The Cobalt Group Announces Major Customer Initiatives
10 February 2000
The Cobalt Group Announces Major Customer Relationship Management Initiatives; Suite of New Software Products Helps Auto Dealers Capture and Retain Lifetime Customers
SEATTLE--Feb. 10, 2000--The Cobalt Group , a leading provider of Internet solutions and business-to-business services to the automotive industry, today announced a series of strategic Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives designed to help auto dealers capture, manage and retain digital customers."CRM is a significant strategic initiative for Cobalt. Dealers can begin with our lead management solution, practice sophisticated affinity marketing and customer touch through our Ultimate Golf Challenge game integrated with their Web site, and communicate with customers after the sale with our forthcoming Personal Pages product," said John Holt, president and CEO of The Cobalt Group. "Our goal is to ensure that automotive dealers have the tools to effectively and efficiently communicate with their online customers -- and this is just the beginning."
CRM is the fourth Cobalt suite of hosted applications, joining Cobalt's dealer Web site production system which currently services over 5,200 dealers, Cobalt's PartsVoice(R) Parts Locating service which maintains an online inventory of 35 million OEM parts, and Cobalt's new and used vehicle inventory management/distribution system which hosts over 550,000 unique listings and distributes those listings to major Internet portals.
"Beginning with Lead Manager, and relying on our data aggregation expertise, we have developed an infrastructure that can support and manage transactions from dealer Web sites, assist dealers with initiating and managing lifetime customers, and allow sales managers to leverage their staff over a greater number of customers," said David Potts, Cobalt's vice president of business development and product management. "Once a customer is in Cobalt's CRM database, whether they enter through Lead Manager, Ultimate Golf Challenge or the Personal Pages database, we can enable dealers to build lifetime customer relationships."
Key elements of the Cobalt CRM program include:
| -- | Cobalt's Lead Manager is a Web-based sales management system that allows Internet sales professionals to login to the system and respond to leads from multiple locations. Sales managers can assign leads to individual sales personnel and monitor their follow-through with real-time reporting. Soon Cobalt will add wireless messaging capabilities to facilitate immediate notification to sales personnel of customer inquiries. |
| -- | Cobalt's Ultimate Golf Challenge is an Internet-based marketing program that combines interactive gaming software with sophisticated CRM capabilities. Friendly Software, the developer of Cobalt's Ultimate Golf Challenge, provided the original source code for the hugely popular Microsoft(R) Golf and Grolier's Greg Norman Ultimate Challenge(R) Golf. The game is a highly realistic PC golf simulation designed for both the experienced and novice golf gamer. With minimal cost to dealers, Cobalt can incorporate dealer branding and links to dealer Web sites within the game. |
| -- | Cobalt's Service Solution 2-1-1 is a versatile Web-based software solution that helps dealers stay connected with their current and potential service customers. The application includes two unique features, Service Reminders and Service Maintenance Schedules. The Service Reminder function automatically sends e-mail to customers reminding them to visit the dealership for oil changes and regular service appointments, while Service Maintenance Schedules automatically advises customers of their car's manufacturer-recommended service schedule for major milestones. |
| -- | Cobalt's Personal Pages is currently under development and will provide dealers with after-sales CRM capabilities. Customers will receive a unique Web page for their vehicle that incorporates service schedules and vehicle maintenance records, and serves as a platform for dealers to remind customers of soon to expire warranties, specials on service and accessories, and new product information. |
"Our customers want proactive contact: prompt e-mail responses, service records online, service reminders, and discount offers inviting them back to the store," said Vanessa Dinan, Internet sales director at SaturnofColorado.com. "It is important that we invest in customer relationship management tools from an industry leader like Cobalt to effectively build ongoing relationships with our online and traditional customers...creating customers for life."
Each Cobalt suite of Web-based products is integrated with Cobalt's other product offerings, providing dealers with a seamless Internet marketing resource management interface accessed through the MotorPlace.com(TM) (www.motorplace.com) business-to-business automotive portal.
"The goal of every dealer is to win customers for life," said Holt. "It's our job to help dealers have a front and center relationship with their customers, and our suite of CRM products will make a big difference helping dealers win, and maintain, the most valuable asset they have -- satisfied customers."
About the Cobalt Group
The Cobalt Group(TM) , based in Seattle, is a leading provider of Internet-based products and services for the automotive industry. Through Internet-based application development and hosting, data management, and online car referral services, Cobalt helps dealers, dealer groups and automobile manufacturers harness the power of the Internet to realize new efficiencies, win new prospects and better serve their customers.
With approximately 5,200 dealer Web site clients, over 10,000 dealers using its parts locating system, and relationships with 16 automotive manufacturers and more than 50 of the 100 largest dealer groups in the United States, Cobalt is one of the leading technology companies serving the automotive industry. Cobalt operates MotorPlace.com(TM) (www.motorplace.com), a business-to-business vertical portal for the automotive industry; DealerNet(R) (www.dealernet.com), one of the best-known automotive destination sites on the Web; and PartsVoice(R) (www.partsvoice.com), a leading OEM auto parts locating and data management service.
Cobalt offers Web site services that are endorsed by the National Automobile Dealers Association.
For more information, please visit The Cobalt Group at www.cobaltgroup.com.
The Cobalt Group, Cobalt, MotorPlace.com, DealerNet, PartsVoice, Friendly Software, Microsoft, Grolier's, and Ultimate Challenge are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.