Curtis C. Nelson, CEO of Visible Customer, LLC, meets me on a gloomy afternoon in November, just a few days after auto sales data for October—called by analysts the “most catastrophic” to date in the history of the motor vehicle industry—are released.
General Motors has reported a decline of 45 percent from sales the previous October. Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, is down 23 percent, Ford, 30 percent, and Volvo, owned by Ford, a staggering 52 percent. Even Mercedes, long considered recession proof, is off 25 percent. Other brands have similarly dropped off a cliff: Porsche down 39 percent and Suzuki 47 percent.
In fact, sales have been plummeting for 12 months. Nationally, dealers moved only 838,156 cars and light trucks in October 2008, a decrease of 32 percent from October the year before. The industry has hit a 25-year low and Detroit is on its knees, asking Congress for a bailout.
Visible Customer is a Bloomington-based marketing company that works exclusively with automobile dealers. It’s been around since 2005, but went through a change last summer, when cofounder John Stapleton brought Nelson on as majority investor and CEO.
A large, square man, Nelson is not the slick mogul I had expected. Shoe-polish brown hair; a ruddy, lived-in face; a jaunty polka-dot tie. The only nod to his upbringing is a set of diamond-studded cuff links that he says he wears because his grandfather did. Nelson has been in the public eye since childhood, yet he appears nervous or perhaps just restless. He sits, jiggling one foot, drinking both water and iced tea.
Seated with him at the conference table in his office, I ask: “Why now? Why sink everything you have—your money, your reputation, your name, and your experience—into such a troubled industry?”
Nelson stares at me for a moment.
“Because I’m a firm believer that change brings opportunity.” As he speaks, I can see him relax, foot finally quiet. “When there’s change in the automotive industry, the top three market players shift position. Everything is up for grabs. We’re in that kind of environment now. For our product, there couldn’t be a better time to prove the value of our philosophy and why it works.”
Visible Customer’s product is a package of marketing capabilities and loyalty programs. The company has developed technology that can sort and use data from a dealership’s own database to put out e-mail blasts, direct mail, and recorded voice messages, reaching customers who are prime candidates for precisely the message being sent. It’s the opposite of the carpet bombing and boisterous advertising that auto marketers historically have done. Visible Customer customizes offers to small groups of people—as small as one person—who are the most likely to use and benefit from them.
