Advanced Business Metrics

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CFO and VP of east coast operations of Mission Financial Services. Our roots go back to the early 1950s when we offered customers loans to purchase used tires for commercial trucks. Throughout our run, we have financed everything from satellites to RV’s and mobile homes and automobiles. Today, we are nearly entirely an operation that helps sub-prime owner/operators purchase used, class eight motor vehicles.

What challenge were you trying to address with Advanced Business Metrics?

We’ve always had an old-school marketing approach in which we send our representatives to dealerships that sell class eight motor vehicles. The finance managers there send us applications from customers that we can then provide financing to. We’ve used this approach for decades and decades, but around nine years ago we got more involved in online marketing and web app protocols. This allowed us to receive applications directly from owners/operators.

We had an advertisement company in our industry design and host our website but the process was cumbersome. They also didn’t provide deep-enough SEO work for us to springboard off of the application we were seeking online. We only saw two or three applications per month with them so we decided to hire a company to redo our website, and that company put us in touch with Advanced Business Metrics.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve done a combination of work, although we started out with just organic search and Google Analytics. About three years ago we expanded the services we were receiving by expanding our SEO matrix. They helped us to redesign portions of the website to make it more attractive.

They were also able to pull old and previous paid customers and start email campaigns to stay in constant contact with them, which drove up our star ratings online and our number of positive reviews. Over our four or five officers we have an average star rating of 4.2, and that’s up from a low rating only a year and a half ago.

Beyond having customers post reviews on Google and other platforms, we received reviews we could publish on our website. Those were extremely helpful in the first couple of months working with the expanded format. That pushed us from 40-50 applications per month to 150 applications per month.

Along with that, we were able to reorganize and rebuild the online applications with SEO. They worked hand-in-hand with our team members in doing that. Moving through an internet protocol that identified where the application was failing. Before these changes, we had a completed application rate of 35% and now we’re up to 85%. Additionally, we were able to redirect how customers filled out the application to up our acceptance rate from 35% to 54%.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Jason (Senior Data Analyst), Vince (President), and Hannah (Digital Marketing Account Manager). Jason works on the backend and the deep analytics, as well as our web development support. Hannah is focused on creating our blog. Over the last 4-5 months, she’s become an expert in the trucking world, which they had no knowledge of before. Our blogs are not only useful in bringing in business but also in raising our profile so that other companies want to partner with us.

How did you come to work with Advanced Business Metrics?

At first, they were a recommendation from our web design company three years ago. We interviewed multiple other companies but what Vincent and his team put out, in terms of providing us with services, far outmatched any of their competitors. Their ideas to expand our web presence, as well as their low monthly cost, pushed us to choose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $5,600 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2018.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve absolutely expanded our ability to reach customers on an ongoing basis. They are also able to track all of our print advertisements and let us know whether they’re bringing positive results to our number of applications and closed deals.

Through their work, we’ve also seen that we’re able to attract applications from across the nation, which helps us drive and direct our own internal marketing mechanisms. Right now, we’re receiving applications from approximately 38 states. This is a much higher number than we had before.

How did Advanced Business Metrics perform from a project management standpoint?

I would give them a high rank in that aspect. We have a monthly meeting to set expectations, and they deliver on whatever we ask. In the next meeting, we work on and tweak those things. Our communication is great. We talk via phone calls, online meetings, and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to communicate technical terms so someone who isn’t an expert in their field can understand is amazing. Most importantly, however, is that we’re able to attract and track business through their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep open communications about your expectations. That way, Vincent and their team can meet and offer advice on how you can expand them.