Detroit Trading Company

Detroit Trading Company Makes Inc. List of America’s Fastest Growing Companies

Alison — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:14:15 +0000

Detroit Trading Company Ranks No. 941 on the 2011 Inc. 500|5000
with Three-Year Sales Growth of 323%

September 8th, 2011

New York, NY— Inc. magazine has ranked Detroit Trading Company NO. 941 on its fifth annual Inc. 500|5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy–America’s independent entrepreneurs. Detroit Trading Company joins Spirit Airlines, television maker Vizio, Honest Tea, Dunkin Donuts and Metrokane, makers of the Rabbit corkscrew, among other prominent brands featured on this year’s list.

In a stagnant economic environment, median growth rate of 2011 Inc. 500|5000 companies remains an impressive 94 percent. The companies on this year’s list report having created 350,000 jobs in the past three years, and aggregate revenue among the honorees reached $366 billion, up 14 percent from last year.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/5000 .

“Now, more than ever, we depend on Inc. 500|5000 companies to spur innovation, provide jobs, and drive the economy forward. Growth companies, not large corporations, are where the action in,” says Inc. magazine Editor Jane Berentson.

About Detroit Trading Company

Detroit Trading Company has been serving the automotive internet leads industry since 2004 under the premise of creating superior products and services based on the principles of efficiency, experience and integrity. They currently operate the largest auto-lead exchange in the nation.

Starting in 2008, Detroit Trading Company formed Detroit Trading Services (DTS) to provide automotive internet lead sales and marketing services to automotive retail dealerships and automotive manufacturers (OEMs).Since entering the retail space, DTS has signed more than 2,000 dealer customers and 24 OEM brands.In addition, DTS has partnered with data partners including R.L. Polk & Co. to provide a fresh perspective on improving lead quality and contactability within the industry.

DTCo. recently began offering inventory leads (in addition to their new car and auto-finance leads). This new program allows dealers and lead aggregators to advertise their used car inventory on hundreds of untapped consumer facing websites while lead sellers or generators are able to easily obtain this updated feed of close to one million vehicles through a single connection to the DT database.

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=231817

Detroit Trading Company Launches New Inventory Based Lead Program

Alison — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:31:35 +0000

http://www.autoremarketing.com/content/technology/detroit-trading-co-launches-inventory-listing-platform
August 24, 2011

Southfield, MI — Detroit Trading Co. recently revealed its new inventory advertising platform is now available to dealers.

The company noted the program aims to help dealers advertise both new and used vehicles on numerous automotive sites through a connection to its database.

“We are very excited about this opportunity for our dealer groups, many of which are focusing on advertising their used-car inventories as a result of increased market demand,” said Jeff Bonner, Detroit Trading Co.’s director of dealer sales.

“This is a huge win for dealers who want to get massive exposure of their inventory on a collection of some of the top automotive consumer facing sites, without the time and expense of creating and managing these relationships independently,” he added.

Here is how the program works. When a consumer submits their contact information through a dealer’s listing, the lead is then “delivered directly back to the dealer’s CRM within seconds,” according to the company.

Moreover, dealers also have the option to include a phone number on their listings, so the consumer can connect the dealership directly, if desired.

The Detroit Trading Co. went on to highlight that it standardizes the data of each vehicle listing, so dealers do not have to format inventory data beforehand.

Also, the company implements its lead data validation algorithm, which gauges each lead based on the accuracy and legitimacy of the consumer’s given contact information, among other consumer characteristics.

“The technology makes the process of posting inventory extremely simple. It requires minimal, if any, work on the dealer’s part to get it set up and starting to generate leads, and the management of inventory is handled by Detroit Trading,” company officials concluded.

Dealers interested in the program, please click here.

DT makes Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies

Alison — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:53:13 +0000

Inc. magazine ranks Detroit Trading Company number 941 on its list of the nation’s fastest-growing privately held companies in America.

DT creates inventory lead platform

Alison — Sun, 01 May 2011 17:52:09 +0000

In May 2011, DT releases an inventory lead platform which allows dealers and aggregators to stream their inventory to untapped advertising websites, while this single point connection technology also greatly simplifies the method in which the advertisers obtain the standardized feed.

An Early Adopter: A Q&A with Pete Bonner

Alison — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:51:21 +0000

http://www.metromodemedia.com/features/petebonner0177.aspx

September 2nd, 2010

The three guys behind Detroit Trading Company didn’t originally plan to create a family business. A few Internet start-ups later, however, it’s clear that success and kin go hand in hand.

Pete Bonner began working with Don and Jon Campbell in the mid-1990s on Stoneage.com, one of the first Internet classified sites for automobiles. About that time, Pete also began dating Don’s daughter (and Jon’s sister) Becky, which eventually led to marriage. It wasn’t long after that the trio launched a second automotive Internet start-up called Car.com. After selling that enterprise, they founded what is now Detroit Trading Company, a rising star on the local start-up scene. Serial entrepreneurship rooted in Internet automotive firms has become the family’s stock and trade.

Detroit Trading Company, based in Southfield, gathers, analyzes, and organizes Internet sales leads for car dealers. It started out selling them on an open exchange until the financial meltdown forced the company to change up its business model. Today it sells its best leads with the best credit scores to dealer groups who sign on with the service. This has allowed the 6-year-old firm to grow to 13 employees, with plans to hire more. And Bonner and his in-laws are here to stay, preferring Metro Detroit to Silicon Valley’s start-up kingdom.

The trio, all born and raised here, first decided to build their Internet company in Metro Detroit because no one else was doing it in the mid-90s. This gave them nearly unfettered access to a great lake of automotive greenbacks from the Big 3 and nearly every dealership group. Metro Detroit proved central to everything they needed to do business, providing them with the high quality of life they desired, along with an eager customer base.

“If we would have started in Silicon Valley, we would have had to have opened an office here at one point or another,” says Bonner, senior vice president of Detroit Trading Company.

Bonner agreed to answer a number of questions about starting, growing, and selling a business in Metro Detroit and the general business climate here.

Your company’s business model is pretty innovative, very much in sync with southeast Michigan’s new economy goals. It’s something people would expect to find in downtown Ann Arbor or Royal Oak. How did you end up in a Southfield office tower?

We founded the Detroit Trading Company in April of 2004, and in an effort to keep our overhead low while starting out, we began renting modest quarters in a Royal Oak, Michigan office building. By early 2007, we were outgrowing our space and began searching for a larger office. It turned out that our current location in Southfield’s 2000 Town Center allowed us to really establish our brand and connect with many high profile companies.

The local auto industry is going through a painful evolution right now. The old models are being revised and even thrown out. How do you think things will look in, say, 10 years? How will your company have to accommodate that change?

We can’t really say for sure what things will look like in 10 years for the automotive industry. The business is constantly changing and adapting, and so are we. Right now, more and more consumers are turning to the Internet to conduct research and make decisions about their next vehicle purchase. As a result, companies are continually creating new spaces online which accommodate these actions. It is therefore necessary that we also keep up with these changes and determine where and how these individuals are looking for information – so we can provide our buyers with these leads. In the future, the way in which individuals acquire the information they are looking for may change, but the need for this information will not.

We recently went through a change that speaks to our ability to adapt. We began our company based on a business model that minimized account receivable risk by charging a fee for putting a buyer and seller together. This model led to the development of a lead exchange, called the Detroit Trading Exchange (DTX). By the middle of 2009, we had sufficient capital to actually buy leads and take on this account receivable risk. This step helped us provide better services as circumstances and finances allowed us to do so. Another one of our fundamental, unchanging objectives is to have a strong balance sheet with enough capital to fund our operations without any debt.

Your company has benefited from some angel investing to help with its growth, which is no easy feat in Michigan. How were you able to make this happen and what advice would you give entrepreneurs who are trying to land their own seed capital?

It helps to know the people from whom you wish to raise money. In our case, we knew our investors very well. As important as their investments are to us, we wanted to also learn from their many experiences and backgrounds, which could help us modify and build our own methods. Consequently, we think it’s very important to be selective in whom one seeks money from.

Entrepreneurs must also effectively sell themselves to investors by showing investors that they are hardworking and have the determination to make the business grow. Don Campbell, our president, was the founder of Campbell Services, Inc., a calendar software company. The success of this company was due largely in part to the creation of a compelling software product called OnTime. Sales increased from $1 million in 1990, the year OnTime was introduced, to over $10 million in 1996, when the company was sold for $15 million. This particular company successfully raised capital based on a belief in Don’s ideas, persistence, and determination.

Detroit Trading Company tweaked its business model when the recession hit. Can you explain what those changes were and how you made your decisions?

We certainly cut expenses wherever we could, but that was not enough. We went from being a facilitator of lead trading to an entity that actually bought and sold leads. Most importantly, we developed innovative techniques for buying high quality leads and sought out new buyers who could largely benefit from these pre-screened leads, including dealerships and manufacturers. Sales in 2009 were essentially flat, but our growth in 2010 has been the best in our company’s history.

As the credit market improves, could your business go back to its original model or is a return to normalcy in the market too far down the road to consider this option?
Our new business model is working very well for us, but we will always look for opportunities to exploit previously developed technology.

What’s one bad habit you would like to see Metro Detroit’s business community break?

Manufacturers in Detroit for a long, long time, in regards to Internet and interactive [technologies], were very close minded. They thought they had all the answers. They came around.

What’s one good habit you would like to see Metro Detroit’s business community take on or what is one that it already has but isn’t generally recognized?

Good, old-fashioned hard work.

You’re a father of three children. What would you like to see done to help attract and convince them and their peers that Metro Detroit is a place where they should sink their roots?

By my own example, I will attempt to show them that their father was successful at business here.

Jon Zemke is the News Editor for Metromode. He conducted and condensed this interview over email and the phone. His last story was “The Art Of Business: A Q&A with Jesse Cory”.

All Photos by Dave Lewinski

DTS partners with R.L. Polk

Alison — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:50:41 +0000

DTS partners with automotive intelligence experts R.L. Polk and Targus in order to greatly improve the quality of leads that are sold. Leads are now scientifically analyzed and then given a score based on the likelihood that they will result in a sale. Our staff works with buyers to determine which lead mix will offer . . . → Read More: DTS partners with R.L. Polk

Detroit Trading Opens Finance Lead Platform for Dealers

Alison — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:12:38 +0000

http://www.subprimenews.com/spn/news/story.html?id=933
February 12, 2009

Southfield, MI — After primarily focusing on wholesale lead aggregators, Detroit Trading Co. announced the expansion of its offerings. The company has opened an auto finance lead purchasing platform for both franchised and independent dealers.

Via its Detroit Trading Services arm, the company will now be providing dealers access to this new platform.

“For the last five years we have been building a world-class lead trading platform where wholesale buyers and sellers are able to connect to one another in the most efficient way,” explained Pete Bonner, co-founder and senior vice president of Detroit Trading.

“Our plan with DT Services is to provide the dealers with the same type of system for their own lead purchasing, availing them to unprecedented control and pricing efficiency,” he added.

Moreover he indicated, “With our DT Services Group, dealers will be able to see for themselves what leads are trading for in a given market and enter a bid to buy the leads accordingly. The efficiency and control the dealer has using our platform will become immediately evident.”

To validate all of the leads, the company has teamed up with eBureau.

For more information on the company, visit www.detroittrading.com.

R. L. Polk & Co. and Detroit Trading Company Introduce Premier Lead Exchange

Alison — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:18:41 +0000

August 20th, 2008

Southfield, MI – R. L. Polk & Co. and Detroit Trading Company today announced the establishment of the Premier Lead Exchange, an automotive buyer/seller exchange that enables new vehicle lead buyers an opportunity to buy the best leads in a market area and pay a price based on the lead’s likelihood to result in a new vehicle sale.

The Premier Lead Exchange combines the Detroit Trading Exchange ™ with R. L. Polk & Co.’s extremely predictive Internet lead scoring capabilities, to rank order Web-based sales leads from highest to lowest on a scale of 1 to 10. The leads scoring a ‘10’ are five times more likely to close as the leads scoring a ‘1’. The Detroit Trading Exchange was created by Detroit Trading Company to promote the efficient trading of automotive leads at market-driven prices.
With more than 85 percent of consumers using the Web to research their next vehicle purchase – and the majority of those consumers generating one or more Internet leads – the Premier Lead Exchange enables buyers to gain a significant competitive advantage by focusing on those leads that are predicted to close at a proportionally high rate.

“The Detroit Trading Company continues to provide the industry with innovative offerings to help optimize profit opportunities,” said Donald Campbell, Detroit Trading Company CEO. “Teaming up with R. L. Polk & Co. enables Internet lead buyers to leverage the Premier Lead Exchange to obtain high scoring, ready-to-close leads in their areas.”

“We are pleased to work with Detroit Trading Company to develop the Premier Lead Exchange,” said Andrew Price, Polk’s vice president of automotive retail solutions. “Combining the market-driven efficiency of the exchange with Polk’s advanced lead scoring capabilities provides the automotive lead marketplace with a truly remarkable lead purchasing innovation.”

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.

About Detroit Trading Exchange
Detroit Trading Company provides professional sales, acquisition and marketing services to companies that buy and sell Internet leads. Detroit Trading Company is the software developer of DT Agent™ and Detroit Trading Exchange™ which facilitates the buying and selling of Internet-generated leads. DTX™ was created by Detroit Trading Company to provide a robust market for trading Auto Finance Leads. The Exchange provides its participants with Uniform Rules of Trading, Dynamic Pricing and Liquidity. The goal of the Exchange is to make it easier for buyers and sellers to do business with each other by eliminating impediments to efficient trading. Detroit Trading Exchange™ can be reached on the web at www.detroittradingexchange.com.

Dealer services grow

Alison — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:47:13 +0000

In August of 2008, the Detroit Trading Services interface is created to provide sales and marketing services to automotive dealerships and OEMs. Since the inception of DTS, we have signed on over 2,500 dealerships and 25 OEMs who purchase new car and auto-finance leads from us daily.

Finance Express, Detroit Trading Company Form Alliance

Alison — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:14:26 +0000

http://www.subprimenews.com/spn/news/story.html?id=513
February 8th, 2008

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA — Finance Express and Detroit Trading Co., recently announced that they have entered into an alliance.

As part of the alliance, the companies said they will work together to create an exclusive private-label finance lead acquisition portal for independent used-car dealers that is accessible through the Finance Express system.

“Detroit Trading Co.’s footprint in the Internet lead business is remarkable,” said David Huber, president of Finance Express. “With all of the lenders we’ve added to our platform, we needed to find a way to get more customers to our dealers. What better way than by offering our dealers direct access to this private-labeled leads portal?

“We will offer a simple, streamlined, single entry point to literally hundreds of lead selling sources. It’s a winning combination for our dealers — more lenders, more leads, more sales, more profit,” he highlighted.

Pete Bonner, co-founder and senior vice president of the Detroit Trading Co., added, “The average credit profile of the nearly 300,000 consumer leads being traded through our Exchange each month is exactly the right fit for Finance Express and its dealer clients.

“This alliance is designed to increase sales and profitability for independent dealers while at the same time decreasing their marketing and customer acquisition costs. Independents have historically been left out of the Internet lead business in favor of franchised dealers. This partnership changes that dramatically,” he continued.

For more information, visit www.financeexpress.com or www.detroittradingexchange.com.