Dealership Software

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

There are many aspects of the auto dealer CRM from Autobase that sets it apart from other automotive CRM systems.  However,  there is one that I can personally attest to that sets us far above the rest -- our Account Management team. 

I serve a number of car dealers as their Autobase Account Manager.  When I became a part of the Autobase family I had no idea how all encompassing this position would become.   I went through the very extensive training for the position and learned the fundamentals of this job.  Little did I know that the fundamentals are only a portion of the big picture.

I was given many accounts, and at first I thought, "How can  I ever remember all of these names, faces, directions on how to get to the stores, who is who, etc.?!"  But, low and behold, I know who is who, the faces, their job functions, and even how to get to many places without my GPS :)    

The relationships I have cultivated with the dealerships I am responsible for amazes me!  As an Account Manager, I have the ability on a daily basis to  make a difference for my dealers (notice how territorial I am ... notice "MY dealers").   People on the east coast  are skeptical and many are a tough nut to crack, but in many stores we have become a part of the intricate working of each business.  My dealers call me anytime, day, night, weekends, whenever, and feel confident that if I can’t solve something for them, the team behind me at Autobase can.  The bottom line is they know I am always here for them.

So, “Autobase much more than a CRM”, is a very true statement for me!  I am the Account Manager, consultant, trainer, objective outside opinion, and anything else I need to be at any given time when I am in the stores, and this at least, for me, is what makes it all work.

by Donna McCarthy
 

This past weekend was one of those weekends.  One appointment backed up against another, and one to-do item overlapped with something else.  My wife and I were at times moving on parallel tracks trying to successfully manage the weekend's events.  If it wouldn't be for my DayTimer, I'd be loss -- plain and simple.

This kind of pace is experienced in auto dealerships across the country every day (can I get an "Amen" from someone out there in dealership sales management?)  If you're using some form of automotive CRM in your auto dealership (of course, www.autobase.net we hope you've invested in Autobase CRM), you have the equivalent of my DayTimer at work ... hopefully, it's successfully managing the dealership's success in everything from traffic generation, lead management, variable and fixed ops business processes, as well as marketing for more of the same.

Auto Dealer CRM helps drive the processes that make your dealership profitable.  It aligns everything you do against the specific business goals at your store.  If you need something along the lines of this dealership software or if you need more from your current CRM system, check us out.

Hopefully, next weekend is a bit easier! :)

Yesterday, I posted a blog about "Serviced, Not Sold" customers.  But what about using the permission-based marketing programs in your dealership's automotive CRM software to target your service drive?

How many people call or email or visit your store but DON'T buy from you?  Probably close to 75% of all those prospects, if we use standard NADA averages.  So what are you doing to market your service drive to those customers?  Most likely, they are driving something right now, and the time will come when they need to have it serviced. 

With just a few simple steps, any powerful automotive CRM (such as Autobase CRM) can help you market to those people to keep your name in front of them and “toot your own horn” about your service department.  Dealership email can be generated to automatically deliver a video message from your dealership management, such as the General Manager or Service Manager.  Or how about an email coupon for a percentage off on their first service RO or a free car wash if they come in for an oil change?  The opportunities are endless.

In this economy and with the capabilities afforded you by dealership software like Autobase, the cross-over between sales and service needs to be habitual and automatic.  Make it your habit. 

by Jennifer Holliday-Buchanan

What if you were given a list of hot leads every month, leads for the sales people in your auto dealership to contact?  You would jump on the opportunity for such a list of prospective buyers, right?  Unfortunately, without a true automotive CRM system, thousands of automotive sales people let these customers buy somewhere else, month after month after month.

But with a dealership software like Autobase at work, you are able to receive early notification of customers nearing the end of the finance or lease term, as well as buyers who paid cash in the past and may be in the market again.  Furthermore, selling these customers can be easier and more profitable.  Additionally, you don’t have to do the preliminary "get to know the customer" work that takes so much time (... and we all know that time equals $$$ in the automotive industry).

Starting this month, DO NOT let these customers slip through the cracks and buy from your competitor.  Pick up the phone, write and email, or send them a letter and get them back in YOUR store.

One of the more successful dealership sales people I knew in my days of auto retail gave credence to "the early bird gets the worm" theory and also clearly demonstrated the ability to farm every opportunity he could find.  Now, you have to recall that this was in the days before computers on sales people’s desks, the Internet,  cell phones, newsletters, blogs, tweets etc. (... you know,  the Dark Ages!)

Most days when the auto dealership service lane opened at 7:00 AM, you would find him in that service lane with a huge five gallon jug of coffee, several dozen donuts, and his business cards.  Now the dealership had coffee it provided, but somehow his seemed better to the customers, because they all stopped to chat with him and of course, got his business card while he got some information about them, made new friends and future clients.  Every month, he would make about five sales out of the service line alone. 

His entrepreneurship extended to the body shop, where like an ambulance-chasing lawyer, he seemed to show up right behind every flatbed or wrecker bringing a damaged vehicle in for repair or evaluation.  Chalk up three  more sales every month.  I never saw him look for an “up” and he sold 20 or more cars ever month in a highly competitive market.

I often wondered what he could do in today’s environment with all of the tools that technology gives us.  His ability to build and maintain relationships and customer loyalty on nothing more than hard work and his personality paid great dividends.  If  he had access to his service line every day via his automotive CRM system and used all of the tools that were available to maintain contact with this clients, had his own permission-based email newsletter, and a daily planner that organized everything on a grand scale he could have been the next sales giant in our industry! Autobase CRM gives every dealership sales person the ability to be organized and maintain contact (... now if we can just figure out a way to mass produce the right personality traits, watch out!)

by John Champeau

As with some auto dealers, you may not be all that crazy about math.  We like to add up all our profits, and don’t mind subtracting costs of doing business.  We multiply successful locations and franchises; but as dealers, we are divided when it comes to managing customer information.  Some of us believe that incorporating a Dealership CRM System will help increase profits and minimize costs.  But still others of us believe in conventional marketing for generating new floor traffic.  So who’s right?  Well, let’s do the math.

This article is based on an excerpt from the book “Floor Traffic is for Green Peas.”  Get your free copy of its sequel “Seven Months to CRM Greatness."
 

PRESS RELEASE
originally posted on the www.autobase.net

Autobase, Inc., the leading marketing and sales CRM provider for car dealers nationwide, and a division of Dominion Dealer Solutions, today announced the release of the 7.4 version of its CRM solution, Autobase Sales Center.

“The economic slowdown is forcing today’s dealer to save money by marketing more heavily to customers already in their database,” said John Hardacre, product director for Autobase, Inc.  “Therefore, it was important that this release focus on providing dealers with even stronger data mining and ROI reporting.  This enhanced functionality translates into more effective campaigns which drive more traffic to the showroom and service drive.  Ultimately, it increases a dealer's bottom line by month's end."

Beyond new reporting and search capabilities, Sales Center 7.4 delivers additional features to the existing service campaigns and the Autobase ILM (Internet Lead Management).  ILM enhancements include an all-new Internet Opportunity Report for users of Loyalty Center, the in-house call center application from Autobase.

Also released in 7.4 is integration with CARFAX, which allows Autobase dealers to view existing CARFAX Reports and purchase new reports from the Autobase inventory or appraisal screens.  Users can quickly determine which vehicles in their inventory have a CARFAX Report available, know when that report expires, and utilize vital information from the report, such as the CARFAX 1-Owner designation, without ever leaving the Autobase application.

When Autobase was born in 1988, it was the only technology-based auto CRM solution that lived in the showroom at that time. And at that time, we endured the extremely basic, but extremely functional, screen layouts allowed by the DOS platform.  The software did wonders for auto dealerships, and we put up with the generic white text on the generic blue screen.  It was all steak -- and very little sizzle.

With the dawn of Windows, dealership software providers could get creative -- not just for the sake of colors, images, and the overall "cool factor," but creative in such a way as to increase ease-of-use and user-friendliness. It's exactly why Autobase created its screens to mimic the dealership logbook -- something dealers, managers, and sales people could use immediately because they were familiar with what they were looking at on the screen.  All steak -- and lots of sizzle!

Over the past ten years, automotive CRM companies have come and gone.  Some have introduced screens with big fonts, bright colors, and big icons in an effort to make the program appear user-friendly. A few web-based CRM solutions have taken a more conservative approach, but nevertheless, deliver on the glitz without the underlying functionality to serve the dealership as a true auto CRM.  All sizzle -- and very little steak.

Let's just put it on the table: Even though our innovation and technology grow year after year, Autobase is sometimes thought as being old technology, mostly because dealers see similar screen layouts as were used a few years ago. Unfortunately, they often opt for the sizzle elsewhere and realize in time there is very little steak on the plate...

Others look at the Autobase system and see the tried-and-true electronic logbook on the screen, know that it's what their guys are used to, and understand that true ease-of-use is going to translate into usage and usage is going to translate into success for the business.

Let's face it, the automotive world will probably witness a face lift to the Autobase software at some point in the future.  We all love new stuff.  But those who partner with us THEN will do so for the same reason auto dealers continue to partner with us NOW even though there are "glitzier" systems available ... it's because they know they'll see more return on their investment with Autobase CRM than with any other sales and marketing solution available to auto dealers.

 

• In December, we brought every last person on our nationwide team to Indianapolis to unveil and train on the latest and greatest in automotive CRM, lead management, dealership marketing, etc. etc. etc.  Simply an inspiring time for the entire Autobase team!
• We then took this growing package of products and auto dealer services to New Orleans at NADA.  Beyond the basics of dealership software like permission-based marketing and ILM, auto dealers learned about our new offerings in voice messaging, toll-free number call tracking, SMS text messaging, and a number of other additions to our marketing solutions.  The overall traffic was down as many of you know -- but Autobase had a great show!
• Finally, Autobase Business Solutions (formerly, Autobase Platinum CRM) continues to be recognized by auto dealers as one the highest returning investments they can make in today's market.