Internet Lead Scoring Drives Sales; Polk, MileOne Release Results of Successful Pilot Program

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Sept. 24 -- Lead scoring, a much anticipated tool for automotive Internet marketers, is available and ready to help move cars off dealership lots, according to David Metter, chief marketing officer for dealer group MileOne.

Over a two-month period, 14 MileOne dealerships used Polk Lead Scoring to determine which Internet leads were coming from customers most likely to buy. These dealerships attributed 45 additional vehicle sales and $70,000 in additional profits to Polk Lead Scoring.

"Polk Lead Scoring enabled our sales force to focus in on the serious customers that were currently in market for a new vehicle and this resulted in increased revenue," Metter said. "There is stiff competition for Internet leads and using Polk Lead Scoring to qualify their interest and readiness to buy a vehicle clearly gives us an advantage."

Polk Lead Scoring uses industry leading automotive intelligence and sophisticated analytics to help automotive manufacturers and retailers predict who is likely to buy and when. This proven expertise is based on the same advanced analytics Polk has used to help nearly every automotive manufacturer in the world succeed during the past 30 years.

Polk Lead Scoring enhances Internet leads with a wide variety of proprietary automotive information and advanced demographic and lifestyle information, ensuring the most sophisticated and robust lead scoring available to the industry.

Automotive retailers and manufacturers will be able to optimize their Internet lead mix by determining the likelihood and timeliness of a lead converting to a sale. Polk Lead Scoring also includes reporting and analytic capabilities with particular emphasis on leveraging Polk's ability to evaluate lead performance at the lead source, make and dealer level.

"The auto industry has known for some time that lead scoring was an important missing element in automotive Internet marketing," said Mike Spadafore, global product strategist for R. L. Polk & Co. "The program with MileOne is proof that lead scoring is ready for the market. Polk is offering the optimal integration of sophisticated automotive intelligence and advanced analytics to accurately score Internet leads and will enable automotive retailers to prioritize those leads and reach out to the customers that are ready to buy from their showroom today."

About MileOne

MileOne Automotive has 63 Dealerships and 27 brands located in Maryland, Washington DC, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The dealerships that belong to the MileOne Automotive group are Hall, Heritage, Herb Gordon, Mercedes-Benz of Annapolis, MotorWorld, Baltimore Area Saturn Retailers and Tischer.

About R. L. Polk & Co.

R. L. Polk & Co. is the premier provider of automotive information and marketing solutions. Polk collects and interprets global data, and provides extensive automotive business expertise to help customers understand their market position, identify trends, build brand loyalty, conquest new business and gain a competitive advantage. Polk helps automotive manufacturers and dealers, automotive aftermarket companies, finance and insurance companies, advertising agencies, media companies, consulting organizations, government agencies and market research firms make good business decisions. A privately held global firm, Polk is based in Southfield, Mich. with operations in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.