Originally Published By Digital Trends

Buying cars online seems simple, but what if you could do it as quickly and easily at a dealership, and still get a test drive? Stanford StartX accelerator graduate Prodigy wants to give auto dealerships a tool set to modernize selling cars on the lot.

According to a Prodigy release, “More than ever, this industry key to our economy is being threatened by increased regulation, changes in car buying habits, and car buying startups such as Beepi and Carvana. Prodigy is giving dealers a chance to fight back and adapt to rapidly changing car buying habits.”

The tablet-based Prodigy sales platform, is designed to streamline the customer buying experience from “Hi, how can I help you?” to closing the deal. Major elements of the Prodigy platform include “predictive inventory filters” to narrow the inventory search quickly based on customer preferences, mobile driver’s license scanning to speed up moving from the greeting to a test drive, and access to OEM specifications and third party info sites such as Edmunds.com and Kelly Blue Book to answer questions on the spot.

Once you’ve decided on the car you want, the Prodigy platform gives the sales person “penny perfect” payment options to present based on the customer’s credit, current OEM promotions and offers, and dealer margins. You won’t have to wait for a sales manager to approve the deal or sit in a finance manager’s office endlessly — real-time communication from the tablet will speed both of those steps.

Finally, digital signature capture on the tablet and a full credit application connect the dealer with more than 1,300 lenders. Theoretically, you could do the entire deal on the lot and drive off, never having to acquiesce to a request to “Let’s go back to my desk and see what we can work out.” The aim of the platform is to get the deal done on the lot, if it’s right for the dealer, the lender, and the buyer.

“Car buying habits have been rapidly changing over the last few years, but technology within a dealership has remained stagnant,” said Michia Rohrssen, Prodigy founder and CEO. “Our mission is to equip dealers with the technology needed to serve the modern car buyer in the most efficient and streamlined manner possible. With our new platform, dealerships can offer an entirely unprecedented customer experience from a single platform.”

Waltham, Mass. – December 8, 2016 – DealerRater has announced that starting today it will feature its growing database of reviews on Cars.com. The move will expand the reach of DealerRater’s three million consumer-submitted reviews and grow the existing Cars.com review platform to continue to help arm consumers with the tools they need to make informed decisions on what to buy, where to buy and whom to buy from.

“This is the first tangible evidence of being part of the Cars.com family, and it’s a win-win for both our brands as well as the industry,” said Gary Tucker, CEO of DealerRater. “DealerRater continues to actively and aggressively extend the reach of our review content across multiple platforms where consumers are shopping to provide more value to our customers. A single review will now be seen by millions of consumers on Cars.com and other frequently visited third-party automotive sites, and ultimately lead to increased walk-in traffic at the dealership. With this broadened syndication, there is no review more valuable to a dealership than a DealerRater review.”

The integration of DealerRater reviews onto Cars.com will adjust dealership ratings to reflect only recent reviews posted within the last 24 months. This is beneficial to consumers because the more recent a review, the more useful it is during the car shopping process. Additionally, more recent reviews will provide dealerships with a better tool to gauge current consumer satisfaction. 

“DealerRater reviews are invaluable to today’s car shoppers as well as today’s dealers,” said Tucker. “We help connect millions of consumers with the right dealership and, more importantly, the right person at the right dealership. Dealers leverage our reviews as a tool to flag and celebrate great customer service while addressing opportunities to perform even better. It’s a win-win for the industry.”

For more information, visit www.dealerrater.com.

ABOUT DEALERRATER

Founded in 2002, DealerRater, a Cars.com Company, is the world's leading car dealer review website that connects consumers with the right person at the right dealership. The site offers more than 2.5 million sales and service reviews across 41,000 U.S. and Canadian dealerships, including a network of more than 5,600 Certified Dealers. More than 14 million consumers read DealerRater content across the web each month. By offering a product suite that allows qualified dealerships to manage their reputations and achieve higher SEO rankings, DealerRater supports new customer connections by growing online presence.

ABOUT CARS.COM

Cars.com is a leading online destination that helps car shoppers and owners navigate every turn of car ownership. A pioneer in automotive classifieds, the company has evolved into one of the largest digital automotive platforms, connecting consumers with local dealers across the country anytime, anywhere. Through trusted expert content, on-the-lot mobile app features, millions of new and used vehicle listings, a comprehensive set of research tools and the largest database of consumer reviews in the industry, Cars.com helps shoppers buy, sell and service their vehicles.

Cars.com companies include DealerRater, Auto.com, PickupTrucks.com™ and NewCars.com®. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Chicago. It is owned by TEGNA, Inc.

NEW YORK (November 30, 2016) — JUST Capital and Forbes today released the inaugural “JUST 100 List,” which ranks the publicly traded companies in America that perform best on the priorities of the American public. This is the first-ever annual ranking of how America’s top companies perform on the issues Americans care most about.  The rankings are based on one of the largest surveys ever conducted on attitudes towards corporate behavior, involving 50,000 Americans over the last 18 months. This year’s list ranks U.S companies against their peers within 32 major industries. In future years, Forbes and JUST Capital will rank companies across industries.

For the complete list and more, visit: forbes.com/just100. The inaugural JUST 100 ranking of America’s most just companies will appear in Forbes magazine’s December 20 “Impact and Philanthropy” issue.   

“JUST Capital started with the question ‘What if we could see which companies use their capital not simply to maximize profits, but to create a more just marketplace for all stakeholders?’ And today, we can see that some of the biggest companies in America – some of the most important companies in the world – are doing that, at a huge scale,” said Paul Tudor Jones II, co-founder and board chair of the JUST Capital Foundation. “The rankings and data can empower all of us – consumers, employees, employers, investors – to interact differently with the companies that define today’s economy.”

“The JUST 100 List is the most authoritative, unbiased source of data about how corporations perform on the things people in the U.S. care about most. The list combines powerful insights into how Americans feel about corporate behavior with an unprecedented view of how our leading corporations stack up,” explained Forbes editor Randall Lane. “Forbes’ partnership with JUST Capital is an exciting and important one for us and we look forward to growing this work in the coming years.”

JUST Capital conducted its survey in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago, an independent research institution that delivers data and rigorous analysis to guide programmatic, business and policy decisions. JUST then evaluated the performance of over 890 publicly traded companies against the priorities that emerged in the survey and created a ranking model to develop the JUST 100 List. This selection of companies draws from the Russell 1000 Index, which represents over 90 percent of the U.S. stock market value.

The top six issues ranked highly by the public, in order, were: providing a fair pay for industry and job level; non-discrimination in hiring, firing, and promotion practices; providing a safe workplace; following laws and regulations; respecting workers; and creating jobs in the U.S. JUST’s scoring system is weighted to reflect the relative importance of the public’s stated priorities. JUST Capital’s full methodology is available online at justcapital.com/methodology as both an interactive guide and a comprehensive report.

The 2016 most just companies in America within 32 major industries are (in alphabetical order by industry):

• Aerospace & Defense: Rockwell Collins

• Automobile & Components: Ford Motor

• Banks: SVB Financial

• Capital Goods: Fluor

• Capital Markets: Legg Mason

• Chemicals: Eastman Chemical

• Commercial & Professional Services: Verisk Analytics

• Consumer & Diversified Finance: American Express

• Consumer Durables & Apparel: Whirlpool

• Consumer Services: Marriott International

• Energy Equipment & Services: Oceaneering International

• Food & Staples Retailing: Sysco

• Food, Beverage, & Tobacco: PepsiCo

• Healthcare Equipment & Services: Varian Medical Systems

• Healthcare Providers & Services: Humana

• Household & Personal Products: Colgate-Palmolive

• Insurance: XL Group

• Internet Software & Services: Alphabet

• Information Technology Services: Accenture

• Machinery: Cummins

• Materials: Freeport-McMoRan

• Media: Discovery Communications

• Oil, Gas, & Consumable Fuels: Pioneer Natural Resources

• Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences: Amgen

• Real Estate: Jones Lang LaSalle

• Retailing: CarMax

• Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment: NVIDIA

• Software: Microsoft

• Technology Hardware & Equipment: F5 Networks

• Telecommunications: AT&T

• Transportation: Southwest Airlines

• Utilities: Exelon

JUST Capital and Forbes previously released comprehensive 2016 survey results, which define what ordinary Americans value in corporate behavior, including how different demographic and economic groups see the relative importance of competing priorities. Comprehensive market research results are available at justcapital.com/market-research. Key findings include:

• Overwhelmingly, Americans identified worker pay, benefits and treatment as the defining issues for corporate America.

• The integrity of corporate leaders is a top priority among Americans.

• Americans are positive about business, even while trust in corporations remains low. A majority believes corporations have become less just in the last decade.

• An overwhelming majority indicate they will use information on just corporate behavior in purchasing, employment and investing choices.

JUST will also make the rankings accessible and sortable on its website, justcapital.com. The interactive “Explorer” tool goes inside the rankings to show how companies were scored.

JUST Capital completed its research with funding from the Ford Foundation, the MCJ Amelior Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Virgin Unite. JUST and Forbes worked with GoodData, Sprinklr, and Viget Labs on their technology tools and with audit advisors Marks Paneth and legal advisors Andrews Kurth Kenyon. Glassdoor also provided research support.

Additionally, the top ranked company in each industry will be able to use an “America’s Most JUST Companies” seal in packaging and marketing.

A new study by Bazaarvoice dives into user generated content and how valuable it is for the car industry and buying process.

Most of us are aware of the power of user generated content, especially online, but it’s difficult to figure out the best steps to take to make this work for us. On average, car buyers reference 24 sources before buying, 12 of which are digital. Consumers also trust ratings and reviews three times more than brand messaging, over half of consumers looked at reviews before purchases, and most of those who read reviews, read them on their mobile phone. A good chunk of customers will actually read reviews about your dealership while they are at your store shopping!

So we see how important reviews and comments are for the car buyer, but how do we harness that to make it work for us?

It is smart to publish your consumer generated content EVERYWHERE. Especially on digital platforms! The language used in these reviews is more appealing to shoppers, it gives people an in-depth look of not just shopping but owning the car, and removes barriers to purchase.

It’s also important to recognize there’s no such thing as too much consumer-generated content. You don’t need to worry if you’re flooded with reviews, lots of content is GOOD content. Most of the time, people will want more reviews than you have!

Car shoppers are everywhere, so be sure you publish in the right places. Whether it’s websites, social media, review apps, or just word of mouth, you want to make sure your dealership is easy to find or hear about.

To learn more about Bazaarvoice or read their full study, visit their website.

INDIANAPOLIS — (November 21, 2016) — PERQ, a marketing company providing website conversion solutions for dealerships, has announced a seed round investment of $1.7 million, from 4G Ventures, into its FATWIN Web Engagement software platform. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform enables the easy creation, and implementation, of interactive online consumer experiences for deal arrangement. The funding will be used to accelerate Sales and Marketing of the software platform and more than 30 new hires within the next year. Bill Godfrey, Managing Director at 4G Ventures, will continue to serve on the Board for PERQ, a role he has held since 2013.

“I love this team's bold vision to develop innovative interactive marketing software that creates exponentially higher lead conversions,” said Bill Godfrey. “They've created a repeatable model of customer acquisition and value attainment, and now it's time to press on the accelerator.”

Launched in the summer of 2015, FATWIN Web Engagement surpassed $1 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) within nine months of launch. This rarely-seen growth rate is the result of a fundamental difference in how the organization approaches online consumer engagement, a belief that lead forms are dead and interactive content is the next wave of marketing technology.

PERQ’s Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, Scott Hill said, “We are grateful for the investment of Bill Godfrey’s time over the past few years. This funding from 4G Ventures will allow us to accelerate the adoption of highly engaging, and meaningful, interactive experiences that provide more value, and leads, to dealerships than a simple “contact us” button or static form.”

FATWIN Web Engagement replaces static lead forms and CTA’s with interactive experiences and calls to action that automatically optimize in real time, based on captured lead data and on-site consumer behavior. Using their interactive content platform, FATWIN, they take normal automotive website engagements for vehicle of interest, trade, test drive or incentives, and create connected interactive experiences.

The result of FATWIN Web Engagement is a consistent stream of high-quality, first party opportunities delivered with comprehensive consumer profiles. Dealers have the ability to deeply configure and consolidate their lead capture strategy over time without changing website providers.

Key Facts About the Product:

• Over 200 customers using FATWIN Web Engagement.
• Grew from $0 to $1 million in ARR in less than one year
• Average customer results show a 200% increase in lead volume, 5x increase in consumer data, and up to 15% lift in profit tracked to interactive leads.

Andy Medley, Co-Founder and President of PERQ said, “This funding will allow us to continue investing in hiring Sales and Marketing. The infusion of new talent will be critical as we focus on continuing accelerated expansion.”

About PERQ

PERQ (www.perq.com), a marketing technology provider, boosts website conversions by creating and delivering interactive experiences to the right consumers at the right time. Founded in 2001, PERQ solutions today are used by more than 1,000 businesses across the United States. PERQ’s brands have been named to the Inc. “500 Fastest Growing Companies in America” list on three separate occasions.

Connect with PERQ on Twitter @PERQMarketing or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/perq.

Congratulations to Brian Finkelmeyer! He had one of the the most top exclusive blog posts in October: New Realities Of The New Car Business. We appreciate Brian so much for sharing his insights!

Check out our interview with Brian to learn more about new car sales.

Roadster Inks Deal with John Elway’s Crown Toyota to Become Exclusive Commerce Platform Across Online and Offline Channels

Crown becomes the third Toyota dealership in CA to turn to Roadster’s Express Storefront to empower salespeople to sell any car seamlessly and effectively from online to in-store

San Francisco, Calif. — November 20— Roadster, the leader in eCommerce solutions for car buying and leasing, today announced a comprehensive deal with John Elway’s Crown Toyota. As one of the largest Toyota dealerships in the world, Crown will be bringing a modernized, end-to-end selling experience to the marketplace.  The deal will place Roadster’s Express Storefront at the center of the one price dealership’s sales operations to help Crown’s entire staff sell more efficiently, effectively and seamlessly from online to in-store for the first time.

Through the partnership, Crown will receive their own online branded storefront, enabling the dealership to merchandise all of their vehicles online and across all devices.  The storefront will empower Crown’s customers to desk their own deals, navigate complex leasing and financing options, and receive instant trade-in offers. It will also make it easy for consumers who want to come directly into the dealership to pick up where they left off and finish the transaction side-by-side with one of Crown’s salespeople.

In addition to the online storefront, the partnership will give Crown access to Roadster’s Express Storefront app, which will empower Crown’s staff to greet a customer at the door and guide them through the entire car buying process. The app places all of Crown’s inventory, pricing and service and protection plans at the fingertips of salespeople on the showroom floor to help facilitate a more streamlined and transparent car buying experience. For example, if a salesperson learns that a customer had already started their car buying online, and is interested in adding a protection plan like Toyota Extra Care Platinum and ToyotaCare Plus prepaid maintenance, the app will give them the ability to immediately pull up all of the information the customer previously configured at home, and then add the additional products to the transaction. Lastly, Crown’s salespeople can also use the app to locate a new VIN or model number and instantly share deal terms with the customer so that they can review every detail of the available financing and service and protection plan options in real-time.

“As a one price store, transparency, efficiency, productivity and the speed of transaction are extremely important to us," said Paxton Gagnet, GM & Managing Partner of Crown Toyota.  “Roadster’s Express Storefront is the only commerce solution in the marketplace that empowers dealers to sell any car seamlessly from online to in-store.  Having a customer’s information available instantly and at our fingertips gives us the ability to run deal terms in real time and ensure our customers know exactly what to expect.  We’ve never seen a solution like Roadster’s and are thrilled to be placing Roadster’s end-to-end Express Storefront commerce solution at the center of all of our sales operations.”

Since October, Roadster has experienced an influx of dealer demand for its Express Storefront solution.  In fact, the partnership with Crown Toyota marks the third Toyota dealership in California to deploy Roadster’s Express Storefront Solution.

“It is exciting to be working with a new dealership as progressive and expansive as Crown,” said Rudi Thun, COO of Roadster. “Crown is an impressive addition to our customer roster and underlines Roadster’s commitment to modernizing the car buying experience and giving dealers access to the most innovative solution in North America.” 

For more information about Express storefront, please visit http://wwww.roadster.com/dealersales

About Roadster
Roadster is an eCommerce platform that enables hassle-free car buying 100% online through partner dealer websites and Roadster.com. Roadster dramatically improves the car buying process, significantly reducing dealership sales costs while ensuring buyers get a fair and transparent deal and save time. With unmatched industry expertise and complete knowledge of market pricing, lease and finance rates, and incentives and rebates, Roadster finally makes online car shopping a reality. Roadster is based in Palo Alto, CA and was founded in late 2013. For more information, please visit https://roadster.com.

About Crown

John Elway's Crown Toyota Scion, located in the heart of Ontario, CA is one of the largest Toyota dealerships in North America, serving the greater Ontario, Riverside, Corona, Rancho Cucamonga, Upland, Fontana, Norco, Chino, & Chino Hills areas, with their One Price, Simple, No Games sale experience.  For more information, please visit http://www.crowntoyota.com