Within the world of transportation exists the rare sub-world of niche specialty dealerships, car collectors and one-of-a-kind vehicles so rare and unique that they are worth millions and millions of dollars. In just a little over year, Speed Digital has stepped into this niche to help businesses in the car collector niche not just survive but thrive online. Speed Digital has experienced rapid growth in the past 18 months.
During the January 2017 Scottsdale Auction Week, Speed Digital hosted its annual Speed Soiree at The Stables Auto Group which was attended by over 300 specialty dealers and car collectors. Neil Pitt, president and CEO of Speed Digital, announced that in Q4 2016, Speed Digital signed it's 100th client and has since surpassed that number. Zach Roach, Global Sales Director, added "The managed inventory of all clients powered by Speed Digital surpasses $500 million."
If this community is anything, it is attentive to details! A builder may travel hundreds of miles to source the correct rivet for a restoration. However, they normally don't appreciate vehicles less than 20 years old - the minimum time it takes a commodity to either deteriorate into junk or escape the ravages of time.
Yet the age of widespread internet adoption is less than 20 years old. Widespread mobile web browsing and social media platforms such as Instagram are barely 5 years old. Guys that have a lifetime of expertise and patience needed to acquire, restore and sell a 1935 Cord 810 suddenly find themselves needing mobile-responsive websites and complicated integrations to publish to online classified sites. After all, consumer are online - over 80% of specialty vehicles are sold without the consumer ever physically touching the product.
As Pitt explained, "Many of our clients are smart guys but struggling because of the rapid pace of digital. They just do not have the same confidence they have with the rest of their business. Website designers are not typically car guys. If they are, they don't have the back-end software built exclusively for classic car dealers. Our system allows dealers to integrate fully with any classified site they can think of - even international ones. Our clients go from frustrated and behind the times to being up-to-date with the latest, cutting-edge cloud-based software and amazing mobile-responsive websites."
"We started out consumer focused, but really took off after pivoting more heavily toward the B2B side of this industry. It has been less than a year and half - just a little over a year in fact - and in just that short time, we have grown to over 100 clients. It seems like just yesterday we had a handful of B2B clients. Now, we get new calls everyday based on the quality of our work in the public domain. We have always had a very sophisticated product, but now the community trusts us too. In fact, when it came time for the Specialty Vehicle Dealers Association to pick a website vendor, they chose Speed Digital. When The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance needed to make changes to the application and pre-judging process, they chose Speed Digital. Is there a higher bar than the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance?
Pitt continued, "When you have a passion for what you do, it shows. Success comes naturally. We are a genuine group of car guys that love technology and helping others grow their businesses. Our software is the engine for dealers and auctions and equates to what's under the hood while our custom website designs have a best-of-show aesthetic appeal. Powered By Speed Digital is more than just a tagline it's a lifestyle!"
