Two leading automotive companies join to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing automotive industry
January 23, 2014 – Cincinnati, OH - OneCommand, the leading Customer Marketing and Loyalty Automation Platform™ for auto dealers, has merged with The Higher Gear Group, a leading provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software and services to the automotive industry. The partnership between OneCommand and The Higher Gear Group positions them for accelerated success in the automotive market.
OneCommand and The Higher Gear Group are both known for creating tools for automotive dealerships to enhance relationships with customers, improve workflow, and generate additional revenue. OneCommand offers a unified platform for delivering consistent messaging across multiple channels to drive response rates, lower marketing costs, and increase owner loyalty. The Higher Gear Group delivers an easy-to-use CRM suite which provides control and accountability throughout the purchasing cycle, increasing efficiency and profitability.
Jeff Hart, President and CEO at OneCommand, commented, “Over the last decade, we’ve seen that automotive dealers want to work smarter and not harder by allowing technology to supplement some of their daily tasks. By combining OneCommand and The Higher Gear Group’s solutions, we can help dealers continue to create efficiency, lower overall spend, and control a customer’s experience from inquiry to re-purchase.”
OneCommand’s brand will become the parent and industry-facing trademark for the two companies. The Higher Gear name will represent the product and be encompassed under OneCommand. All employees will be trained on the products and continue to provide industry-leading client support to their customers. Employees will maintain their current roles, selling and consulting with one comprehensive platform for the automotive market, which will extend the new company’s reach.
“The merger with OneCommand is a great opportunity for The Higher Gear Group and our customers. In addition to the most utilized CRM in the automotive space, our customers now have immediate access to OneCommand’s turn-key marketing products. Together, we can significantly increase the value delivered to our clients. By offering our dealers additional incremental value, we position ourselves for growth in the coming years,” noted by Robert Gruen, President and CEO at The Higher Gear Group.
“As a OneCommand investor, we are excited about the value of the merged companies and the positive impact they will have on the industry,” added Jeff Lieberman, Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners.
“The automotive industry has made a comeback and we are confident that the merger of OneCommand and The Higher Gear Group will create a more comprehensive solution to serve the needs of dealers,” said Neil Tuch, a Managing Director of H.I.G. Capital, the primary shareholder of The Higher Gear Group.
About OneCommand (www.onecommand.com)
OneCommand is the industry leader in deploying leading-edge communications technology proven to increase response rates, drive traffic, and lower marketing costs. OneCommand provides a Customer Marketing and Loyalty Automation Platform™, which is designed to drive customer loyalty in the auto industry. For more than a decade, OneCommand’s proven platform of voice, email, text, direct mail, and social communications has been delivering results that are targeted, turnkey, and trigger-based. Every day OneCommand delivers more than one million personalized messages on behalf of its 4,000 clients throughout North America. Every auto dealership is looking for an advantage. OneCommand is the successful dealer’s secret weapon for delivering consistent results in their Sales and Service Departments.
About The Higher Gear Group (www.highergear.com)
The Higher Gear Group is a leading provider of customer relationship solutions to the automotive industry and is known for the highest in-dealership CRM usage through the use of intuitive and user friendly interfaces. The Higher Gear Group provides internet lead management, showroom control, desking with rates and residuals, mobile applications including license scanning and VIN scanning, service marketing, integrated accountability, and real time phone tracking designed to maximize every sales opportunity. The Higher Gear Group’s easy-to-use CRM suite will streamline a dealership’s sales efficiency, customer prospecting and retention, customer relationship marketing, and trade cycle management, while at the same time increasing dealership profitability.