Revving up Web sales: Bill Marsh Auto selects SilkRoad's Web-cam technology to provide online shoppers with an in-person experience.(BEST PRACTICES FOR CUSTOMER-CENTRIC ORGANIZATIONS)

CRM Magazine, March, 2005 by Bailor, Coreen

During the depth of the dot-com collapse Bill Marsh Auto, northern Michigan's largest auto dealer, was in the midst of rebuilding its Web site. The dealership had thousands of customers within the Traverse City, MI, area, but looked to its Web site as a way to easily reach even more potential customers.

Yet according to marketing director Dean Rose, the company site at the time was ostensibly a Yellow Page ad. "We didn't even list our inventory," he says. A chance encounter at a sports event, however, introduced him to a solution that would eventually accelerate its ...