Len Short, Lotlinx CEO: “Our mission is to empower dealers with data and technology to give them the best possible market advantage on every vehicle transaction.”

With decades of automotive experience between them, Lotlinx’s Founders Len Short, Robert Vucic and Jason Knight understand the problems dealers face. With too many layers wedged between dealers and shoppers, they aim to give dealers more control. At the time of Lotlinx’s founding, the technology dealers needed to connect with customers and save themselves time and money didn’t exist. So, they set out to do something that hadn’t been done before—bring dealers directly to the right customers, unrestricted by channel. With that vision, Lotlinx was born.

Lotlinx machines use real-time data to continuously monitor hundreds of market factors that affect a vehicle’s journey on the lot. With the industry’s largest proprietary data set, Lotlinx tracks inventory levels, pricing, sales pace, demand, engagement, sell-down rate, markdown patterns, and even weather conditions. This allows the technology to identify potential risks and opportunities for each unique vehicle. Lotlinx’s technologies give dealers unparalleled visibility and control over risk management.

In conversation with Len Short, CEO of Lotlinx

Q. Can you explain your services in brief?

The Lotlinx precision retailing platform offers control over every part of the automotive retail process to maximize profits. Using predictive technology, we help dealers customize inventory, target marketing spend, and accurately price every vehicle. Lotlinx has built the industry’s largest and most complete custom network by analyzing over 5 million VINs (new, used, CPO) and over 100 million real-time buyer interactions per day. The artificial intelligence-powered, VIN-demand platform identifies and promotes specific vehicles that need marketing support and delivers VIN-specific buyers directly to the dealer’s VDP.

Lotlinx VMX

Lotlinx VMX is a powerful browser extension that empowers dealers with VIN-level insights and recommendations to take control of their marketing efforts. VMX flags potential risk VINs, enabling dealers to take immediate corrective action. With access to Lotlinx’s proprietary data set of real-time market factors, VMX offers the industry’s largest proprietary market factor database from any desktop for free. This allows dealers to make data-driven decisions to optimize their inventory and maximize profitability.

Lotlinx Select

Lotlinx Select is an advanced interactive platform that gives dealers complete control over their inventory challenges. With Select, dealers can easily identify potential risks such as aging, pricing, and competition, and execute VIN-specific inventory strategies to correct them. The platform is completely customizable to meet the unique needs of any dealership, providing them with tailored solutions to optimize their inventory and increase profitability.

Lotlinx Select ensures that every vehicle on the lot is optimized for maximum profitability. The platform offers a suite of features such as real-time market analysis, inventory management, and targeted advertising. Additionally, it has the capability of identifying potential risks and executing VIN-specific inventory strategies to correct them.

Lotlinx Select has a significant impact on margins and helps dealers to take their business to the next level. It empowers dealers with the necessary tools to make data-driven decisions and stay ahead of market changes and trends, resulting in increased efficiency and profitability. Today, Lotlinx works with thousands of dealers and top automotive manufacturers.

Q. One of the biggest barriers to businesses when it comes to investing in any kind of technology is the cost. Tell us about the affordability of your solutions.

Lotlinx products are tailored to fit a dealer’s inventory strategy, so a dealer can spend as much or as little as their budget allows. The Lotlinx platform first identifies the holes in a dealer’s marketing efforts and then is able to ensure proper resource allocation for every unit, meaning every unit will not only sell successfully, but profitably.

Q. How do you monitor the performance of the solution? What guidance and direction did you find most effective to train individuals to use your solution?

It’s our goal to provide dealers with data and the tools to create actionable VIN-specific directives that ultimately reduce advertising waste and maximize margin potential. The ultimate measure of success for Lotlinx is if a car sells quickly and for the greatest gross possible for that unit.

Q. What does the future hold for your company and its customers? Are exciting things on the way or any new services ready to be launched?

A decade ago there were 40 million “auto buyer” digital impressions every month. Now, there are over 400 million. Dealer digital spending has more than doubled, yet sales are going the other way. It’s time for a different approach that starts with the VIN, and hands back control to the dealer - exactly what Lotlinx was created to do. It is technology built to align digital with the car business. Store owners need to pay close attention to the trends of today so they can lead their businesses successfully through the market of the future.

Lotlinx is committed to continuously innovating automotive retail and providing dealers with actionable data. We have quite a few upcoming product launches that will no doubt revolutionize the way dealers leverage data to make smarter business decisions. Most recently, the Lotlinx VMX free browser extension has become available to dealership employees nationwide via the Chrome and Safari app stores. VMX provides VIN-level recommendations on the perfect time to promote vehicles. Dealers receive recommendations based on a proprietary set of real-time market, pricing, and shopper engagement data - available right on their desktop.

Meet the leader behind the success of Lotlinx

Len Short co-founded Lotlinx in 2012 and currently serves as Chairman and CEO. Prior to founding Lotlinx, Len was the founding CMO of product (RED), the charitable organization created by Bono with support from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Len has also held numerous high-profile positions including Executive Vice President, Brand Marketing at AOL/Time Warner, and Chief Marketing Officer for Charles Schwab & Co. Len is a well-respected leader in the auto industry and has been recognized by the likes of the American Marketing Association, the Effie Awards, the DMA Echo Awards, the Francis Hatch Awards, and the International Advertising Festival at Cannes.

“It’s our goal to provide dealers with data and the tools to create actionable VIN-specific directives that ultimately reduce advertising waste and maximize margin potential”