Engage To Sell

What Engage To Sell does

Engage To Sell, LLC is a privately held Wisconsin-based company that operates a live chat and lead-generation service primarily for U.S. automotive dealerships and adjacent dealer verticals (motorcycle, power sports, marine, heavy equipment, and farm/ag), as well as service-based businesses. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Eau Claire, the company offers three core products: ETS Live Chat, a fully managed service in which trained ETS agents act as a virtual sales team engaging website visitors 24/7/365; ETS BDC, a Business Development Center service where staff work online leads end-to-end, including appointment setting and follow-up; and ETS Full Access, a self-service chat platform for in-house teams supporting web chat, SMS, and Facebook Messenger with CRM push. The technology stack centers on real-time multi-channel messaging, with a proprietary feature called Live Join™ that enables any team member to join or take over a live conversation across chat, text, or Facebook Messenger in real time.

The business model is subscription-based recurring revenue, with billing structured as a usage-based, pay-per-lead model charged monthly with no long-term contracts. The company sells direct to end customers through its website, phone sales, and self-serve demo scheduling, with a sales-led motion augmented by product-led trial and demo flows. Customer segments are organized by vertical, with six dealer sub-verticals and generic service-based businesses as primary targets, and marketing, sales, and customer service teams within those organizations as secondary buyer personas. Differentiators cited include the human-only, no-bot positioning, 24/7/365 agent coverage, Live Join™ as a category-exclusive handoff capability, and the performance-based pricing model. The company has no publicly disclosed revenue, no funding history, and operates with 11-50 employees from a single headquarters location.

Name

Engage To Sell

Legal name

Engage To Sell, LLC

Website

https://engagetosell.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Engage To Sell is a privately held Eau Claire, Wisconsin company that provides managed live chat, BDC, and self-service chat solutions, including its proprietary Live Join™ feature, primarily to U.S. automotive dealerships and adjacent dealer verticals on a pay-per-lead subscription basis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Live Chat Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Customer Experience (CX) & Voice of Customer (NPS/CSAT, Journey Research) (MPAAALAH)

Keywords

• Live chat services
• Managed chat agents
• Automotive lead generation
• Customer engagement platform
• Business development services

Headquarters

HQ city

Eau Claire

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Live Chat Managed Services: Fully-managed live chat services where trained ETS agents engage visitors, qualify leads, and set appointments on behalf of clients. Agents work 24/7/365 proactively driving qualified sales opportunities.
2. ETS Full Access Platform: Self-service chat platform for in-house sales and service teams to manage customers via web chat, text message, and FB Messenger. Can be integrated with existing CRM systems.
3. ETS BDC Services: Business Development Center services where ETS staff work online leads, engage customers, set appointments, and handle follow-ups to convert visitors into sales.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Engage To Sell provides fully-managed live chat services and a self-service chat platform (ETS Full Access) for automotive dealerships and service-based businesses. Trained ETS agents engage website visitors, qualify leads, set appointments, and push qualified opportunities to client sales teams 24/7/365. The company also runs a Business Development Center (ETS BDC) service that works online leads end-to-end, and licenses its proprietary Live Join™ real-time conversation-transfer technology to clients.

Product overview

Engage To Sell offers a portfolio of live chat solutions for car dealerships and service-based businesses. The core offerings include ETS Live Chat (managed service with trained live agents acting as a virtual sales team) and ETS BDC (business development center service handling lead management and appointment setting). ETS Full Access provides a self-service platform version for in-house teams. All solutions include the Live Join™ feature, enabling real-time team collaboration and conversation handoff. The company differentiates on human-powered, zero-bot service with no wait times.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ETS Full Access: A fully-featured chat platform that gives in-house sales or service team all the tools needed to chat with and manage customers 24/7/365.
• ETS Live Chat
• ETS BDC
• Live Join™

Products and services

• ETS Live Chat Fully-managed live chat service in which trained ETS agents act as a virtual sales team for the client. Agents greet website visitors, engage them in conversation, collect qualifying information, and push qualified leads directly to the client's sales team. Available 24/7/365 with proactive outreach at the moment of shopping intent.
• ETS BDC Business Development Center service in which trained ETS staff work online leads, engage customers in conversation, set appointments, and perform timely follow-ups to convert visitors into sales.
• ETS Full Access Self-service chat platform that gives an in-house sales or service team the tools to handle web chat, text message, and Facebook Messenger conversations via desktop or mobile, 24/7/365. Supports pushing chats into the client's existing CRM and is positioned as an out-of-the-box, no-special-software solution.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 300% increase in opportunities and leads for many customers

Named customers3 records

Segments10 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ActivEngage: ActivEngage provides managed live chat, BDC and texting services specifically to automotive dealerships, the same core use case and customer base as Engage To Sell. It is widely cited as ETS's most direct competitor in the dealer live-chat category.
• Gubagoo (Team Velocity): Gubagoo offers live chat, messaging and AI-driven dealer engagement products to auto dealerships, competing head-to-head with ETS on managed human chat and full-funnel conversation tools for the same dealership buyers.
• Podium: Podium is a customer interaction and messaging platform with a strong automotive dealership vertical, providing chat, reviews, texting and webchat lead capture. It overlaps with ETS's managed chat plus ETS Full Access capability set.
• CarNow: CarNow (dealTalk) provides real-time live chat, online retailing and engagement tools for auto dealers. It competes directly with ETS on dealership chat and BDC-style lead handling services.
• LiveChat: LiveChat (LiveChat Software) is a general-purpose live chat and helpdesk platform used by small and mid-size businesses, including dealerships. It is comparable to ETS's self-serve ETS Full Access offering rather than its fully managed human-agent service.

Emerging players

• BDC.ai: BDC.ai offers AI-driven business development center tools for dealerships, including automated chat and lead engagement. It is an emerging competitor to ETS's BDC service with overlapping dealer customers but a different technology approach.
• Tidio: Tidio provides AI-powered live chat and chatbot tools aimed at SMBs, including ecommerce and service businesses. It competes with ETS Full Access on affordable, easy-to-deploy chat for service-based businesses, though without ETS's human-agent managed service.

Broad incumbents

• Intercom: Intercom is a large customer messaging and AI agent platform that offers live chat, chatbots, and proactive messaging for B2B and B2C customers. It serves similar dealership-adjacent use cases (live chat, lead qualification) but at much broader scale and across many verticals.

Others

• VinSolutions (Reynolds & Reynolds): VinSolutions is a CRM and lead-management platform bundled into Reynolds & Reynolds' auto dealer software suite. It is adjacent to ETS because it competes for the same dealership software and lead-routing budgets, often integrating or displacing third-party chat and BDC tools.
• DealerSocket (Newton): DealerSocket/Dealer Center is a CRM and engagement platform for auto dealerships that competes for the same technology budget and includes chat, BDC and marketing automation features that overlap with ETS's product suite.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Engage To Sell