Dealer Principal - October 2007 - (Page 14)

CarTango will also help alleviate some of the apprehension women endure on the road to purchasing a car. Despite being so well informed, women are incredibly uncomfortable with the entire car shopping experience. Approximately 75% of women will bring a male with them to make their vehicle purchase. Statistics indicate that despite industry-wide initiatives to educate dealerships on the specific concerns of women car buyers, women continue to believe that they will be taken advantage of during the car buying process. female car shoppers by inviting buyers to conduct all their shopping from a personal shopping page. This will allow the buyer to anonymously manage the entire shopping process, including the initial search, research, seller presentations and communications. This unique deliverable allows women to freely conduct their car search without fear that they will be disadvantaged because of their gender. A series of cooperative factors got Osborne thinking about problems with the current lead generation system. Involvement in a highly successful online retailing business taught valuable lessons in using the Internet to connect with buyers. Additionally, his background in organizational development and his leadership on several high-profile political campaigns improved his marketing skills. With these abilities and his own frustrating experience in trying to sell a vehicle online, Osborne was determined to create a friendlier environment. By personally utilizing existing car trading websites to sell a vehicle, Osborne realized that the process would be much more “ The dealerships don’t pay us until we bring them a buyer, which is a lot different from what is currently happening. There is no huge monthly commitment to this. You pay when we bring you a buyer, you pay for results. Dan Osborne Founder/CEO effective if he could communicate with potential buyers and convince them to come and take the car for a test drive. Knowing that all car buyers and sellers deserve better returns from their Internet investments of time and money, Osborne is applying a socially interactive platform to the car buying process that aggregates both buyers and sellers of cars. Osborne states, “CarTango aggregates both buyers and sellers on the same platform, and integrates closed-circuit communications which becomes the catalyst for unique deliverables. Existing sites in the marketplace today act similarly to newspaper classifieds, aggregating only inventory and sellers, not buyers.” While developing CarTango, Osborne seriously considered feedback from both buyers and sellers. “This hasn’t been something we cooked up in a vacuum,” he said. “This was all developed through conversations with buyers and sellers. We visited with dozens and dozens of dealerships in the last year and a half and have ascertained what dealers are looking for, the limitations of other sites, and insight on communication tools.” Although Osborne acknowledges that they are new to the industry, they have CarTango addresses the concerns 14 www.dealerprincipalmagazine.com “ “ of “ CarTango addresses the concerns of female car shoppers by inviting buyers to conduct all their shopping from a personal shopping page. This will allow the buyer to anonymously manage the entire shopping process, including the initial search, research, seller presentations and communications. This unique deliverable allows women to freely conduct their car search without fear that they will be disadvantaged because of their gender. http://www.dealerprincipalmagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Dealer Principal - October 2007

Contents Reality Check Cover Story: Car Tango Does Your Service Menu Pass the Mom Test? Your Greatest Asset Your Toll Free Number Could Be Turning Customers Away

Dealer Principal - October 2007

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