Capital One Debuts Supercharged ‘Business Card’ for Car Dealers

It resembles a business card, and its contents do include conventional information such as a car dealership salesperson’s name and contact information.

But the new Muse tap-to-scan card offered to dealerships by lender Capital One packs a digital marketing punch.

It benefits both salespeople and their prospects, Sanjiv Yajnik, president of Capital One’s Auto Finance unit, tells WardsAuto. “No product works if it doesn’t work for customers.”

Here’s how Muse works:

Dealerships distribute the cards to as many staffers as they want to. Each card is employee-specific, encrypted, and dealership branded.

The dealership employee taps the Muse card on the customer’s smartphone with permission.

Then things get started.

The customer is directed to a landing page with all the salesperson’s contact information, pre-qualification loan options and inventory. The customer can drill down for detailed information about a vehicle of interest.

The system also matches the shopper to the salesperson in the customer-relationship management system, so there are no staff disputes as to whose customer it is.

“All data is captured,” Yajnik says, adding that Muse is part of the Capital One Navigator Platform into which the company has invested about $1 billion.

Early dealer adopters, such as Dallas Lease Returns President Kris Gaerlan, are impressed. He distributes the card to every employee.

“We quickly thought, ‘This is something we can use,’” he tells WardsAuto. “It was easy to get buy-in from the team. It enables every employee at the dealership. The staff can promote themselves. And more important to me, they can promote the dealership.”

Muse offers “a cool factor,” but that’s not the point, Gaerlan says. “Cool is nice, but we’re here to make money.”

In the first 60 days of using it, 300 of his customers took the Muse tap on their phones, he says. Closing sales rates increased 12%. 

If the tap-to-scan occurs on the showroom floor and customers delve into it, what do salespeople do? Stand around with their hands in their pockets?

Heck no, Yajnik says..

“The salesperson has an incredibly important role,” he says. “They are still answering questions, doing walkarounds and handling test drives.

“It’s not all online. All customers want help. They want to do their research but they also want someone to answer their questions.”

Yajnik calls it a “digi-cal experience,” a blend of digital and physical. “They work together. Technology alone can make people’s heads spin.”

He touts Muse’s loan-qualifying function: “People can get qualified right up front. The F&I manager will be looking at the same information they are. They’re getting exactly what they are shopping for.”

The system does not preclude consumers from shopping for financing with another lender, Yajnik says. “The F&I manager can put it out and see what comes back. There’s access to other lenders.”

He adds: “I’m not trying to grab all car loans. If the financing we’re offering makes sense, I should get the loan. If it doesn’t, I shouldn’t.” 

He also envisions dealership people using Muse when they meet prospects away from the store.

For instance, he says, if a dealership person is at a restaurant with an acquaintance who says he or she is interested in buying a vehicle for one of their children, out comes the Muse card.