I was at Starbucks the other day and noticed that they didn’t write my name on my cup. I asked the employee if perhaps this was to protect my privacy? He then asked me my name and shouted out loud saying – “Venti White Chocolate Mocha for Bryan.” So much for the privacy and “so much” for the beverage… by now we should all know that Starbucks charges by the syllable.
Regarding customer privacy, I am proud to say that Autobase takes this very seriously. Not only does our auto dealer CRM software encrypt all personal customer information, we allow our dealers to auto-delete it after X number of days after use. Of course some users will say, “Hey, it is a pain to have to re-ask our customer for a social the next time they buy a car," but I am sure the customer would love to hear… “Mr. Customer, I know you have purchased from us in the past, but to protect your privacy, we don’t store your personal information permanently in our CRM system.”
Needless to say, the next time I go out and buy a new car from one of our Autobase dealers, I will not expect my sales rep to shout “one Venti White Mocha Mustang for Bryan!”
by Bryan Anderson, Autobase Founder
We have all heard, at one point in our lives that it takes, roughly, 3 weeks to form a good habit. Many have tried but it seems that a lot of us fail. For whatever reason it can be extremely difficult to form and keep a good habit, even in the average auto dealership. Whether you're the dealer, the GM, in sales management, or a sales consultant, it is simply our human nature or our fear of change that keep us from progressing with these habits. Whatever the reason, forming these habits is essential when mastering an automotive CRM solution.
In my next 6 blog posts I will talk about what the 6 habits are and why you need them.
#1 - Knowing the Know
#2 - Taking Ownership
#3 - Pro-Activity
#4 - Follow Through
#5 - Staying the Course
#6 - Don’t be a Fool, Stay in School
Stay tuned!
by Sheena Lee
Let's say you're an auto dealer (which you probably are, if you're reading this blog), and you have a customer database of 98,621 records. Of those customers, 23,849 have email addresses associated with their record.
Now, if your store used auto dealer CRM software to send one email per month to all of those 23,849 email address, it would save your dealership $10,493.56 in postage expense based on 44 cents a stamp...
To bring it home, multiply that by 12 and you'll see savings of $125,922.72 in one year!
Hey, we realize a dealership may not send an email to every email address each month (and probably shouldn't!) but the importance of collecting email addresses is overwhelming.
Know what your email capture rate is?
by Dave Shelton
Day after day, sales meeting after sales meeting -- you bring out the reports! Who is not making their calls, not capturing email addresses, not updating! It is the same agenda over and over and nothing ever changes. So what do you do? I would hope you'd contact your Autobase Account Manager!
The automotive industry by nature has always been plagued with employee turnover. New employees come on board, and they are instructed to sit with a more seasoned dealership sales rep, and are “shown” Autobase CRM. Enter a customer, make your calls, get an email address, so on and so forth. Your staff new and old needs to become excited about using what's available to him or her in the auto dealer CRM software that over 35,000 people use every day to sell more cars!
The employee who works for a store using Autobase CRM has such an advantage above the competition because of the CRM at their fingertips. They are given a virtual personal assistant to use, and guess what it is free, just for being an employee in your dealership!
Have your Account Manager come in and sit with your employees to open their eyes to the amazing tool they have. Autobase is an amazing opportunity to endless monetary rewards for those who choose to utilize it to the fullest extent.
by Donna McCarthy
I once sat in an auto dealer's office. He felt like his auto dealership was benefitting from only part of the automotive CRM that they were using, but felt badly about the fact that he was only using 50% of the product’s capability by his estimate.
I could see that it really bothered him and I also felt that he wasn’t satisfied with my level of commiseration. Looking around his office, I noticed that he was obviously a pro football fan and specifically, a Packer Backer. I asked him if he ever saw a typical playbook from either college or professional football. He hadn’t so we moved to a hypothetical and asked if he had any idea how large one of these might be? He assumed correctly that they are quite large and contain hundreds of different plays for different situations. I asked if he had any idea how many of those plays would be run in any given game? The answer to that is 63 per side so allowing for repeats, a team may use 42 plays from a playbook that contains 200 or more plays. That seemed to get the dealer’s attention.
The next step was to get into that Green and Gold Packer fanaticism and use it to point something out. I asked if he recalled the story that Vince Lombardi, while coaching the Packers was said to only have about 30 plays in his entire playbook. His teams would practice those plays over and over and over again until they approached perfection in each play’s execution. He (the auto dealer) immediately made the connection that it didn’t matter if you used all of your capability or just some of it, the important thing was that you were very proficient in using the parts that you did.
And so it is with your auto dealer CRM software. Over the years, Autobase has offered many levels of functionality. So much so that it shouldn't surprise you that no one auto dealer uses every part of the system. Most start with a basic level of capability and over time, grow into those parts of the product that fit their dealership culture. Just as with a coach’s playbook, the dealer will grow into his facility with his Autobase playbook and his utilization of the capabilities will steadily increase over time. Run the 30 Autobase plays you know to perfection and you will be way ahead of the competition.
by John Champeau
Every day of every week, among my other assignments, I make the initial response to all marketing inquiries and also handle the chat room on our web site. As such, I am in a unique position to assess the source of all requests for information, demonstrations or other such activities. It doesn’t take long to determine what the single most popular source of potential business is. It is in fact a group that I call, "The Autobase Alumni."
These dedicated men and women have used Autobase CRM at other auto dealerships and, when they relocate to a new dealership group, they are often quite aggressive with thier new dealer employers about getting Autobase CRM installed in their new store.
I have often seen that they have, as a condition of accepting employment at the new dealership, caused Autobase CRM to be acquired. Additionally, I have seen their recruiting ads after they are on board where they cite having auto CRM from Autobase as a benefit of employment. This growing legion of loyal men and women consider Autobase to be an essential element in their success and they are none too timid in voicing their support for this outstanding product.
Loyalty such as this is not born from weakness. It is forged in the strength of both the product and its people and the successful relationships that both create. If this keeps up (and it surely will) we will need a national organization and a football team ... and a corporate fight song. I can hear it now ... “Hail to thee, our dear old Autobase, CRM that’s true ...”
by John Champeau
Yesterday, as I walked into a large Honda dealership, a sales person greeted me. I’ve seen him a couple times recently. This time he wanted to tell me his ideas to improve the auto dealer CRM software they were using. After every single one of his suggestions, my reply was always the same… "Great idea! But you can already do that!”
Then together we walked through the processes in his auto CRM software. He was amazed that the searches and the features he was seeking already lived right at his fingertips. I know it made his day to find a whole new source of leads. He started showing the other sales people in the showroom what he had discovered.
My question to him was “how long have you been here?” I was assuming the answer ranged anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months. To my surprise he told me he had been there over 5 years. It occurred to me that even the experienced pros need to be frequently reminded of and shown all the benefits that exist in a high end sales and marketing solution, like Autobase CRM.
The salesman relayed the story to a couple of the sales managers at the tower who agreed that they do not take advantage of all the revenue streams available to them in their CRM. I showed them all the extensive on-line training that is available 24/7. Surprisingly no one in that large Honda store has taken advantage of it yet. And reminded them that they can turn to any Autobase employee for some guidance.
Bottom line is no matter how long you have been at a job, there is still plenty to be learned. It is up to all of us to seek out the help available.
by Mike Niebling
I posted a blog yesterday that presented a few tips to consider if the idea of working with auto CRM creates some anxiety for you. We talked about how Autobase offers F1 Help, how to leverage the assistance of your Autobase Champion, and that it's perfectly fine to work at your own pace.
A few more ideas to consider...
Load and Relax – Load your customers in Autobase as you are working with them…i.e. DL Scanner or manually enter basic information. Once they leave the dealership, THEN finish entering the information through your Incomplete Entries and Client View. Once you have completed that customer, relax until the next customer comes in -- that is unless you have several customers in the showroom, which would be a good thing. You could wait until you get home to relax :)
Practice, Practice, Practice – the saying “Practice makes perfect” is even true in working with your auto dealer CRM software. The more you practice, the more you will perfect your usage of Autobase.
IDEA: Try adding a few fake customers (maybe use names of cartoon characters) in your auto CRM system. Practice completing their entries, updating their status, add appointments and anything else you can do with their record. Once you are finish, have a manager delete it. The more you practice, the more comfortable you will feel.
Make it Fun!- Enter your customer data while you are working with your customers. Turn monitor slightly in their direction and let them share in the info with you. Most customers like to offer their assistance when they can. This takes the pressure off of you and ensures that you are getting the most accurate up to date information.
As you are reading some of these ideas, you may have already identified one that is going to work best for you. If you haven’t, it’s OK to try all of them. Autobase was designed with you in mind. Don’t be stressed; make Autobase work for you and your customers; and say goodbye once and for all to the "CRM Jitters."
by Tami Davis
I was reading an article in an automotive magazine by Mark LaNeve, GM’s Vice President of Vehicle Sales and Marketing, about a test program that GM is currently running with eBay and I started wondering: "Where is Internet Lead Management (ILM) headed?"
The article tells how potential automobile purchasers will be able to go to gm.ebay.com and browse the inventory for all GM dealerships located in California.
Not only will these Internet shoppers be able to see the new car inventory, but they will be able to compare prices, determine the value of their trades, chat with automotive sales experts, and even utilize eBay’s “Buy it Now” feature. A whole new approach to the common understanding of an automotive dealership.
Internet Lead Management (ILM) will continue to evolve in ways no one could have imagined years ago. Whichever way it turns, strong auto dealer CRM software should be supporting the ILM effort -- right on the cutting edge. Things are moving fast and this is no time for an auto dealership to be left behind.
by Johnny Ohl
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
Raise your hand if you are growing tired of listening to people blame some negative situation or scenario on the economic recession. Sure, it’s no secret that it’s a challenge out there right now (especially for auto dealerships), and moving your new and used car inventory isn’t as easy now as it has been in the past. So, it’s time to think (or should I say sell) outside of the box. There are a lot of placed to get great ideas ... here's one.
Every Saturday morning a group of automotive enthusiasts meet at a local coffee shop in Indianapolis (not far from the Autobase headquarters) and share stories and chit-chat over some breakfast. We call it Cars and Coffee. As it turns out Cars and Coffee isn’t something that is specific to Indianapolis, in fact, many cities around the U.S. have similar meetings where self proclaimed car guys can share their stories.
At this morning’s event, I arrive to see two gentlemen standing next to one of those new Camaros. I approach them and we have a great dialog about each other’s rides. We bantered for awhile, and the conversion turns to what each of us did for a living. As it turns out, both of these gentlemen are salesman at a local car dealership, who caught wind of Cars and Coffee, and came out to see what it was all about. More interestingly, the dealership they worked for use the auto dealer CRM software from Autobase to sell more cars, grow customer loyalty, and increase service revenues. What a great way to “sell outside the box” -- connecting with the local automotive enthusiasts! Let people know you are out there and market creatively!
by Zach Thompson
When adding a client into your auto dealer CRM software, your CRM system may offer the option to enter a customer as an "Old Sold." You may rarely (if ever) need to use the Old Sold option, but there are a few instances where it comes in handy.
If you have a group of customers that you sold BEFORE the auto dealership installed Autobase CRM, and those customers did not get automatically transferred from your DMS -- choose "Old Sold." Or if your computer was not functioning, for example, and you had to write a deal by hand, you can go back to Autobase later and add the customer as Old Sold.
You do NOT want to log sold customers from a previous dealership in as Old Sold. Autobase will think that you have sold this customer a vehicle at your current dealership, and it will send them letters thanking them for their purchase, when they did not purchase from this dealership.
The easiest way to remember when you should use this option is when you want to add a customer into Autobase CRM that you have sold at your current store, but they are not in Autobase yet.
by Colleen Persic
My 75 year old father recently purchased a new car from the auto dealership down the road. He finally gave up his old Dodge Stratus and traded in for a brand new Jeep Compass. He loves the car – it’s easier for him to get in and out of and he likes how it drives in the cold, snowy winters.
I recently stopped by to visit and he was on the phone, chatting with someone about his car. I thought it was a friend of his, but when he hung up, he said “That was Jeff – car salesman I bought the Jeep from. Nice guy ... just called to see how the car was working out for me.” I had to laugh – I knew Dad bought his Jeep from a dealer that used auto dealer CRM software from Autobase!
There is something to be said for Automotive CRM. There is something to be said for following up with your customers regularly. And even more to be said for building a relationship with them. I know my dad has called Jeff several times in the past few months with questions. I also know it was Jeff who helped me buy the cargo net Dad wanted for his birthday. Without a process in place to follow up with my father, Jeff would never stand a chance at selling him another vehicle! I think Dad is eyeing a convertible next!
by Meg Martino
Auto Dealer CRM software is no small piece of technology. Are you aware of all the various components included in your CRM solution? Take a few minutes to review some of the unused features of your CRM system. Investigate to see if there are “tools” available to help streamline internal processes and increase efficiency. Here's a few examples of some of the lesser utilized tools that may be in your CRM toolbox:
Of the many auto dealers I work with, I consulted with one dealership last week who had a low CSI survey ratings but had not developed processes to document and resolve their client issues. The great news for this dealer wat that Autobase CRM had him covered.
You are ready to take a client on a demo ride. What about the license plate that tends to disappear when you need it? Who was the last person to use that plate? Don’t have time to ask around for the plate? Again, Autobase CRM has you covered.
What about your sales people? Do they need help setting monthly sales goals? Put a goal in “writing." Set the forecast and let them aim for the goal. As a Manager wouldn’t it be nice to know how many cars each salesperson believes they will sell for the month? How close are they to your sales expectations? Don’t know? Autobase CMR has you covered.
Customer problem resolution? License plate tracking? Sales forecasting? What esle could be waiting for you in your CRM toolkit?
by Carol Urichich
I once heard a very wise but very old and somewhat physically infirm man say that he tried to stay mentally young by learning something new each day. He said he greeted each new day dawning as a learning experience.
After ten years with Autobase, I try to learn something new about our auto dealer CRM software or our organization each day. Funny thing is that no matter how familiar you think you are with Autobase, I have no problem finding things I didn’t know (and invariably, I always seem to wish that I had found them earlier than I did!)
If you are looking for a good source document to help you keep abreast of capabilities and functions of Autobase, a good place to start is the product release notes that are generally published to all users a few days ahead of the actual release. Now, it's possible that you may discard this documentation or store it (with every intention to revisit it, but somehow you never do); but by doing so, you will have missed a great deal of highly beneficial information. In fact, it's possible you have already missed several opportunities to put the information to good use.
Here are some nuggets for today from our product documentation. For instance did you know that:
- Users have the ability to search by email address in the Internet Lead Management (ILM) side of the software?
- Salespeople will now have the Search functionality in the ILM?
- Users with multi-store access will now have the ability to sort and view leads for individual stores in the ILM?
- CARFAX integration is now available through the Inventory and Appraisal screens?
Now you know more than you did a moment ago and if this had really made you smarter, you made a note on your planner for tomorrow to look at four more items. Keep this up and by the weekend you should be smokin’ .. and so will your sales team when you show them what you know!
by John Champeau
Working with a technology company's Customer Support phone system and menu options work can certainly be a bit overwhelming at times. At Autobase, we've tried to make phone support for the nation's leading auto dealer CRM software as helpful and straightforward as possible.
When you call in for dealership CRM support, you are asked to select a number 1-8. You can Press 1 for Technical Support. This will direct you to your region’s Technical Analyst. The TA is able to help when something goes wrong … email is not sending; the program is showing an error; web leads are not coming in properly ... anything that just seems a bit “off.”
Secondly, you can Press 2 for How To and Usage Questions. This option will route you to your region’s Account Analyst. The AA is your “How To” specialists. They are the ones you want to speak to if you simply can’t remember how to do something or if you want to learn more about doing a particular task at your dealership.
The TAs and CAs are very professional and quite prompt in resolving issues; however, some days are busier than others. If you call and the recording tells you that there are a lot of people waiting in front of you, don’t be afraid to leave a message. The phone system is designed to use that message as your place holder, as if you never even hung up. When the TA or CA picks up your call, the message will play, and they will be prompted to call YOU back. They have no other option but to return your call. Help is on its way!
by Colleen Persic
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