad Bockius, a recipient in the inaugural Remarketing and Used Car 40 Under 40 and a speaker during the CPO Forum at Used Car Week this fall, is chief marketing officer of CarStory, which announced the news Tuesday.
“CarStory Market Reports give used-car shoppers a better understanding of the value of the vehicle they are considering and how its pricing compares to others in the local area,” said Bockius. “By giving consumers real-time insights on used vehicles, Ken Garff Auto Group is delivering on their promise of complete transparency.
“Additionally, telling the vehicle's whole story right on the VDP, will improve customer engagement — turning online browsers into in-store buyers.”
Ken Garff digital marketing manager Jack Furbush added: “One of Ken Garff Auto Group’s key differentiators is the level of transparency and trust we give to our customers. We want consumers to expect a very different car-buying experience when visiting one of our dealerships and CarStory Market Reports are a great tool to help us achieve this goal.”
With Dealer Car Search’s new “website texting” feature for its website customers, the company aims to improve the line of online communication between customers and the dealership.
That’s according to Rick Wilson, the chief executive officer at Dealer Car Search, whose website texting solution links interested customers online directly to a salesperson in the office or on the lot.
"The bottom line is consumers only want to interact with the dealership after they have first searched the website and found the car in which they are interested,” Wilson said.
By offering access to website texting buttons on search results pages and vehicle detail pages, Wilson believes this is the best time to connect customers to the dealership as well as providing them with improved service quality.
Dealer Car Search says that customers can initiate the texting feature from desktop, tablet or smartphone using a round robin system that cycles text leads through a rotation of salespeople.
“So far the results have been astounding and many participating dealers are seeing an immediate increase in consumer engagement in the form of increased leads and sales,” Wilson said.
For more information on the solution, visit the Dealer Car Search site here.
If you’re a franchised dealer, there are four times more independent repair facilities competing for the same customers’ attentions when their vehicle needs service.
That’s according to Xtime’s president Neal East, who says his company’s Marketing 7 solution can help target “lost souls,” or customers who have visited the service department but have not returned in 15 months or more, and bring them back within your walls.
"Opportunities to win back customers are available – it's just a matter of embracing new technology concepts," East said. "At Xtime, we create products that give customers a reason to come back to the dealership for service. What unique differentiators are you offering defected vehicle owners compared to the competition? These are the types of questions dealerships should be asking when targeting lost souls."
According to Xtime, it utilized a six-month period in 2015 to analyze the performance of dealerships using Marketing 7, a component of its Xtime Retention System, to see what kind of effects it had. On average, the dealerships experienced the following, as listed by the company:
· $463 additional customer pay per vehicle
· $7.4 to $1 in customer pay ROI
· 20 recaptured customers per month
· 21 months since last visit
· 25 percent email open-rate
· 1.6 percent email-to-click rate
The Xtime Retention Systems suite of solutions also utilizes Scheduling 7 and Check-In 7, to obviously assist with both customer service scheduling and the check-in process, helping to deliver a consistent customer experience for customers who expect everything to be streamlined in this digital age.
"There are four times more independent repair facilities than there are franchise dealerships, so dealers need to highlight their key differentiators in order to improve customer retention and recapture rates," East said. "With targeted promotions, dealerships can remind vehicle owners that they are the experts on the vehicle, have specialized diagnostic equipment and use genuine parts – all reasons why customers should return to the dealership for maintenance and repair. By aligning marketing, scheduling and check-in together into a comprehensive platform that both customers and dealership personnel can use, Xtime is boosting retention by changing the way vehicle owners view the ownership experience."
For more information on the Xtime Retention System, click here.
Martin Winterkorn stepped down from the position of chief executive officer at the Volkswagen Auto Group on Wednesday, stating in an official announcement that he is “shocked by the events of the past few days” and that he is “stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group.”
Saying that VW needs a “fresh start,” especially in terms of personnel, he also stated that he is “clearing the way for this fresh start” with his resignation.
“As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the supervisory Board to agree on terminating my function as CEO of the Volkswagen Group,” Winterkorn said. “I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrong doing on my part.”
In a separate statement from VW, the company reiterated that, “The Executive Committee notes that Professor Dr. Winterkorn had no knowledge of the manipulation of emissions data.”
While the Environmental Protection Agency initially took aim at 482,000 diesel passenger cars sold by VW and Audi in the U.S. since 2008, requesting the recall of the affected vehicles, VW admitted on Tuesday that it had used the same software in 11 million diesel engines worldwide.
According to a Reuters report on Tuesday, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., sent a letter to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez urging the agency to explore remedies for car buyers who he said rely on VW’s claims of having “clean diesel” cars.
“I am outraged that VW would cheat its customers by deceiving them into buying a car that wasn’t what was advertised,” Nelson wrote, according to the report.
Karl Brauer, senior analyst for Kelley Blue Book, commented on Winterkorn’s departure.
"With more than 20 years at Volkswagen AG, during which he rapidly rose through the ranks to lead the automaker, Winterkorn appeared ready to bask in the glory of seeing VW become the world's largest automaker,” Brauer said. “But VW's intentional, widespread efforts to deceive regulators across the globe suggests a dark side to the company's growth. This activity has been going on for years, meaning Winterkorn either had full knowledge of the deception, and approved it, or he was negligent in uncovering and stopping it. Either situation reflects poorly on Winterkorn and his leadership skills, and given the tragic impact this scandal will have on VW, his resignation wasn't just likely, but necessary."
House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chairman Tim Murphy, R-Penn., also announced on Monday that the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will hold a hearing in the coming weeks to discuss the recent VW diesel engine issues.
“Strong emissions standards are in place for the benefit of public health. Manufacturers throughout the United States, and across the world, have developed leading technologies to reduce airborne emissions within the limits set by EPA and state environmental agencies. However, reported EPA allegations that certain Volkswagen models contained software to defeat auto emissions tests raise serious questions,” said Upton and Murphy. “We will follow the facts. We are also concerned that auto consumers may have been deceived – that what they were purchasing did not come as advertised. The American people deserve answers and assurances that this will not happen again. We intend to get those answers.”
In other related news, Bloomberg News also reported on Tuesday that VW has hired Kirkland & Ellis LLP to help handle the situation. If that name rings a bell, the latter is the U.S. law firm that led the defense of BP Plc during its criminal investigation of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil spill in 2010.
Stay tuned to Auto Remarketing as we continue to track the situation with VW and its possible future repercussions on the used-vehicle industry.
“Bring Your A-Game.” That’s the slogan heading Autotrader’s new B2B advertising campaign, which the company says is a “rally cry” for dealers to capture the raw emotion behind the hard work of their businesses.
The company says it’s also a reflection of its internal motivation to help its customers.
“Dealers should have high expectations of their business partners, and this campaign is as much a commitment to them that we will bring our A-Game as it is a statement on how we are uniquely equipped to help them bring theirs,” said Jared Rowe, Cox Automotive Media Division president. “We have the industry’s most well-trained sales force that partners closely with our dealer customers every day to deliver a strong portfolio of digital marketing solutions, actionable insights and local market guidance — all with the goal of helping our dealers connect with, and influence, the millions of highly engaged car shoppers on our site.”
According to the company, here are four influential areas of expertise that Autotrader explores:
- Digital Marketing Solutions: Autotrader offers a comprehensive portfolio of solutions that enables dealers to develop effective digital marketing strategies to build their brands, drive traffic and connect their online and in-store experiences.
- Shopper Insights: Autotrader’s unique and leading insights help dealers stay on top of consumer trends and better connect and engage today’s empowered shoppers.
- Local Market Guidance: Autotrader helps dealers understand their local markets with the most relevant information about their local market, shoppers and competition to help inform savvy business decisions.
- Audience & Influence: Dealers can reach the biggest online car buying and selling marketplaces with the most engaged, local shoppers.
“We will continue bringing our ‘A-Game’ to our customers by enabling them to connect with buyers in new and different ways,” Rowe continued. “As we evolve our site to give dealers more, and better, options to communicate their unique selling propositions, we are equally focused on the experience that dealers have in doing business with us. Our goal is that the new Autotrader—new in attitude as well as in appearance — will be even more satisfying for dealers.”
For more information about Autotrader’s recent campaign, click here.
If you’re looking for a way to help convert your service customers who haven’t previously bought a vehicle from your establishment into retail customers, AutoAlert’s newest tool might just be what you’re looking for.
The recently announced tool, CreditConvert, utilizes pre-screen soft credit pull technology to help engage service-not-sold customers. The solution combines AutoAlert data with previously unattained equity and credit information.
“I had hundreds of service-not-sold customers coming through my service drive every month and I had no idea of their payoff or equity,” said Chris Justice, the general manager of Valley Hi Honda in Victorville, Calif. “Within just a few weeks of turning on CreditConvert, I got solid sales opportunities on 54 customers and have closed 14 of those sales already.”
According to the company, the CreditConvert product can help a dealership in the following ways, as it lists below:
- Execute real-time credit soft pulls without social security number or date of birth
- Automatically download previously unknown equity and credit information into AutoAlert
- Target customers by credit tier and vehicles by model year and mileage
- Follow up with customers not eligible to upgrade now; CreditConvert uses predictive intelligence to notify the dealership when the customer will be eligible
The company says the data is obtained via the same methods employed by banks to pre-approve auto loans and complies with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Offers made by the product are dealer-specific.
Rico Glover, the eCommerce director at Bryan Honda in Fayetteville, N.C. is pleased with the solution’s results.
“Compared to the small amount of money we spent on credit soft pulls, the ROI on this tool has already been off the charts,” Glover said.
For more information on CreditConvert, visit AutoAlert’s website here.
