Huntington Beach, CA – July 7, 2015 -- Vboost Inc., (www.vboost.com), a viral marketing company focused on the auto industry, today announced that Cerritos Infiniti has gained more online exposure in 90-days than most auto dealerships see in a year, through the use of video/photo packages captured at the time of vehicle delivery and sent onto customers to share with family and friends.

Over the past 90-days, the dealership produced and delivered 176 videos to its customers. 139 of those messages were opened – an open rate of 79 percent. According to Bill Stephens, General Manager at Cerritos Infiniti, the open rate is high because the video is received by the customer within minutes of vehicle delivery. 97 of these video slideshows were then shared by the customer via social media, a 70 percent share rate. “This is significantly higher than anything our dealership could achieve on its own,” said Stephens. In addition, the slideshows had a total of 1228 views, which equals a viral lift of 917 percent. Overall, the 97 shared videos produced over 9 hours of viewing time.

“I see social media experts getting excited when dozens of people interact, yet we are seeing hundreds – even thousands.  I’m not aware of any other product in our industry that produces thousands of interactions – it’s incredible word of mouth. The customers get these videos within minutes, then share them on social media. Our dealership immediately becomes part of the conversation about this person getting a new vehicle – what could be better advertising?” Stephens commented. “These results go beyond simple page views -- they reflect customers that are actually clicking and watching our ‘customermercials.’”

Cerritos Infiniti is situated in the Cerritos Auto Mall, a central location about halfway between Los Angeles and Orange County, CA, and a highly competitive marketplace. It is one of the top 5 Infiniti dealers on the West Coast and has a reputation for being very forward thinking, an early adopter of new technology and for being very active online and on social media.

Three years ago, General Manager Bill Stephens was looking for a better way to connect with customers online and came across Vboost, “We are always searching to see if there is something new out there, as social media is an important part of our business. Vboost seemed like a good way to go,” Stephens said. I tell my sales guys that there are 203 Infiniti dealerships around the US and we all get the same vehicles. We therefore have to do something that makes a difference in the customer’s eyes. I believe Vboost makes us stand out above the competition. One of my top salespeople sent out 34 photo packages and just his videos alone produced 305 views – Why wouldn’t every sales rep want this tool?” Stephens stated.

The process is very simple. Cerritos Infiniti uses Vboost to capture photos at the time of vehicle delivery. It then quickly gets those “branded” photos out to the customer. The captured photos are stitched into a slideshow set to music. Now the customer becomes the dealer advocate by posting/sharing the photos and/or videos. Customers have the option of sharing their customized video, or any of their photos taken at delivery. These are shared via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other social platforms, as well as emailed and texted to the customer’s friends and family.  The customer can also connect directly to their sales rep and dealership sites - post public reviews, and book their first service appointment - all from the Vboost landing page. Vboost then monitors and quantifies results from each viral marketing campaign for the dealership. 

When asked if their photos can be taken, very few of the dealership’s customers refuse. To encourage customer participation, the dealership has customer photos and videos all over its Facebook page. It also displays an ever-changing array of digital photos of customer’s receiving their vehicles throughout the dealership. Some customers even enquire as to how they can get their picture up on the wall. According to Stephens, his dealership uses an iPad Mini to capture images, which works better than using a Smartphone, as the customer feels that the photos/video will then be a better quality than what they could take with their own phone. The customer is then more inclined to share them. “What’s so unique is the fact that I am getting customers to put OUR information on their Facebook pages, or Instagram accounts, etc., -- there’s no way we could possibly do this directly.”

Stephens also uses Vboost to help encourage customers to review his store. He likes that he can change things up and focus on whichever site needs more reviews at the time, be it Google or Yelp or DealerRater, etc. The Vboost video emails are sent with a direct link for the customer to click on to post a review, which makes the process very simple. Vboost is also used to push service coupons, such as a discounted first service. “If I can get the customer to come into dealership for three visits, I stand a pretty good chance of retaining that customer.  70 percent of customers who service here buy cars from us, so it’s really important,” Stephens said.

Cerritos Infiniti uses Vboost as part of a very active and diverse marketing program. As a result, sales are up year-over-year, which cannot be said for its competitors. “We do a lot of different things in marketing and our sales are doing well this year compared to last, whereas most of our competitors are down by as much as 50 percent, so we must be doing something right,” Stephens stated.

# # # # #

Based in Huntington Beach, CA, Vboost, Inc., is the first proactive process to bring more referral business to dealers by creating positive viral marketing that is delivered quickly and gets shared. It involves a streamlined process via a mobile application and three unique technologies, which collect customer photos at the time of vehicle delivery, convert them to custom music videos and sends them directly to the customer. By sending these branded messages to customers during the emotional highpoint of the buying process, we have found that most buyers are compelled to upload and share these videos with family and friends via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, email and other social media platforms. Best of all, results from each viral marketing campaign are being monitored, quantified and reported back to the dealers. For more information or a demonstration call 800.799.3130 or visit www.vboost.com.

Urbandale, IA--June 29th, 2015--Flick Fusion Video Marketing (www.flickfusion.com) announced today that Median Media, a provider of multimedia marketing solutions to small and medium sized businesses, has added Flick Fusion's inventory videos to its menu of services for auto dealerships. Flick Fusion's automated video production and distribution solutions enable Median Media to provide their auto dealership customers with the complete set of tools needed to compete in today's marketplace.

"As technology has improved, the cost of creating content has fallen to a level that is affordable for most dealerships, and video is the greatest example of that," said Tim James, Vice President of Sales for Flick Fusion. "Dealerships that are able to show their customers not only what they're selling, but who they are and why the customer should buy from them in an engaging story format such as video, will be the ones that benefit most."

"The rise of social media marketing requires that dealerships produce engaging visual content for their would-be customers. Traditional outlets of print, radio and TV are still important too, so the need for high quality video/photography has never been greater," said Joshua Guzzetti, CEO of Median Media. "My partnership with Flick Fusion allows me to better serve those needs with a turn-key video product that adds valuable information to a dealer's vehicle marketing program and is social media friendly."

Median Media selected Flick Fusion's video marketing platform for its ability to integrate with many industry CRM and website solutions, and because Flick Fusion's video marketing platform produces videos in HTML5, the new video standard in web development. Flash-based video is not supported on all mobile devices, and the growing prevalence of mobile usage has prompted many dealerships to make the necessary transition to HTML5 formats on their websites. "I want to make sure that our videos are viewable on as many platforms as possible," said Guzzetti.

The ability to engage mobile users with video is critical, as in a 2014 Cars.com study, 51 percent of car shoppers indicated they used their mobile device to look up information related to price, payments, and offers.

Flick Fusion's video marketing platform provides marketing companies with a turnkey solution for creating and distributing inventory videos. Marketing reps can use their mobile devices or camera of choice to capture live video walk arounds of vehicles, then instantly upload the videos from their mobile device, a Windows Native application or via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Once the videos are uploaded, the Flick Fusion platform automatically completes the post-production work and distributes the videos to dealerships' inventory pages, YouTube and other third-party inventory sites. The Flick Fusion platform makes it easy to add custom branding, promotional offers and banners, certifications and Carfax details to the completed inventory videos.

For more information, call Flick Fusion at (800) 247-2502.

About Median Media

Median Media provides small to medium sized businesses with affordable solutions for all their multimedia needs. Median Media offers a comprehensive range of services that include graphic and web design, photography and videography, printing and tradeshow graphics, promotional products and direct mail. For more information visit www.medianmedia.co

About Flick Fusion

Flick Fusion specializes in creating, managing, and distributing dynamic and cost-effective online and mobile video products. Through its automated video generation and dynamic video marketing platforms, Flick Fusion offers the automotive industry's only “completely integrated” video solution that incorporates real-time rule/behavior based content based upon a car shopper's activity across multiple touch-points and throughout the entire buying cycle. Each video is designed to help dealerships reach and engage with customers, delivering increased sales and ROI. Flick Fusion produces video content for more than 3,000 dealerships and more than a dozen reseller partners. For more information, visit www.flickfusion.com

June 23, 2015 – Timonium, Md. -- Helion Automotive Technologies, a leading provider of IT solutions for auto dealers, today announced that the company’s strong growth trend is continuing with the addition of two large new dealer group clients. Helion now provides managed IT services for Kendall Lexus and Toyota, a group of 2 Toyota, 2 Lexus stores and a body shop based in Miami, FL; and Braman Motors of Miami, a very large volume dealership with 14 different franchises and sales of more than 36 thousand units per year, over half of which are highline vehicles.

While doing extremely well in their market, the Kendall stores were looking to update some of their more outdated technology and further improve dealership efficiency and productivity. A Helion team of experts assessed the dealership’s current state of IT and established what was needed as far as security updates, wireless capabilities, how to cut costs, infrastructure and strategic planning.  A full plan has been drawn up and is now being implemented in the dealership group, with upgrades that include everything from new servers to new phone systems.

Braman Motors is also a highly successful dealership group. However, it needed assistance to upgrade servers and move up to the next level of new technologies so as to streamline operations and boost profitability.

“Technology today is changing almost on a daily basis, as are the current rules and regulations. It can therefore be a little overwhelming for dealerships to establish what needs to be done -- That’s where Helion Technologies comes in. We take it off the dealership’s plate, solve all the headaches and make the entire process relatively painless,” said Erik Nachbahr, President, Helion Automotive Technologies. “While there is a definite cost involved, today’s technologies are SO much more efficient that dealers universally see tens of thousands of dollars in monthly savings. That is why we are growing so fast. Our clients make back their initial investment in a matter of months. In fact, one of our dealership clients has seen 5 year savings of almost $3 million. And that doesn’t even take into account the extra profitability due to increased efficiency and productivity.”

Helion Automotive Technologies can handle all of the IT needs for any size auto dealership.  The company provides IT solutions from fully managed services to IT assistance and Service Desk help.  For more information, or to schedule a demo, call: 443-541-1500, email sales@helion.com or visit: https://www.heliontechnologies.com.

# # # # #

About Helion Automotive Technologies:

Helion Automotive Technologies was formed in 1997 with the goal of bringing strong Information Technology strategies and leadership to businesses of all sizes. Helion offers dealerships short term IT fixes for what they need now, and long-term IT solutions for what lies ahead. Helion has provided IT solutions for dealerships across the country for more than a decade. When it comes to dealer IT systems, the company has been there-done that better than anyone else and is there to help.

Helion can make sure any dealership’s IT systems are well managed and provide solutions for any IT headaches. Helion is not just any tech company; it is the tech company for auto dealers. It’s all they do. 

Media Contact:
Casi Dow
443.541.2110
cdow@heliontechnologies.com
 

San Ramon, CA – June 24, 2015 – Performance Loyalty Group (PLG), a marketing technology company specializing in automotive customer loyalty and retention programs, today announced the next generation of LoyaltyTrac, the ultimate solution for tracking, analyzing, and rewarding customer purchases to build service loyalty. The new and improved LoyaltyTrac platform continues to help auto dealers better retain customers while being easier to use than ever and adding exciting new features.

One key feature addition to LoyaltyTrac is the introduction of dealer currency. Issuing dealer currency allows a dealer to offer a “discount” or incentive to the customer to make a purchase, but instead of giving it in cash (thus lowering gross revenue), the discount value is offered in dealer currency for the future purchase of parts, service, accessories, or vehicles.  This satisfies the customer – as they feel they have the value of the discount – while also tying them to the dealership for future purchases.

For example, instead of lowering the $25,000 sale price of a vehicle by $500 to $24,500 just to close a deal, a sales manager could instead issue $500 in dealer currency to a customer, thus maintaining the $25,000 selling price (and retaining the $500 towards deal profit that they would previously give away) and ensuring that customer comes back to the dealership to redeem the value on the card. 

“Instead of discounting, you retain the maximum selling price and you expense the dealer currency as the cost of sales. Not only does your gross revenue increase on the deal, but you’ve also now guaranteed yourself hundreds or, in some cases, thousands of dollars in future business from customers that you retain,” said Jeff Shenk, Performance Loyalty Group Director of Operations and Business Development.

Dealer currency goes beyond the sales floor; it can be implemented in any aspect of a dealership where retentions needs improving or discounting is commonplace. For example, service advisors often give customers cash discounts as incentives because they have no other tools at their disposal.   With dealer currency, advisors can virtually eliminate discounting while greatly improving the odds that customers will return in the future and rewarding them for it when they do.

“With dealer currency, expenses that dealers have traditionally absorbed 100 percent of can be reduced by upwards of 70 percent. It can be used to resolve any unexpected issues with sales, service, or F& I customers, or to help launch and support referral or service enrollment programs,” Shenk stated. “We have clients selling memberships in service that are netting them $10-20K in additional monthly profit after redemption expenses. This provides a significant increase in revenue and service retention while turning the program into a profit center.”

With the next generation of LoyaltyTrac, promotional and traditional gift cards are also now available. Promotional cards can be set to automatically expire at any point in the future to create a sense of urgency and help drive in traffic. Gift cards can be issued in any denomination and never expire on their own.

To top off all the improvements under the hood, LoyaltyTrac has been completely redesigned with fully responsive web-based customer and client program interfaces that are more streamlined than ever before and now optimized for use with any modern browser on PCs, tablets, and even smartphones. This makes LoyaltyTrac the most intuitive and easiest-to-use loyalty platform for automotive on the market today.

For more information or for a demonstration of the new and improved LoyaltyTrac call (877) 414-4808, or visit getloyaltytrac.com.

# # # # #

About Performance Loyalty Group:

Established in 2001 and headquartered in San Ramon, California, Performance Loyalty Group (PLG) specializes in customer loyalty and retention programs for the automotive industry. It has designed and implemented custom loyalty (LoyaltyTrac®) and prepaid maintenance programs (UltraCare®) for over 700 individual and OEM automotive clients. PLG is the leading supplier of retention-based solutions dedicated to the automotive industry in North America. For more information, please visit: http://www.performanceloyaltygroup.com.

Tammy Darvish PenFed, Lisa Copeland Fiat Alfa Romeo of Austin and Shea Holbrook professional race car driver announced as headline speakers.

The first-ever Women in Automotive Convention will draw upon top female success stories as it assists the automotive community in recruiting, retaining and developing female employees and leaders. Women make up just 17% of employees at auto dealerships according to NADA – and organizers of the conference are working diligently to raise this number, beginning with this event.

The conference is set for Tuesday-Thursday, August 18-20, at the Ballroom at Church Street in downtown Orlando, Florida. The three-day conference includes a recruiting event, speakers, breakout sessions, workshops and booth displays – all centered on the goal of educating and inspiring women in all areas of the automotive industry.

Headline Speakers include:

Tammy Darvish

Tamara Darvish is Executive Vice President of PenFed Credit Union, the 3rd largest Credit Union in the world, serving over 1.3 million members and assets in excess of $20 Billion. Her responsibilities including overseeing all Business Development, Branding, Marketing, Member Experience, Government and Community Affairs globally. She joined the PenFed Credit Union’s Executive Team having recently left her 30 year post as Executive Vice President of the DARCARS Automotive Group, which includes more than 30 franchises in the Greater Washington DC Community and was one of the top 20 groups in the U.S.

She has also served on the Board of National Automobile Dealers Association representing over 17,000 franchised automobile dealerships across the country and is a graduate of Northwood University where she earned an Honorary Doctorate Degree, a Bachelor’s in Business Administration and an Associate’s Degree in Automotive Marketing and Management.

Shea Holbrook

Shea Holbrook is a 25-year-old professional female racecar driver, business woman and co-owner of Shea Racing, spokeswoman and entrepreneur with a passion for motorsport, marketing, and mentorship. “Fear is a state of mind, will is an action taken.” Shea lives by this quote and believes through commitment and determination, anything is possible.

Her first mark in history was when she won the Long Beach Grand Prix in 2011 becoming the first female to win a major Touring Car race at the venue. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and a minor in Marketing from the University of Central Florida in May of 2012. That same year she became a part of the TRUECar Racing Women Empowered Initiative.  She is currently competing in the Pirelli World Challenge as well as piloting a jet dragster in the IHRA Nitro Jam Drag Racing Series at speeds approaching 300mph.

Lisa Copeland

Lisa Copeland is Managing Partner of Fiat of Austin, the brand’s top retailer since its return to North America. Attendees will hear the inspirational journey of her success in the male-dominated industry. Under her leadership, Fiat of Austin was named the #6 Best Workplace in North America by Automotive News in 2013.

“The topic of women in the automotive industry hits very close to home for me, because for women, the struggle is real,” Copeland said. “The event’s organizers are women who have been in the automotive industry for many years, and I am honored to be part of this precedent-setting event.”

About the Women in Automotive Conference

The Women in Automotive Conference, founded by Christy Roman of  NOW Digital, Joni Stuker President of Owner Connect  , Jody Devere CEO AskPatty.com, Inc. Kathy Gilbert Director of Sales & Business Development, CDK Global, LLC and Subi Ghosh Executive Vice President, Dealer Authority is hosting the conference to facilitate cultural changes inside dealerships and increase the population of female employees.

More speakers and workshops will be announced soon. For more information to register or become a sponsor for the convention, please visit www.WomeninAutomotive.com or contact Susan Givens via email at sgivens@womeninautomotive.com or phone 502-802-5608.

Women in Automotive Conference
217 S Swoope Ave

Maitland FL 32751

PH: 407-412-9988

For the first time ever, important vehicle research is directly embedded in the Vehicle Detail Page through CarStory Market Reports; DealerOn to make new inline reports available to their entire dealer network

Austin, Texas – June 17, 2015 – CarStory, the industry’s largest provider of search and inventory data and analytics on used vehicles, today announced a significant upgrade to their popular CarStory Market Reports that will reduce lead leakage from dealership websites. In an industry first, the new Inline CarStory Market Reports embed important vehicle research directly in the Vehicle Detail Page (VDP), an advance that promises to keep consumers from abandoning dealer websites for third-party research sites. CarStory’s robust and unique information is based on insights generated from a combination of real-time used vehicle listings and data from over eight million used car searches each week.

DealerOn is the first dealer website provider to take advantage of this new functionality, making the new VDP-embedded reports available to all 1600 of their dealer partners.

“Research shows that the number of views and time spent on VDPs are top online predictors of sales - simply put, the more car shoppers engage with a dealer’s VDP, the faster a vehicle will sell. This makes keeping consumers on a VDP a key goal for dealers,” said Chad Bockius, CMO of CarStory. “Inline CarStory Market Reports are designed to provide the vehicle's whole story, eliminating the need to click off to third-party websites.”

CarStory surveys show that used car shoppers want to better understand the value of the vehicle they are considering and how its pricing compares to other vehicles in their area. CarStory Market Reports fill this information gap with local, real-time insights on every vehicle, including detailed pricing and conditioning analysis, as well as the vehicle features valued most by other consumers. Furthermore, the improved reports now include U.S. Government crash test ratings and CarStory search popularity analytics.

“Used car shoppers spend significant time researching, often accessing over 24 research touch points before making a decision,” said Shaun Raines, VP of Marketing at DealerOn. “We want to give those consumers as many reasons as possible to stay on our dealer partner websites and the Inline CarStory Market Reports deliver all the data and research a consumer needs right from the VDP page.”

Inline CarStory Market Reports are easily embedded on a dealership’s VDPs and dealers that already have CarStory Market Reports can upgrade to the Inline Reports. Contact sales@carstory.com for more information.

About CarStory

CarStory is the industry’s largest provider of search and inventory data and analytics on used vehicle pricing and preferences. CarStory Market Reports are powered by Vast and synthesize over four million real-time used vehicle listings with data from over eight million searches a week to produce unique insights that help move consumers from online shoppers to on-the-lot buyers. By uncovering facts, features and competitive differentiators that make each vehicle unique in any given market, CarStory offers dealers and consumers the confidence they need to condense the sales process and walk away happy. A merchandising tool and lead source for websites, CarStory Market Reports are free to auto dealers. Learn more at www.carstory.com.

About Vast

Vast is the premier provider of big data solutions for life’s biggest purchases. Vast’s industry-leading big data platform and applications are currently in use at many of the largest automotive, real estate and travel businesses in the world. Vast serves Global 1,000 companies, including AOL and Southwest Airlines. Learn more at Vast.com.

About DealerOn

DealerOn, Inc. is a premier website and digital marketing company serving the retail automotive industry. In the last 12 months DealerOn’s websites have won virtually every meaningful industry award including: Driving Sales Top-Rated Website, Digital Dealer’s Overall Website Excellence Award, AWA’s Pinnacle Award, and Dealer Marketing Magazine’s Technology Award for Website Providers. DealerOn has become noted in the industry for their Lead Guarantee, based on their Digital Marketing Dashboard. Since creating this process in 2009, DealerOn has documented an average increase of over 200% in website lead volume for their auto dealer clients. To learn more about DealerOn’s Lead Guarantee, visit our website here: dealeron.com/about-us/lead-guarantee.

Media Relations: 

Melanie Webber, mWEBB Communications, (949) 307-1723, melanie@mwebbcom.com 

Cassandra Cavanah, mWEBB Communications, (818) 397-4630, cassandra@mwebbcom.com

Angel investment to expand Car Lister features, grow dealer and consumer base; Robert Scott, former Morgan Stanley President and Chief Operating Officer, joins DreamWare as Chairman of the Board

Naples, FL. – June 18, 2015 – Car Lister, the web application that lets sellers list and buyers shop for new and pre-owned cars from any smartphone, tablet or desktop, today announced it has raised $6.5 million in angel round funding. The funding supports the company’s national expansion, which currently includes more than 200 automotive dealers across 29 states.

Launched in October 2014, Car Lister allows users to instantly list vehicles for sale simply by providing the VIN number and answering a series of quick questions. The application generates titles and vehicle descriptions, allows for the upload of images and video, and includes a full vehicle history report at no cost.

“This investment round will allow us to expand throughout the United States to meet the demand for a state of the art automotive e-commerce platform,” said Bryan Harmon, Founder and CEO, DreamWare, Inc., the parent company and developer of Car Lister.  

The funding helps Car Lister expand its relationships with its new and pre-owned automotive dealership network. Car Lister has expanded its advanced features and integrated tools to help dealers improve communication with their customers and sell more vehicles. The application provides direct messaging and utilizes FaceTime to provide immediate communication between buyer and seller, while a built-in social functionality allows users to address the broad automotive industry.

In addition to the funding announcement, Robert Scott, former President and Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley, has joined DreamWare as non-executive Chairman of the Board. Scott will help steer the strategic direction of DreamWare from early stage to enterprise stage.

“We are delighted to have an individual like Robert Scott with his broad management experience, including capital markets and strategic transactions, as chairman of our Company,” Harmon said.

For more information on Car Lister, visit www.CarLister.co. 

About DreamWare
Headquartered in Naples, Florida, DreamWare, Inc. delivers unique web applications and services to improve mobile e-commerce across verticals. In October 2014, the company launched Car Lister to facilitate users listing their cars in minutes from any device with an unparalleled degree of accuracy without typing one word.  Buyers can browse detailed listing pages for new and pre-owned cars, including videos and large images, create car comparisons, review full car reports, and share car listings and other automotive expertise through Car Lister’s automobile-industry specific social media platform. For more information, visit www.DreamWareInc.co or www.CarLister.co

Press Contact

Jason Michael

Barokas PR for Dreamware, Inc.

dreamware@barokas.com

(314) 323-1425

ALBANY, N.Y. – June 15th, 2015 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announced today that the data conversion process from a previous dealership management system (DMS) vendor to Auto/Mate's DMS has become so streamlined that auto dealers and dealership employees no longer have to fear major disruptions to their business. One example of many dealerships that have made the transition is University Motors in Morgantown, West Virginia. One year ago the dealership group switched the DMS in three of its stores from a previous vendor to Auto/Mate with zero downtime and minimal impact on operations.

"All we really had was a big learning curve," said Andy Claydon, Dealer of University Motors. "Any time you're learning a new software it takes some time, but the training was very good. The installation team from Auto/Mate was knowledgeable and made the best of what could have been a very fraught time."

In May of 2014, Claydon received a notice from his previous DMS vendor of 15 years that his dealerships' contract with them was expiring in 60 days and that he would have to make alternative arrangements. "We were surprised, but with less than two months to effect change we knew we'd have to move fast," said Claydon. "Our DMS provider eventually gave us options to continue with them, however the notice spurred us to look for a new DMS vendor and we decided to continue the process."

Claydon knew it would be difficult to find a vendor who could be ready for an install within 60 days. Another dealer recommended Auto/Mate and after a week-long vetting process Claydon made the decision to switch to Auto/Mate Dealership Systems. "I heard great things about their customer service and they guaranteed we would be up and running on the new system within 60 days."

Auto/Mate assigned an installation team to University Motors, and team members immediately began working with the managers in every department. Before a data conversion, it's critical to determine how employees use the system and which data will be transferred. In accounting, this involves reviewing set ups, how splits and additions are handled, and making a list of everything to be converted, from transactions to schedules to customer, vendor and employee files and more.

The week of the DMS data conversion, Auto/Mate's team arrived in Morgantown to get ready for the switch. Claydon, his managers and the Auto/Mate team had a hands-on meeting to discuss the steps involved in the conversion process. "Then we just carried on running our business while the Auto/Mate folks worked around us with minimal interruption," said Claydon.

Claydon admits there was some resistance from his employees at the idea of switching to a new system. "I made a decision quickly so there was nothing anyone could do about it," he said. "We were all worried because in 2000 when we last switched systems, that was not a pretty conversion. It was two to three months of headaches and caused a major interruption to our business."

But Auto/Mate's installation team reassured Claydon and his employees that this time, things would not be that bad.

The conversion itself happened after hours, the day before the old DMS was scheduled to shut down. The next morning Auto/Mate's DMS was up and running with all the data they needed. "Because the entire process was rushed, I never saw an Auto/Mate screen until the day before the conversion," said Claydon. "Everything looked and performed differently. Initially it took a little longer to find things and figure things out, and we all had to work a little harder." Within weeks, however, Claydon and the dealerships' employees adapted to Auto/Mate's user-friendly interface.

Today Claydon appreciates Auto/Mate's reporting capabilities. "With my old DMS I would have to ask my office manager to run reports for me, then scan through 30 to 40 pages of a DOC to gather the information I wanted, all of which took time," said Claydon. "Now everything is right in front of me. My computer screen looks like CNN on election night. I've got widgets telling me where we are with sales and revenue, where we were this time last month, and any other metric I want to see. For me it's brilliant, it's a huge upgrade."

Additionally Claydon appreciates the customer service that he heard so much about. Every time anyone has a problem or question, they call Auto/Mate and the issue is resolved immediately. "The people from Auto/Mate are absolutely splendid; no problem is too big or too small or too complicated," said Claydon.

Another benefit University Motors realized after the switch was a significantly lower monthly bill. "Cost wasn't the reason I switched but I'm spending at least 65 percent less than I was, and probably saving even more than that," said Claydon. "The important thing is they've charged us exactly what they said they would, every month. Before, we often had to question our bills."

For dealers contemplating a switch to Auto/Mate, Claydon offers the following advice: "Absolutely do it. I wouldn't have changed if I didn't have to, but I'm very happy I did," he said. "Before the conversion, it's important to give the installation team whatever they ask and make sure you think about all the questions they give you about how you use the system. If you follow the process, everything will be fine."

For more information on how to prepare for a DMS data conversion, download Auto/Mate's free eBook, The Auto Dealer's 10-Step Guide For A Successful DMS Data Conversion.

About Auto/Mate

Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships, typically saving dealers thousands of dollars per month from their current provider. Our Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich DMS in use by more than 1,100 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate has received the DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Award in 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 940 years of combined experience working in franchised auto dealerships, the foundation of its “Designed By Car People For Car People^TM” slogan. Auto/Mate is committed to winning its customers’ business each and every month with no long-term contracts and free software upgrades. 

Urbandale, IA--June 15th, 2015--Flick Fusion Video Marketing (www.flickfusion.com) announced today a new partnership with Chroma Cars (www.chromacars.com), a full-service inventory management, photography, website and digital marketing services provider to more than 300 auto dealerships. Chroma Cars is now offering Flick Fusion's customized, scalable video marketing solutions that allow auto dealers to grow their video marketing strategies slowly over time, based on performance and ROI.

"Most auto dealers start with inventory videos on their Vehicle Display Pages (VDPs)," said Tim James, Vice President of Sales for Flick Fusion. "Once they see the increased website traffic, longer site visits and increased conversion rates, they feel more comfortable and see the value in trying another video marketing strategy such as video emails or dealership value proposition videos."

"Just as stitched videos became the standard replacement for static photos, live inventory videos are becoming the next must-have digital marketing strategy for auto dealer websites," said Jerry Medlen, Operations Director for Chroma Cars. "Live video walkarounds and virtual test-drive videos are proven to attract and engage car shoppers, while Flick Fusion's video distribution process helps to increase dealers' organic SEO rankings."

Flick Fusion's video marketing platform provides lot service companies with a turnkey solution for creating and distributing inventory videos. Marketing reps can use their mobile devices or camera of choice to capture live video walkarounds of vehicles, then instantly upload the videos from their mobile device, a Windows Native application or via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Once the videos are uploaded, the Flick Fusion platform automatically completes the post-production work and distributes the videos to dealerships' inventory pages, YouTube and other third-party inventory sites. The Flick Fusion platform makes it easy to add custom branding, promotional offers and banners, certifications and Carfax details to the completed inventory videos.

For more information, call Chroma Cars at (800) 501-0592 or Flick Fusion at (800) 247-2502.

About Chroma Cars

Since 2006 Chroma Cars has been delivering inventory management, photography, website and digital marketing services to auto dealerships. Chroma Cars developed its small business content management platform in partnership with several auto dealers; resulting in a robust, flexible and cost efficient solution that helps auto dealers build website traffic volume and convert visitors into leads. From Buy Here-Pay Here to highline, high volume franchise dealers to single point new or used car lots; Chroma Cars has a car dealer website, SEO/SEM or Social Media Marketing solution to meet high performance expectations. For more information visit http://www.chromacars.com

About Flick Fusion

Flick Fusion specializes in creating, managing, and distributing dynamic and cost-effective online and mobile video products. Through its automated video generation and dynamic video marketing platforms, Flick Fusion offers the automotive industry's only “completely integrated” video solution that incorporates real-time rule/behavior based content based upon a car shopper's activity across multiple touch-points and throughout the entire buying cycle. Each video is designed to help dealerships reach and engage with customers, delivering increased sales and ROI. Flick Fusion produces video content for more than 3,000 dealerships and more than a dozen reseller partners. For more information, visit www.flickfusion.com.

Flick Fusion's analytics to integrate seamlessly with DealerPeak's Cyber Sonar, allowing auto dealers to track video performance & user behavior in their CRM 

Urbandale, IA--June 1st, 2015--Flick Fusion (www.flickfusion.com) announced today it has been selected as the preferred video marketing provider for DealerPeak's full system CRM, website and desking solutions. Auto dealerships that use DealerPeak solutions will have the option to access the entire FlickFusion video marketing platform, providing them with a fully integrated solution for all their video marketing needs. Flick Fusion's advanced analytics will integrate seamlessly with DealerPeak's CRM and website solutions, allowing auto dealers to track video performance and user behavior from within the CRM.

"Many dealers like the idea of having videos but without fully integrated analytics, it's difficult to track and compare views, clicks, leads and appointments in the same way other marketing analytics can be measured," said Brian Cox, President and CEO of Flick Fusion. "Our API communicates with DealerPeak's system, providing a richer video experience for the user and information for the CRM so the dealer can literally see who is watching what."

"In order to generate that click from the consumer, dealers need to have as much high-quality content surrounding their in-stock vehicles as possible," said Jock Schowalter, President of DealerPeak. "Having video translates into more consumer engagement, better conversion ratios and longer site visit time. It's becoming one of the must-have components of a good website."

DealerPeak chose Flick Fusion's video marketing platform because of its ability to integrate with its CRM and website solutions, as well as Flick Fusion's high-quality production videos and automated distribution network. When a dealership uploads video or chooses to use stock footage from the Flick Fusion platform, custom-branded videos automatically created and distributed across dozens of websites; including the dealership's Facebook inventory page, YouTube channel and third-party listing sites.

Analytics from every distribution point--not just a dealership's website--will also be available in the CRM. "The ability to make this type of customer information available is a real game changer," said Schowalter. "Imagine if your dealership gets a lead and a week later a salesperson has marked it as 'could not contact'. Then you get notified instantly, in real-time, that lead has been watching videos on a third-party site. That gives you the insight to open that line of communications again."

In addition to fully integrated analytics, Flick Fusion's video marketing platform offers auto dealers the following additional benefits:

• Automates video production process with custom-branded videos
• Video search results on keywords increase organic SEO rankings
• Drives traffic to dealership websites and increases conversion rates
• Videos for every marketing need; including inventory, video emails and more
• Viewable on all mobile devices
• Platform agnostic

DealerPeak's integrated CRM and website solution offers dealers a powerful benefit; the system takes demographic information from the CRM and uses it to personalize each customer's experience on the dealership's website. Dealers get more than just analytics, they get actual names of customers and what they're doing on their website as they do it.

For more information, contact DealerPeak at (888) 289-9841 or Flick Fusion at (800) 247-2502.

About DealerPeak (http://www.dealerpeak.com)

DealerPeak was founded in 1999 with the goal of providing automotive dealerships better technology solutions at lower costs while providing superior results. DealerPeak is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and has hundreds of dealer clients throughout the United States. DealerPeak solutions include CRM, websites, chat, desking, digital marketing, SEO and transactional websites that work seamlessly on a unified web-based platform. This allows our dealers to reduce their number of vendors and drive their cost of doing business down. DealerPeak is also a proud member of the Toyota TDDS Dealer Website Program.

DealerPeak also has a separate division for its online negotiation product called WideStorm. To find out more about online negotiation for automotive dealers visit http://www.widestorm.com

About FlickFusion (http://www.flickfusion.com)

Flick Fusion specializes in creating, managing, and distributing dynamic and cost-effective online and mobile video products. Each video is designed to help dealerships reach and engage with customers, delivering rich content that results in increased sales and ROI. Flick Fusion produces video content for more than 3,000 dealerships and more than a dozen reseller partners. For more information, visit www.flickfusion.com.