Photo courtesy EDC: Ringling College President Larry Thompson presents award to Dealers United CEO Pete Peterson.

A Sarasota company defining the way cars get sold online won recognition regionally for its innovative business model.

Dealers United, a company founded in 2012 to provide a resource for auto dealers to purchase products and services at competitive prices, won the Ringling College Innovation by Design Award last week at the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County’s annual meeting.

The honor came specifically for the design of “Facebook Inventory + VIN Lead Ads” that assists dealers in assessing shopper data. The company today boasts the greatest number of automotive success stories published by Facebook Business and has been deemed a “Top-Tier Facebook Partner,” one of only seven approved Facebook Marketplace Inventory Providers and a Top 10 Facebook Automotive Agency. The company has also been recognized as one of nine Oracle Elite Data Marketers.

“The innovation award is an amazing symbol of what our team has worked so hard to accomplish over the last 15 months,” says Pete Peterson, CEO of Dealers United. “We're blown away, truly, to be just over one year in and already receive such a massive acknowledgment, especially from who we consider to be some of the most influential in our county—with Ringling driving the creative side and EDC heading up growth and expansion—it's just an absolute honor.”

Dealers United co-founder Jesse Biter says the company’s success comes as much from assembling a good team. “It has taken a while to build a great team at DU but we're there," he says. "Everyone works well together, we have a great culture and we're making great strides forward."

Peterson says the award further validates how the company can compete with the major dealers. “It's incredibly meaningful for us to see how it's changed and improved our clients' sales processes,” he says. “It says a lot about our team as a whole. Obviously, we wouldn't be here without their hard work, their eagerness to combine just the right amounts of creativity and data analysis with technology, and then go so much further than that, always thinking, 'What MORE we can do?; How can we build it BETTER?' “

Besides the Innovation Award, the EDC also awarded The Observer Group CEO Matt Walsh with the Clyde Nixon Business Leadership Award and recognized their other clients, software company Codeware, digital marketing agency FloorForce and product manufacturer Swanky. Outgoing EDC Chair Rae Dowling of FPL turned over the reins to Benderson Development executive Larry Fineberg.

Photo courtesy EDC: Ringling College President Larry Thompson presents award to Dealers United CEO Pete Peterson.