Visiting Dealer.com HQ is one of my favorite business trips to make. No, they don’t throw a bunch of “good times” and “perks” out there while you’re visiting (even though they aren’t too far away from some Canadian craziness). What they have is an amazing atmosphere and energy that is unsurpassed in any other workplace I’ve ever seen heard of.
You’ll find DDC HQ in the heart of Burlington, Vermont. This town can be considered quaint to people from the city, but once you get to know it, you’ll find a technologically savvy industry mixed with the fun of college life. Burlington is a young professional’s haven. And the scenery isn’t terrible!
Don’t wear a tie, don’t wear slacks, don’t even dress business casual – you’ll feel very out of place. The dress code matches the one your local gym probably sets and that could be due to the fact that they not only have a gym in the office, but a basketball court, ping pong table, tennis court, and locker room right in the office.
If you think this relaxed dress code and gymnasium hamper enthusiasm for getting the job done, then you’re grossly mistaken. The staff at Dealer.com is one of the most driven I know. Everyone there is gung-ho about advancing the company through better supporting their dealers.
Whether you are working in the dot Calm Cafe or developing new products, you definitely feel like a part of the team. Everyone is friendly and even though they’re all very busy, everyone is smiling. This is truly a company in its golden days.
Just like the people of Vermont, Dealer.com is very concerned about their environmental presence. The on-site cafe is stocked with organic food, the bathrooms use recycled papers and little water, the parking lot is filled with fuel-efficiency, and the building itself is a recycled converted old production facility that was abandoned over 15 years ago.
This was not my first visit to DDC HQ – I visited Dealer.com about a month after they moved into their current buliling. There was still a lot of construction happening and we were able to fit entire departments in Mark Bonfigli‘s office – yes, it is a roomy office, but it isn’t monstrous – Dealer.com was just a smaller company at that time.
I think I’ve spent enough time talking about DDC’s diggs and should mention why I was there:
- All new Checkered Flag.com
- Major SEO Push
- Some Video Changes
- More robust Live Chat solution
- Doing more with Specials
- Pushing DDC for more service & parts stuff
Those were the only items on my agenda, but we certainly went over a bit more than that:
- Total Control Dominator (TCD) future offerings
- Reporting meshing/changing
- ILM Interface tweaks
- How to handle social media
- Reducing the amount of pop-ups and click-throughs in DDC’s Control Center
Yep, we’re redoing Checkered Flag.com again. It will be a departure from your typical dealership website, but those items might not be so obvious right up front – you’ll have to wait and see those things for yourself. We’ve been doing a lot of studying into what other retail sites do and how people have been interacting with the current version of our site to make this “brash” change we’re about to launch. There is no set ETA other than “soon”.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask away here – or on the DealerRefresh Forums.
P.S. Thanks to everyone at Dealer.com for your hospitality. I had a great time. You are living in your glory days right now – enjoy it and congratulations!
