Haven't heard of Dealix? Maybe you have and just don't know it. Dealix is an impending new name for InvoiceDealers.com. Dealers weren't fond of the “Invoice” part, says cofounder and President Greg Baszucki. So the company is changing its name to Dealix.
The company is an Internet survivor. Three years ago it was headed to the Internet graveyard, down to its last $12,000. The story is familiar to victims of the dot-com bust. In this case, a projected $15 million from venture capitalists had not come through.
So the company's brain trust grappled for a way to stay in business. “We decided to work on improving the site process,” says Baszcucki. “Instead of showing the price first on the site, we decided to start asking for customer information first.”
It was one thing to deliver a slew of leads to dealers; something else to provide qualified leads. People who are “just shopping” aren't as willing to provide personal information as the ones ready to buy.
The company switched to the new format in June of 2000. “The next day, business doubled,” Baszucki remembers.
Its first profitable month came soon after. “Every good company has to go through a trial of fire,” Baszucki says. “Not getting that funding was the best thing that ever happened.”
