By tapping into the powerful resources available within your CRM, your dealership can quickly increase profits and save money by leveraging your existing resources, without spending money on additional marketing efforts or staff. By focusing on the following four areas, you can see just how quickly your CRM can help your dealership leverage the tools and resources you have available today:
 
MARKETING - Leverage your CRM to uncover a wealth of additional up-sell opportunities within your existing customer data.
 
Powerful data mining capabilities provide dealers with a detailed picture of up-sell opportunities with their current customers based on factors such as those that have “ equity” in their vehicles, where a payment could be lowered or remain the same with a new vehicle purchase, simply target a service customer that has over 60K miles on their vehicle. Dealers can choose from pre-defined queries or can easily build their own. In ju...

OEM win enables Audi dealers in the US and Canada to be eligible for special pricing and incentives for DealerSocket automotive CRM solution
San Clemente, CA – April 8, 2009 – Leading automotive CRM provider DealerSocket announced today it has been selected by Audi of America as the only preferred and recommended provider of CRM services to Audi retail dealerships in the United States and Canada.
“Many dealers are discussing with Audi ways to increase efficiencies and reduce expenses. One of the opportunities is certainly to increase the efficiency of the sales and service departments through the implementation of a CRM solution,” said Reinhard Fischer, Director Network Management for Audi of America. “Audi of America has analyzed the available CRM solutions in the market against criteria that have been developed together with a group of dealers. The clear winner of this analysis is DealerSocket. The DealerSocket CRM solution has a clear focus on increa...

For all the UFC fans out there, you might remember that last fall, DealerSocket was a sponsor of Mixed Martial Artist and Ultimate Fighter, Rameu Thierry Sokoudjou, AKA "The African Assassin". Perhaps you also had the opportunity to meet him at NADA where he was in our booth signing autographs and taking pictures. The fight that we sponosored was UFC 89, and his match against Luiz Cane in Birmingham, England.
 
Sokoudjou came out strong, but when he went down in the 2nd round, the fight was called. Although he wasn’t the victor in this fight, I know he had already begun mentally preparing for his next match as soon as he walked out of the Octagon. This fight made me think how much running a dealership is like being an Ultimate Fighter.
 
 
Every day I speak to dealers who are looking for ways to improve efficiency in their dealership and save money. Some of them are looking to cut costs across the board and just hang on to fight ...

Perhaps it is because the term CRM is loosely used to describe any tool that does anything that relates to a customer or prospect, or perhaps we simply just need to do a better job conveying what the standard is and how it can be effectively implemented at a dealership. Either way, I thought I’d attempt to set the record straight by debunking 5 popular myths about CRM in our industry.
Myth #1 – I have an Internet Lead Manager, that’s my CRM
While it is true that an ILM does a great job of tracking your inbound Internet leads, it will not follow that customer through their life cycle. If the only relationships you follow are those generated through the web, what is happening to the ones who walk in or are come in for service? CRM should help you track ALL customers, not just Internet leads. It is not an “Internet” customer – it’s a dealership customer using the Internet to communicate, and they will surely use other means over time. We ne...

We're captivated by cool, new technology. We're users of technology on a daily basis, and we're constantly being introduced to the latest products, processes and enhancements. How much of the value do we really use? How can you be sure you gain the most value from the technology choices you make?
Every decision made within your organization, whether it's a change in process or the addition of new technology, is directly related to value. If you use technology that provides little or no value, it actually has a negative effect on your organization. Your people will become desensitized to leadership initiatives. They will discount and fight against any new process or technology before giving it a shot. We should routinely ask ourselves if our choices are providing value, and if the answer is "no," then changes need to be made.
Most likely, you'll agree that technology improves the efficiency and effectiveness of your dealership. It allows the organization to operate at a high...

sexiness sells. We'veall been enthralled by "sexy" technology, such as high-definition media that shows up in our email inbox in the form of video and flash. But do these impressive tools provide real results? Do they inspire consumers to head to your dealership to purchase a vehicle? It may be time to review and prioritize the CRM tools that you're using.

There are many CRM tools available to you, and while they provide some benefit to your dealership, the order in which you address your dealerships needs and put your CRM tools to use makes all the difference in the results.

For example, you can organize the perfect marketing event that draws hundreds of people. But if your salespeople on hand aren't trained enough to close the deals, there is no benefit to hosting such an event. Or, if you develop a loyalty program, but don't know who your customers are, the program won't work effectively. This concept is the same for your CRM tools, a building process must be in place.

Dealers wh...

If you'vebeen searching for a new tool to accelerate sales, improve margins, and create a competitive advantage, the building blocks may already in place maybe you just need a push in the right direction! Fortunately, none of this is rocket science.

Take a look at your desking solution; chances are it is underutilized. In addition to its primary function, you can easily put it to work as a highly-effective sales tool to increase your profits and enhance the customer experience.

For example, I know of several dealers who will pre-print a menu of payment options from their desking solution and hand them to customers during the sales process. This simple, straightforward sales tactic draws the customer into the finance process. It creates a bond between you and the customer at a critical moment and inspires trust and a sense of partnership precisely the emotions you want the customer to experience as the deal moves towards closure.

A well-designed desking application should enable the ...

Practically every dealer I know is aware that service can be a huge generator of profit. But it's alarming how rarely that sense of awareness translates into meaningful action even as new car sales margins continue declining.

It amazes me when I see dealers spend lavishly on sales marketing and then skimp on service or retention technology, process and accountability. It's really a shame especially when you consider that with a little effort, the service department can make an impressive contribution to your net income.

The primary business challenge, of course, is first-time customer retention. In other words, you need to get a customer into your service department the first time and then do all the follow-up work necessary to make certain the customer returns again and again.

Over the years, I'vehave witnessed and implemented quite a few best practices that can significantly increase your chances of scheduling that crucial first service appointment, ensuring that the customer show...

Who is perhaps the most important person in any business? The customer. Understanding your customer's needs at each step in their life cycle with you is crucial to the success of your dealership. Using an integrated system for marketing, sales, service and CSI allows you to pinpoint these customer needs, which leads to increased profit and satisfaction.

An integrated system for all of your dealership's departments provides better customer service, increased productivity and highly efficient marketing. It gives you a complete view of the customer, plus it allows employees from all departments to easily access customer information prioritize communications and create relationships effectively. Deals can be made in less time, and customers leave satisfied with their experience.

Besides increasing customer satisfaction, an integrated system sharply reduces the marketing and advertising dollars spent. For example, when a customer returns a negative email survey, you wouldn't want to marke...

In today's fragmented marketplace, newer technologies provide cost-effective alternatives to indirect media.Are you still spending thousands of dollars every month on mass marketing tactics that don't add measurable profits to your bottom line?

Are you still relying on indirect media such as print, TV and radio to drive traffic to your showroom when you should be running direct marketing campaigns that can increase sales by 20 to 30 percent?

According to a recent NADA analysis, spending for newspaper ads dropped from 52.2 percent of total ad dollars in 1996 to 27.3 percent of total ad dollars in 2006. That's a drop of nearly half, reflecting the inability of newspapers to deliver results.

Over the same period of time, spending for radio and TV ads increased, but not by much. The marginal gains of radio and TV resulted mainly from advertisers bailing out of newspapers and not yet adopting online or email marketing mediums.

Auto retailers now spend 10.2 percent of their marketing bud...

You're probably familiar with the term "outsourcing," using a 3rd party company to complete projects that you don't want to or can't do internally. Many dealerships use external call centers, surveyors, mystery shoppers and outside mail houses.

Reasons for outsourcing range from economies of scale, convenience, accountability and increased productivity for current employees. Outsourcing can be a huge benefit to a dealership. One challenge for the automotive industry is to outsource for the right reasons. Most dealerships outsource for the wrong reasons.

One key question to ask yourself is, can you be sure that the projects you're outsourcing are driving the desired results? The decision whether to outsource or remain in-house doesn't have to be time-consuming or challenging. The goal is to simply to determine the best way to accomplish the project or activity most efficiently while driving the desired result.

There are four steps in determining whether to outsource or remain in-hous...

Many automotive CRM companies are gearing up for growth and changes within the automotive industry. In fact, you will see many different "new" offerings this year at NADA, all under the name of "CRM". For a CRM company to consistently provide value to automotive dealerships, we have to keep up with market demands, and this requires constant attention to the latest needs, trends and developments outside, and most importantly, inside the dealerships.

CRM companies who successfully respond to the needs of dealerships are those who spend as much time on dealership expertise as they do on their technology talent. It's impossible to understand the business from an outside view of the dealerships.

In DealerSocket's case, a full year was spent working for free in dealerships so a CRM solution could be accurately developed based on the needs of day-to-day business. Also, with more than 500 dealerships on the product we spend the majority of our people's time in dealerships, refining and creat...