Little fish in a big pond or big fish in a little pond? If you have process, vendors that back you and a great staff, it doesn't matter. In the event that you're looking for some smaller companies that 'fit the bill', you may want to check these out:
Customer For Life: CRM is not just emails. No, seriously! Get the most out of your database, at least until someone at your dealership actually gets to them. Having worked with Salesforce-based systems in the past, the foundation is rock solid. Put Ivan Feher and the team at CFL on the case at your dealership and you might just see great results, for less than you think. In addition, they seem to be launching something of value about every quarter so they like to keep you on your toes! http://www.customerforlife.com
Undertone Networks: Online media doesn't get a lot of attention compared to SEO and SEM for individual dealers but if you're part of an association, 20 group or own a number of dealerships, you may want to know a lot more about ad networks and starting to interact with your public the way that the big boys do. Not for everyone, but this is one of the areas that is a must going forward considering that you've already dropped all of your conventional marketing (or will this month). Contact Brad Fox, he has a great background in everything online automotive (or any of their regional offices). http://www.undertone.com
Free Press Release: When it comes to all of the activities that dealers want to but don't execute on, one that can help greatly and doesn't take a lot of time is press releases. Free is better (if you don't mind Google ads and other no-in-your-control aspects) but there is a minor charge to get rid of the 'other stuff'. Remember, it's a great SEO tool and gets your events, specials and other news-worthy events in front of the public. http://www.free-press-release.com
DealersCompass: Fixed-Ops seems to be saving at least a few lives for the proverbial cat as of late. Outside of merely cutting costs, dealers need ideas. Brad Bossen at DealersCompass has a couple decades of experience in making service and other facets of fixed operations work better, make more sense and deliver more dollars. He's based in Phoenix but planes, trains and automobiles go everywhere. Call Brad at (480) 234-7877 or visit him at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/brad/bossen or http://adpadm.ning.com/profile/BradBossen
We'll try to keep these updates weekly and ultimately have an area where you can get in touch with the vendors.
Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results
