Auteo Media Initiates Beta Trial for Contact Auto
31 August 2000
Auteo Media Initiates Beta Trial for Contact Auto
SEATTLE--Aug. 31, 2000--Auteo Media, Inc. (OTCBB:AUTM), a leading provider of point-of-purchase marketing and Internet-based services to the automotive industry, announced today that Harris Ford Dealership of Lynnwood, Washington has begun beta testing Contact Auto.
Contact Auto is a wireless capable, browser based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system designed specifically for the automotive dealer industry.
Most notably, Contact Auto interfaces with cell phones. Auteo Media has partnered with AT&T Wireless in such a way that Contact Auto users will be able to receive and respond to Internet e-mail leads and search their dealership inventory right over an AT&T PocketNet phone using AT&T's digital PocketNet service. Internet car shoppers will typically send out many inquiries through various popular auto locator web sites, such as autoloco.com, in order to find the best deal on the car of their choice. Statistics show that the auto dealership with the quickest reply will usually get the customer. Immediacy in the response to a new Internet e-mail lead is critical. By using Contact Auto, a sales executive who is away from their computer or the dealership lot can pull-up the lead and respond directly to it with their cell phone, sending the customer back a response within minutes or seconds rather than the hours or days it will often take.
Included in Contact Auto are both a Calendar and a To Do Function, enabling automotive sales executives to manage their current customers and growing number of incoming e-mail leads more effectively. Walk-in and phone-in customers can be added directly into the system, and appointments can be immediately scheduled in the Calendar.
Security is a major issue with Internet e-mail leads, as dealerships want to insure that their leads will not be misused in any way. Contact Auto provides security by maintaining all leads and customer information on an in-house secure server. A dealership will own all of their leads in Contact Auto, as well as all of the current customer information residing in their account. Auteo Media guarantees that a dealership's leads and contacts will never be sold or distributed to anybody for any reason whatsoever.
"By designing Contact Auto from the ground up to ensure that its functionality is exactly what auto dealerships are looking for, we've included many distinct features, each one contributing in its own way to helping sales executives close more sales," said, Mark Silverman, Business Manager, Wireless / Contact Management for Auteo Media, Inc. Providing busy auto dealership executives with the ability to manage all incoming internet email leads is our primary focus, but by including personal management functionality and cellular phone compatibility, Contact Auto provides the extra edge needed to compete in the growing online auto sales industry.