BusinessRater.com certifies dealers who agree to invite their customers to tell them how they can deliver a 5-Star experience. Certified dealers use POS merchandising that says, “Help us give you 5-Star service and Win a Free Car by filling out a survey that helps us serve you better.” After customers complete the survey and review, management is alerted on their cell phone so they can immediately thank the customer and address any issues they may have before the customer leaves the dealer. If it is a 5-Stars review, it is immediately syndicated on the dealer’s Website and social networks, and is optimized to appear on top of the search engines like Google and Yahoo for many of the most popular search phrases that consumers use to shop for a car. If a customer indicates they did not receive a 5-Star experience, management is alerted to can make things right before it becomes a CSI issue. They have a 10-day grace period to address any issues before the review is public.

Since most customers are happy, this process results in a lot of positive reviews and consumer feedback reflecting a great online reputation. And to prevent fraudulent reviews, BusinessRater.com uses a patent-pending filter process that confirms the validity of every customer review to ensure it is credible before it is published. If a review fails the process it is permanently filtered in the system.

Social Dealer’s social marketing platform helps dealers create, distribute, manage and monitor their entire social media strategy and reputation through one easy-to-use tool. By increasing their social reach, dealers increase the number of prospects they can market to with promotions and offers that drive traffic, sales and service revenue. When handled properly, social media is a free channel of communication that can get better response rates than traditional media, but when handled poorly, it can generate a lot of negative response. Dealers are using Social Dealer to communicate with their customers in real-time, targeting in-market prospects, attracting new talent and leveraging their employees’ social media networks to communicate with their friends and family as well. The average person has 180 friends online and if a dealership has 100 employees they can reach 18,000 people for free. The only problem is that dealers don’t have the resources to have dedicated staff manage multiple social sites, manually post content and monitor all the opportunities to sell when they arise. That is why dealers are leveraging Social Dealer’s automated system to distribute, manage and monitor content and to receive alerts whenever someone interacts with one of their social sites.

Another online car application. OfferLogix is a top of the line mobile application and website that allows them to be the lead provider of dynamic leasing and loan payment advertisitng. With proprietary technology and a unique Web service, they automatically calculate each night on all qualifying inventory and all possible lease and loan payments, with proper legal disclosures, based on a dealer’s lender guidelines. Dealers must eliminate the confusion, inaccuracy and disconnects that exist between the vehicle, the customer and the monthly payment. Solutions that provide accurate pricing and budget information will make it easier for consumers to make educated buying decisions. Dealers can advertise accurate payments on inventory, vehicle listings, vehicle detail pages, mobile applications from a VIN or QR Code Scans, as well as offer “search by payment” and show captive finance programs for inventory – all dramatically increasing click-thru rates and leading to more sales. Dealers also integrate this technology into their mobile apps, with some dealers allowing customers to use their smartphones to scan a vehicle’s unique serial number or a bar code on the window, giving the customer immediate price and payments, which shows transparency in the process and saves time.

Since the majority of consumers shop online and are being divided among hundreds of television and radio stations, the value of traditional marketing has dramatically decreased in recent years, causing dealers to seek more effective ways to attract more customers for less cost. Team Velocity Marketing is one of the Top 12 because many of the top dealers are using their new 360 Sales & Service Marketing system to attract, sell and service more customers for less cost than traditional mass marketing.

Team Velocity’s system helps dealers identify their “Perfect Prospects,” which they define as 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. Once a dealer identifies perfect prospects within their market each quarter, they implement 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 profit centers: new, used, finance, service and parts. These perfect prospects receive “perfect offers” based on where they are in the ownership cycle of their 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. After they take delivery, Team Velocity communicates with the customer through a 360 communication process that starts with “Thank You for Buying” and continues through service reminders, sales promotions, lease renewals, equity alerts and custom offers that bring customers back more often to spend more money.

Since more than 90 percent of car buyers use search engines to shop for vehicles, dealers and car companies are spending a lot of money on Search Engine Marketing (SEM). This allows them to appear on top of the first-page search results for the most popular phrases customers are looking for on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. To save money, many successful dealers have invested in SEO – Search Engine Optimization, a fancy phrase for the process of trying to appear on top of the search results for free. In the early days, this was a lot easier when there weren’t a lot of manufacturers, dealers and third-party lead providers competing for the top 10 search results for popular phrases like “New York Honda.” Now-a-days, most dealers realize that appearing on top of Page One of Google for popular search phrases can allow you to siphon the demand out of the market at the very point when the customer wants to buy. This has caused a bidding war for top search phrases and a lot of dealer investment to optimize their Websites to appear for free.

Car-mercial helps dealers appear on top of the search engines with positive videos that promote their dealership and the vehicles they sell. Through VSEO, Car-mercial dealers dominate the search results with positive videos while also removing third-party lead providers and competing dealers from the most important Page One rankings. These videos also protect and promote their positive reputation so customers looking for a car in their market find videos that educate them about the benefits of doing business with the dealership along with attractive offers that drive traffic to their Website, phone and showroom.