Auto Sales Software

A few days ago, I posted a blog on putting some creative ideas together with use of your Auto Dealer CRM software.  Of course, if you're using Autobase CRM, it's got you covered for those days when your creative juices are flowing in abundance. Here are a few ways Auto CRM from Autobase can be used to "sell outside the box" ... and, yes, these are shameless plugs!

• Autobase Digital Marketing – Juice up your email correspondence with the components of our of hi-powered, digital marketing suite. Turn your old in-store "Why Buy Here?" presentation into a video email that drives traffic!

• Auto Sales Software - Use our Sales Center tool to track customer hobbies and interests and market toward these special interest groups. Then, have a car show, cigar bar party, or golf outing!

•  Autobase Permission-based Marketing  - Put our Business Solutions to work in concert with Sales Center CRM to create a targeted newsletter (or other customized webad), and track the deliverability of your message through detailed built in reporting within your Autobase Sales Solution!

• Business Development – Utilize the Autobase Loyalty Center or Virtual BDC (outsourced) to leverage your Autobase CRM solution further for lead management, follow-up, and appointment setting!

by Zach Thompson

I’m a car guy, if it’s got an engine I’m instantly in love. I’m sure my gear head roots will be a common theme on many of my blog posts moving forward. Maybe it is because of my love for cars that I find myself actually sympathizing with several tons of metal, while I watch some of the YouTube videos of guzzlers having salt and sand pumped through their veins until their hearts seize into a hunk of scrap.

Aside from my emotional response to the activity of disabling these vehicles, the fact remains that Cash for Clunkers could pose a challenge to the Used Car business. After all, the act of disabling clunkers is in fact depleting the countries inventory of used cars (especially trucks and SUVs) by destroying perhaps millions of vehicles. Moving forward, many dealers may be in for a real treat, when attempting to match prospects to used vehicles.

Automotive CRM, namely the dealership sales software from Autobase, utilizes Want List functionality, an extremely valuable tool that assists auto dealerships to instantly and seamlessly match an existing prospect in their database, to a vehicle in the car dealers inventory list. Once Autobase CRM matches a prospect to a vehicle, an email will be dispatched to the salesperson notifying them of the pending match possibility. This Want List functionality is a built-in tool included in your Autobase sales solutions.

With imminent challenges in locating used car inventory, Auto Dealer Software and lead management can be used to keep track of deal opportunities.

by Zach Thompson

Every now and then I drop in and see what's going on with the guys at www.drivingsales.com.  They've built a pretty good resource for dealers, whether it's the networking, their newsletter articles, or the vendor ratings.

Vendor ratings can be a tricky animal.  There are those few dealership sales and service managers who can't give a bad review and perhaps a few more who couldn't give a good one if they tried -- these, of course, are the exceptions.  One the whole, though, you have to look for the trend, especially when higher numbers of reviews have been posted.

I am so pleased to watch the number of reviews grow on this site.  And though we have not yet broken down our dealership technology into automotive sales software, business development products, dealership lead management, marketing solutions, etc ... we have seen 58 auto dealer professionals reach out (48 more than the runner up!) to give their honest opinion about us.  And what have they said?

With 95% recommendation, the original CRM (since 1988) is still by far the one helping more dealers to drive more traffic, sell and service more vehicles, build more customer loyalty, and make more money.  Thanks, Autobase customers!  We appreciate the loud vote of confidence in the middle of the marketplace!

Wait a minute!  The last thing sales people in automotive retail want is "Big Brother" watching over their shoulder, so why in the world would they want a CRM solution at their desk?  It's for one, BIG (green) reason: accountability, at its logical end, means more money for the sales person!

Automotive CRM really shows its mettle when it comes to accountability.  In the absence of auto dealer CRM, the average sales person is likely to log less than half of the potential customers encountered in the course of any given day.  In its presence, he or she is not only held accountable for each current opportunity (floor, phone, Internet, renewals, etc.) but afforded the option of working additional leads that don't necessarily fall into the dealership's lap (referrals, etc.).

Sales is about relationships, but management knows that it is also a numbers game.  I need to remember that the principal or the GM has no greater interest than making me a better sales person.  It grows his business, and consequently, makes me more money as well. Because I'm held accountable to communicate with my customers and work each lead type according to proven processes, I'm going to sell more cars.

Selling more cars -- something most auto sales people actually WANT.

In the absence of true automotive CRM, the average dealership sales person is lucky to contact more than five previous customers per month who may be in the market for their next vehicle.  In its presence, the average sales person makes more than 25 renewal contacts each and every month.

As an auto dealership is first getting started with their CRM solution, sales people should learn why they don't need an audience of millions in order to be successful selling cars.  What they need is to learn how to start planning for the next sale right away.  The first moment after a customer takes delivery of a vehicle, the sales person should be pulling up the customer record for a number of reasons:

• entering details related to the sold unit, including the estimated, future trade date
  
• entering data related to other drivers and/or vehicles in the household
  
• entering personal info about the customer(s) that will prove useful in building rapport during future calls

Retention is driven by these three morsels of information.  With Auto CRM, it's very likely none of this information will ever be documented.  But with CRM software at work in the auto dealership, data is easily captured and accessed, resulting in unparalleled repeat business -- something auto sales people can't live without.

Whenever we begin working with auto dealers who have yet to step into the ring with customer relationship management for their dealership, we are almost always faced with the same concern: "Are my guys really going to use this thing?"

Our answer is, "With true automotive CRM, your sales people will WANT to use it!"

Look at it this way:  In the absence of a technology-based CRM solution, the average auto sales person is lucky to make 20 customer contacts during the course of the day.  We've all been there, and those results are obvious.  But with auto CRM at work, the average sales person makes 20+ conacts before arriving for work.

How?

Communication is no longer just a few calls and a thank you card here and there.  Rather, the CRM may now be sending dozens of letters and emails, video postcards and flash emails on behalf of the sales person day after day after day -- building rapport and/or generating new sales activity.

When sales automation is set up correctly with a strong auto dealer CRM, the dealership staff better be ready as the amount of incoming sales calls is sure to increase significantly.  If you have BDC reps fielding these calls, they need to be keenly aware of all current campaigns, and they need to have immediate access to all customer records.  A strong in-house business development solution, provided it is fully-integrated with your CRM, can manage this flawlessly.