Point2 Technologies Wins Achievement In Business Excellence (ABEX) Award

We are proud to announce that for the second time in less than three weeks, Point2 has been recognized for its world class management and policies. Here is a news release covering an Award our company received last Saturday.

Point2 President and Co-Founder Barry Willick

Point2 Staff Team Photo – Point2 representatives at ABEX (From left to right): Joel Loewen, Chris Dagenais, Linda Moola, Barry Willick, Marla Mayes, Roger Noujeim, Carey Tufts, Aidan Rogers

Saskatoon, SK and Vancouver, BC – Point2 Technologies was recognized by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce with the prestigious Achievement in Business Excellence (ABEX) Award at a dinner gala held last Saturday night at TCU Place in Saskatoon, SK. Nearly 700 government and business personalities attended this year’s high profile event, organized by the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce to celebrate the accomplishments of 52 exceptional businesses in the province of Saskatchewan.

The annual ABEX Awards program is the largest private sector business awards program in the province of Saskatchewan. Now in its 26th year, the ABEX Awards recognize outstanding Saskatchewan based businesses for excellence in a number of categories. 52 finalists from across the Province contended for the coveted Awards this year, across 14 different categories.

Point2 President and co-founder Barry Willick accepted the Award on behalf of Point2, for the Job Creation category. The Award recognizes Point2’s sustained growth between March 2008 and March 2009. During this period, Point2 increased its staff count by nearly 50 percent, in support of its rapidly expanding business.

“We dedicate this Award to our relentless, creative and hard working staff members who make Point2 what it is,” said Willick. “The ABEX Award is a great privilege we also owe to the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce and our local government for championing an aggressive growth strategy for Saskatchewan and for creating the right environment for business to thrive.”

Saul Klein, Point2’s Chief Executive Officer was out of the country and could not attend the ceremony.

Commenting from San Diego, Klein said: “We would like to thank and recognize the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce and its leadership for their constant efforts towards making Saskatchewan a business friendly province,” said Saul Klein, Chief Executive Officer, Point2 Technologies Inc. “We are honoured to have been selected for the ABEX Award this year and extend a special thanks to the Chamber of Commerce and the ABEX Awards Committee for organizing this valuable program.”

“We applaud the efforts of Point2. Their tremendous growth in a sector not typically associated with Saskatchewan shows the power of out-of-the-box thinking and innovation,” noted Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce CEO, Steve McLellan. “They are a great Saskatchewan success story and truly deserve this award.”

Point2’s ABEX accomplishment comes at the heels of the company’s selection to the “Top 20 Employers in Saskatchewan for 2010″ earlier this month, as part of a nationally recognized Awards program organized by Mediacorp Canada Inc.

More information about the ABEX Awards can be found at http://www.saskchamber.com/default.aspx?page=49.
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Direct Capital and Point2 Technologies Sign Agreement to Offer Financing Solutions on Point2 UsedIron.com

At Point2, we are continuously looking at ways to better serve our growing customer base. In doing so, we provide solutions that in turn, help equipment dealers to sell and purchase more equipment faster and at better margin. We are excited to be partnering with Direct Capital Corporation who will provide world class financing products to our customers looking for finance options on Point2’s UsedIron.com. Please find the full announcement below.

PORTSMOUTH, NH and SASKATOON, SK – October 21, 2009 – Direct Capital Corporation (“Direct Capital”), the 6th largest independent leasing and finance company in the United States, and Point2 Technologies (“Point2″), a leading provider of inventory management and online marketing software for the heavy equipment and real estate industries today announced an agreement to offer Direct Capital financing solutions on Point2’s heavy equipment online marketplace, http://UsedIron.com.

The deal will provide easier, more convenient access to capital to UsedIron.com’s more than 600,000 annual unique visitors, through Direct Capital’s creative leasing and financing products.

Further details on the terms of deal were not disclosed.

“Direct Capital is pleased to support the heavy equipment industry with creative financing when access to funding continues to be one of the toughest obstacles facing contractors today,” said Paul Ringuette, Vice President Sales, Direct Capital Corp. “By prominently positioning Direct Capital on one of the industry’s most highly trafficked, information rich equipment websites, we’re significantly enhancing our market presence while establishing a solid foothold from which we can extend our services to Point2’s dominant and growing user base.”

“Point2’s partnership with a world class, aggressive financing solution provider like Direct Capital brings critical service to assist our customers in building and growing their business,” said Barry Willick, President, Point2 Technologies. “With traffic on UsedIron consistently one of the highest in the industry, providing our users with convenient access to Direct Capital is yet another milestone towards making UsedIron by far the most preferred destination for used equipment online.”

UsedIron.com features over 33,000 heavy equipment listings and generates approximately 9 million page views each year.

About Direct Capital

Established in 1993, Direct Capital provides specialty finance solutions, including capital equipment leasing, commercial loans, and merchant cash advances. Direct Capital markets its services through direct relationships with businesses and through partnerships with vendors, dealers, and manufacturers of capital equipment. Superb execution on its exceptional and unique direct service delivery model is the cornerstone of Direct Capital’s success in an increasingly commoditized financial services industry. The company has offices in New York, California, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Ohio, Iowa, and New Hampshire.

About Point2 Technologies

Point2 Technologies develops and markets web-based inventory management and online marketing software solutions for the real estate and heavy equipment industries.

Point2 also owns and operates the real estate consumer portal, Point2 Homes, (www.Point2Homes.com) and the used heavy equipment marketplace, UsedIron (www.UsedIron.com). More information can be found at www.Point2.com. For ongoing news about Point2, please visit www.point2.com/news.asp.

Point2 Technologies Named One of 20 Top Employers for 2010 in Saskatchewan

We are proud and equally humbled to see Point2 rank amongst some of the best companies in the province of Saskatchewan to work for. Please find the full announcement below. A complete list of the Top 20 Employers can also be found at: http://www.canadastop100.com/sk/.

Saskatoon, SK and Vancouver, BC – October 17, 2009 – Point2 Technologies Inc. (“Point2″) today announced that it has been selected as one of Saskatchewan’s Top Employers for 2010 by Mediacorp Canada Inc., featured today in the province of Saskatchewan”s two largest daily newspapers, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and the Regina Leader-Post.

“We are extremely honoured to be recognized as one of the top employers in the province of Saskatchewan,” said Saul Klein, Chief Executive Officer, Point2 Technologies Inc. “We share this privilege with every employee at Point2. Their input, dedication and relentless drive are what inspires and fuels our employee programs and benefits each so deserves.”

“An engaged and motivated workforce has always been one of Point2’s most important priorities, and we are committed to constantly improving how we do things,” said Barry Willick, President, Point2 Technologies Inc. “The Top Employer designation is a great reflection of our commitment to our employees, and mostly a reflection of employee feedback, participation and leadership on many of our creative programs.”

Now in its fifth year, Saskatchewan’s Top Employers (http://www.canadastop100.com/sk/) competition is an annual program that recognizes organizations that take a lead in offering exceptional places to work. The competition, which drew a record number of applications this year is organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers project.

“Point2 distinguished themselves in a very competitive field,” said Tony Meehan, Publisher of Canada’s Top 100 Employers.

Employers nominated for Saskatchewan’s Top Employers designation were graded on eight criteria, namely (1) Physical Workplace; (2) Work Atmosphere & Social; (3) Health, Financial & Family Benefits; (4) Vacation & Time Off; (5) Employee Communications; (6) Performance Management; (7) Training & Skills Development; and (8) Community Involvement.

Point2’s inclusion on Saskatchewan’s Top Employers for 2010 highlighted a number of central employee benefits, including i) company matched retirement savings plan contributions, ii) career development and training programs including on-going education subsidy, iii) comprehensive onsite health and fitness facilities, iv) new employee referral financial bonus rewards and, v) extended annual paid vacations starting with three weeks for new employees and increasing to five weeks based on years of service.

About Point2 Technologies Inc.

Point2 Technologies develops and markets web-based inventory management and online marketing software solutions for the real estate (www.Point2Agent.com) and heavy equipment industries (www.Point2Manager.com)

Point2 also owns and operates the real estate consumer portal, Point2 Homes (www.Point2Homes.com), and the used heavy equipment marketplace, UsedIron (www.UsedIron.com). More information can be found at www.Point2.com. For ongoing news about Point2, please visit www.point2.com/news.asp.

Point2 Technologies Boosts Photo Upload Capacity on UsedIron.com and Manager Platform to 36 Per Listing

As many of you know, Point2 is a world class technology company, not a heavy equipment seller. Simply put, we build web-based software that helps our dealers and advertisers sell more equipment faster, at better margin and more efficiently. We do this by listening to what our dealers tell us and they’ve been telling us that having more photos helps them to sell more equipment as it keeps their customers on their websites longer, viewing their equipment. And more importantly, that it keeps their customers coming back because of the more accurate, rich equipment information. Our statistics also correlate photo count with leads. This is exactly the reason why we have just increased our photo upload capacity to 36 per listing!

Our dealers asked for it, we delivered it.

Here is the full announcement, released today. I look forward to any feedback or questions.

Mark Fuller
Point2 Technologies’
Point2 Manager
UsedIron

Point2 Technologies Boosts Photo Upload Capacity on UsedIron.com and Manager Platform to 36 Per Listing

Upgrade Improves Consumer Experience Online – Positions
Equipment Dealers for Higher Visibility and Impact with Buyers.

Saskatoon, SK and Vancouver, BC, April 21, 2009 – Point2 Technologies (“Point2”) today announced system upgrades to its global equipment search portal, UsedIron (www.UsedIron.com) and to Point2 Manager (www.Point2Manager.com), the industry leading inventory management, sales and marketing software platform.

The release represents close to a five fold increase in photo upload capacity on both systems.

“Our data indicates that listings with more photos engage more prospects longer, and generate significantly more leads,” said Zach Scott, Chief Operating Officer, Point2 Technologies. “With the majority of buyers doing their research on the Internet for both machinery and dealers, we are enabling our clients to capitalize on evolving online consumer expectations, without much effort and at no added cost to them.”

According to the Wells Fargo Construction Industry Forecast 2009 report, 73 percent of contractors and 89 percent of equipment distributors use the Internet to locate hard to find items. 66 percent and 86 percent state that they use the Web to research and to locate suppliers, respectively.

“Online buyers are skipping listings with few or no photos, and spending more time on listings with more to look at, especially in the used equipment category,” added Scott. “The segment is expected to benefit from a significant surge in purchasing budgets this year. Vendors positioned to capture more online buyer interest will stand to benefit from the trend, and we’re pleased to be in a position to facilitate such as opportunity for our clients.”

Representing a 140 percent increase versus 2008, the number of contractors who plan to purchase used equipment in 2009 grew to 48 percent, up from only 20 percent last year, according to the Wells Fargo Report.

Taking the hassle out of the photo upload process, Point2 Manager users can automatically resize and upload multiple photos for posting on UsedIron and other online marketplaces, with Point2’s unique, patented PUF (Photo Upload Facility) technology.

With a single click of the mouse, users can now also produce and issue professional looking quotes and equipment brochures that feature up to 36 photos, for maximum impact.

How SCRUM Can Help Your Business

SCRUM is an advanced software development process that will help your business, albeit working its wonders from behind the scenes.

Technology innovation is what helps heavy equipment dealers around the world better manage equipment inventories and market their used machines effectively on the Internet. It allows dealer teams to access up to date product inventory, photos and detailed information on their Blackberry devices or other PDAs, essentially leaving a less equipped competitor in the dust.

Point2 just appointed Zach Scott to the position of CTO, which means more such innovation at an even faster pace can be expected by our customers.

And how does this directly affect you?

Software development lies at the heart of building and maintaining cutting edge technology, like Point2’s Manager Mobile. Scott has recently introduced to Point2 the SCRUM software development process, which promises just that.

We’d love to hear your questions or thoughts on how you are using technology in your dealership. And if you’d like an online demo of how dealers across North America are using Point2 Manager to streamline inventory management and enhance sales and marketing, drop us a note at mfuller @ point2 . com.

Trade In Headaches

Heavy Equipment dealers across the board are always looking at increasing productivity and profits, as the market is not helping much lately. It seems equipment trade-in assessments and valuations are turning into a real business pain. In talking to a few dealers over the past few weeks, many still have to suffer through duplicate data entry on their business system and website. Sales and admin teams each have their own way of capturing trade-in equipment condition information, stats and specs. I still can’t get over the fact that some sales people still write up trade-ins on a sheet of paper and haul it into admin to enter the information into the system. The assessment of the vehicle and hence its value / price is done purely based on experience and judgement. Often too, someone else then enters the machine data into the company’s website. Needless to say, data is inconsistent and the process is tedious and counterproductive at best.

Any real war stories related to vehicle/ equipment assessment you’d like to share? One dealer seems to have the issue sorted out, using simple technology [click here to read...] Keen to hear what others have done and what systems you are using.

Mark

T. Mark Fuller
Point2 Technologies Inc.
888.955.7900 ll 604.675.9393 X 226
mfuller @ point2 . com

How Important is Your Company Website?

What kind of emphasis and importance do you place on a website for your business? Your customers and prospective customers will get a distinct impression of your business from your online presence.  So what is your website telling people about your company?

 

Consider your website as your Online Store Front.  What does the customer-facing area of your business look like? Put that same level attention and effort into your website.  Your customers are going online more and more, and they expect you to be there. If you’re not, you can be sure that your competitors are.

 

Often I get the impression that a Website is not at the top of a dealer/contractor/business’ priority list, and I wonder why? I know the answer is that it doesn’t generate immediate gains and returned value.  However, if you think big picture and consider the long-term and potential increased business, it’s enormous! Those companies that have a well-designed, advanced website were industry leaders. Their site’s look great because they’ve taken time to mature and build content and stay with or even ahead of industry trends. 

 

So where do you begin? As you may have noticed, I like making things simple, easy tips or tricks that require a small effort but can have a huge impact.  I found the following articles very informative and straight-forward. 

 

This article describes the importance of a website to small and local business – they say “people expect it”: http://design.networksolutions.com/article-35.php.

 

And when considering the content of your site, this article give 7 items to keep in mind: http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Features-Of-A-High-Impact-Corporate-Website&id=477276

 

Finally, remember that you’re in business to build, sell equipment, source equipment, etc, not to do Web Design.  Save yourself a lot of time and headaches and leave it to the experts! Do you think a web designers would try to build their home themselves? Unlikely!

 

Good Selling!

 

Laura Watson

Commercial Manager

Point2 Technologies, Inc.

888.955.7900 North America

306.955.1855 International

lwatson @ point2.com

www.Point2.com

Simple is not easy

Building software and online solutions that are intuitive and extremely easy to use is NOT an easy feat.  At Point2 Technologies we strive for this in every piece of web-based software (also known as Software as a Service SaaS), and online marketplace we develop… we know our audience appreciates software and online applications that do not take a computer wizard to use.  We have dedicated “Usability Experts” that are trained in Human Computer Interaction (HCI).  These individuals demand a lot from our developers when it comes to ease-of-use.

On this note, our staff of 100 watched a TED talks video this week that really hit this fact home… New York Times technology columnist David Pogue talks about When it comes to tech, simplicity sells.  http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/7 .  It’s a playful and fun ~20 minute video that I think you’ll not only get a kick out of, but you will also learn something from.  And it may not just be tech that needs to focus on simple… maybe machine manufacturers can glean something from this ‘simple’ concept.

Chester

Regards,

Chester Hagen – chagen @ point2.com
Vice President Sales || Point2 Technologies Inc.
888.955.7900 toll free || 306.955.1855 outside N.A.
 

  Powering progressive dealers! – http://manager.point2.com/ 

UsedIron.com; over 29,000 machines for sale, thousands of buyers a day 

We create innovative technologies that empower our customers to lead their field  

Excavator or Backhoe?

Looks like Excavators wins!

Whether you have an entire fleet or a single unit to procure or dispose of; you’ll find it very interesting (and maybe a bit surprising) as to what are the highest volume search terms that bring 2,500+ visitors a day to Point2’s http://www.UsedIron.com/ marketplace.  With Google.com as the largest source of traffic to the site, here are the top 25 search terms that bring people to UsedIron.com:

1 – Mini Excavator

2 – Backhoe

3 – Tractors for sale

4 – Mini Excavators

5 – Excavator

6 – Skid Steer

7 – Timberjack

8 – Dozer

9 – Wheel loader

10 – Used excavators

11 – Used bobcat

12 – Used heavy equipment

13 – Excavators for sale

14 – Bobcat 753

15 – Backhoes for sale

16 – Grader

17 – Backhoe for sale

18 – Used Backhoes

19 – Heavy equipment for sale

20 – Water Trucks

21 – Heavy Equipment

22 – Loaders

23 – Backhoes

24 – Bobcat 773

25 – Skidder

So whether you sell (or are trying to source) Caterpillar machinery, John Deere equipment, Case / CNH, Komatsu, Volvo Construction, Hitachi, Bobcat or any other brand of heavy equipment, you know where to find it or sell it – http://www.UsedIron.com/

Please don’t hesitate to call or email us for more information on any of our solutions; for equipment dealers, manufacturers, rental companies, and contractors. 

Chester Hagen

Regards,

Chester Hagen – chagen @ point2.com
Vice President Sales || Point2 Technologies Inc.
888.955.7900 toll free || 306.955.1855 outside N.A.
 

 Powering progressive dealers! – http://manager.point2.com/ 

UsedIron.com; over 29,000 machines for sale, thousands of buyers a day 

We create innovative technologies that empower our customers to lead their field  

Friday, Jan 5th – Happy New Year – www.Point2inVegas.com

Hi, this is Eve from Customer Support.  Check out www.Point2inVegas.com - 2007 is getting into full swing and there are lots of exciting happenings on the horizon.  One important occasion will be the Point2 sales team at AED 2007 in Las Vegas January 16-18.  If anyone from your dealership is attending, have them stop by BOOTH 610 and say hello to Ches, Laura and Mark.  They will be showing attendees all the great marketing (quotes & brochures) and inventory management (reports & Largo) tools available through Manager.  These are the same tools available to our current customers for their NEW, USED & RENTAL inventory.

We, at Point2, look forward to working with you in 2007 and please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information on our tools, training or to RSVP one of our morning information seminars at the AED.

Eve Marshall, Point2 Customer Support eve @ point2.com 888-955-7900 / 306-955-1855