2008 Special Finance Hall of Fame Inductees

The last individual award winner to be inducted into the Special Finance Hall of Fame is John Palmer, CEO of Dealer Marketing Services (ProMax) and president of Quad Cities Suzuki. John Palmer not only had the foresight to understand the need to use technology to assist SF and sales managers to manage customer, inventory and finance company data, but the ability to create and develop the longest-standing and widely-used software system.

Palmer started as a car salesman in Chicago and worked his way through the dealership ranks. It was during this time that he recognized the need to work smarter and more efficiently in the finance office. To this end, in 1995, ProMax, the first DOS-based special finance software product, was released.

Palmer never stopped asking for feedback from dealers to improve his product. Today, he has taken it one step farther by putting his money where his mouth is to manage his own highly successful dealership in Davenport, Iowa. In 2006, Palmer chose to build a Suzuki franchise and implement the processes he had taught for years. Then later that year he added a second Suzuki dealership. Today, his Davenport dealership serves as a training ground for clients to prove that good processes and technology can work together to help dealers deliver more vehicles. The added bonus for his clients is that his own dealership tests all new aspects of product improvements before they’re released to customers