By Benchmarking the Automotive Industry: IMED Mobility Stirred and Advanced the Mobility Industry

Aug. 20, 2010 - PRLog -- Tea, SD – In 2005, using the Internet was a way of life for most people. Emailing started
replacing phone calls and words like “Google” and “Wikipedia” became part of our
vocabulary. The automotive industry embraced the Internet instead of fighting it and
turned Internet shoppers into buying customers with meticulous follow through.
Consumers were becoming savvy and wanted real time answers vs. having to wait for
someone to return their calls or respond to an email after they get in the office from the
weekend. The mobility industry was a different story during this period that was until
Bob Lundin entered the picture.

Before eBay and cars.com, there weren’t too many places online to shop for products,
outside of corporate websites. While working in the automotive industry for 15 years,
Bob managed car dealerships meticulously and methodically. With a detailed
procedure for follow up with customers, he was successful and built a name for himself.
In 1998, the challenge to sell 100 Para-transit vans came his way. Bob decided to put
the vans on Yahoo classifieds and within 30 days all were sold. Sensing there was
unlimited opportunity, Bob convinced the ownership to allow him to run a division
focused on selling specialty vehicles nationwide over the internet. Over time, he
developed this skill into a precise and profitable business practice.

In 2003, he broke off on his own and established a mobility equipment dealership in
Sioux Falls, SD. Here he was able to avoid the politics of a major city and focus his full
time effort on helping the physically challenged gain their freedom and independence.
His internet model burgeoned out of Sioux Falls as well as his “brick and mortar”
operation which focused on consumers in the surrounding area. Mobility Sales quickly
became a recognized name in the mobility industry, buying and selling over 50 handicap
vans in their first full year.

Over the next several years, selling wheelchair accessible vans over the internet became
a booming enterprise and companies like Mobility Sales were there to mop up this
growth. “We grew really fast from 2003-2007. We captured a lot of growth through
internet sales but a lot of people don’t realize how competitive we became in our home
market of Sioux Falls.” says Bob Lundin. During this period, Mobility Sales applied best
practice from the internet to the mobility equipment industry. These practices include
ranking #1, #2, or #3 in organic rankings on key search sites like Google and Yahoo,
following up with prospective customers within four hours, and methodically following
up with customers in all phases of the buying and ownership cycle.


“Brick and mortar” dealers comprise 85% of all wheelchair accessible van sales
and have aggressively adopted the internet into their selling model. Playing catch up to
companies like Mobility Sales was a lot easier because in 2008, Bob Lundin made an
agreement with VMI, a leading seller of wheelchair accessible vans, and the “brick and
mortar” dealers to cooperate with them on a comprehensive internet strategy named
the Internet Marketing Program. “It only made sense to fuse the two models.” Says
Lundin, “The customer is going to shop over the internet but it is impossible for an
internet seller to replicate the value add of a local mobility equipment dealer. The
customization, delivery, training and service following the sale are part of the value
proposition a customer receives by doing business with their local mobility equipment
dealer. For this reason, IMP has become a success story.”

The creation of the Internet Marketing Program and a system to govern it rapidly
developed and within six months customers began seeing the benefits. The parties that
formed this agreement began to see a high return on investment in one year. Today,
the “brick and mortar” dealer boasts nearly $20,000,000 in sales annual directly
attributed to this program according to input recorded on the Dealer Dashboard, a
control, monitoring and reporting web-site offered to all members.

Today, Bob owns and operates two mobility equipment dealerships, now under the
name of IMED. His second store is in Roseville, MN and his run by his life-long friend
Ron Iverson. Along with managing the internet strategy for the Internet Marketing
Program, Bob has also formed IMED Consulting an internet consulting firm which
consults mobility equipment dealers in their internet strategy.