Chris Whitehead's ADM Profile page

Enter Name of Your Dealership, Business or Employer:

edealer.ca

Auto Industry Business Segment or Affiliation (check all that apply):

Dealership Supplier, OEM Supplier, Technology Professional, Dealership Solution Provider, OTHER

REQUIRED: Primary URL for YOUR Business Website or Blog (ie; www.CourtesyChev.com)

http://www.edealer.ca

OPTIONAL: Email Listing for ADM Members interested in doing business:

chris.whitehead@edealer.ca

REQUIRED: Your Business Phone Number for Members:

416-853-5626

If affiliated with a Dealer or OEM, please check franchise you are associated with:

-Not Applicable..., Not Applicable

This is a Professional Community, please describe YOUR Value Proposition... Why does anyone do business with you?

www.edealer.ca provides Digital Marketing Technology Solutions (DMTS) to the Automotive industry. DMTS is an advanced technology that incorporates a market leading approach to offer a complete solution to selling vehicles with leads generated by the internet. While many companies may offer a menu of products that may or may not contribute to a car dealer’s internet sales, only e-Dealer provides a complete solution.

e-Dealer‘s DMTS is used by the industry’s most successful car dealers, dealers who have achieved market leading status in internet car sales.

To achieve market leading status e-Dealer customers establish an online marketing strategy and are able monitor and manage its performance. Digital Marketing Technology Solutions contribute to the growth and success of a car dealer’s online campaigns by exercising its influence over the Search Engines on an ongoing basis. e-Dealer customers experience continued growth and success as DMTS PowerSERP increases the size and power of their portals.

What interesting insights can you contribute to the ADM Community? Are you PASSIONATE about anything? Tell us who you REALLY are!

My career has taken a strange path to say the least. I studied Civil Engineering Technology in College and upon my graduation in 1994 there weren't many jobs around in my field. I was able to stay busy through a series of contract positions that eventually led me to start my own consulting company, Northern Technical Solutions (NTS). Running NTS was a great experience for me and it opened up new opportunities along the way including forensic investigations. I was very fortunate to spend almost 3 years working for Barry Raftery who is one of the top forensic engineers anywhere. Our focus was on motor vehicle accident reconstruction, so I guess you could say this was my first foot into the door to follow my true passion...cars! Prior to working with Barry I found myself working on a contract for the Ministry of Natural Resources GPS mapping logging roads. This was a great gig, I would take my dog and my rifle and go out in the back woods mapping roads and hunting partridge..good times. Often I would come out of the woods with my truck completely covered in mud. This presented a new opportunity for me as there were no self-serve car washes in my City to clean the mud off of my truck. After spending a ton of time on research and going from bank to bank to get funding (and lots of help from Mom and Dad) I was finally in the position to build my first car wash. This was the first of what I thought I might eventually build into a chain of car washes. I built a second car wash and purchased a piece of property for what I hoped would be the third. But instead of building a car wash I decided to take a stab at the car business. I had a few friends in the business and I was always excited by their stories of buying cars and making deals. I did have a problem at this point, I really didn't know anything about the car business. So I partnered up with an experience car guy and we eventually opened a used car dealership on this small piece of property. Than another reality hit. This location was well away from where the traditional car dealerships were located in my city..no walk-in traffic. Enter the Internet. I spent a bunch of time learning how to utilize the Internet to generate business. Before long I was selling over 20 cars a month from leads generated through google adwords and Overture. These were truly Internet transactions were I never met the customers. I remember delivering two cars one day both 12 hours away from my city in opposite directions. It was around this time that I started the subprime site www.carloanscanada.com. To this day www.carloanscanada.com is still the number 1 sub prime lead generating site in Canada. When I first started this site it was only to generate leads for my own business. The volume of leads became to large for me to handle and I realized that I needed a better system for managing the leads. I spent weeks researching CRM systems and I couldn't find anything that worked well for what I needed. I decided to build something of my own. I hired a proffessor fro m the local University to build a CRM tool for me. It didn't take long for me to realize that I was starting a whole other business. I eventually sold my share of the dealership to my partner and pursued automotive marketing and technology on a full-time basis. I found a dealership group that was willing to both invest in my ideas and contribute as a proving ground for the technology I was building. In 2004 www.edealer.ca was officially created and we are now leaders in the Canadian market for Automotive Online Marketing. Our flagship software platform is Smart Dealer and is used by the most succesful dealerships and dealership groups in the country. We have introduced many firsts in Canada. The first ILM, the first booking tool (Smart Book), the first SEO friendly dealer websites, the first to introduce Social Influence Marketing programs just to name a few.

Enter URL of DEALER Website you recommend (ie; www.ParagonCars.com)

http://www.findmyride.ca

Enter URL of OEM site you recommend (ie; www.FordVehicles.com)

http://www.hyundaimomentum.com

Enter URL of any Social Media site you recommend (ie; www.PenskeCommunity.com)

http://www.mycaronline.ca

Enter URL of a Dealer INVENTORY ADVERTISING site you recommend (example; www.Cars.com)

http://www.kijiji.ca

Enter URL of your TWITTER profile, or one you recommend following (twitter.com/ADMcommunity)

http://www.carloanscanada.com

Enter URL of your Facebook Profile/Page, or one you recommend (ie; facebook.com/ADMcommunity)

http://www.canadianblackbook.com

Enter URL of your YouTube Channel, or one you recommend (youtube.com/AutoDigitalMarketing)

http://www.dailymotion.com

Check DEALER WEBSITE/MICROSITE PROVIDERS that you have direct experience with:

Not Applicable

Check all INTERNET LEAD PROVIDERS You have direct experience with:

Not Applicable

Select DEALER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DMS) You currently, or most frequently use:

Not Applicable

Select all Vehicle Inventory Management Solutions You Have Used:

Not Applicable