Atlanta, GA – April 10, 2018 – ELEAD1ONE today announced that its DealBuilder digital retailing platform was honored with two 2018 Automotive Website Awards (AWA) at the NADA Convention & Expo. Additionally, ELEAD1ONE’s Service1One service retention suite took home an AWA award in the Fixed Ops category. The three awards were presented to ELEAD1ONE at a ceremony hosted by PCG Companies on March 22nd at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

“Digital retailing was a major theme at NADA this year, and the response to our rollout of DealBuilder was incredible,” said Bill Wittenmyer, Partner with ELEAD1ONE. “We are thrilled that forward-thinking dealers are embracing this new technology as a way to attract new customers and improve their car-buying experience.”

PCG Companies’ Vanguard award is a new category this year, presented to companies and products leading the way in new developments in the automotive industry. A statement on the AWA website summarizes why ELEAD1ONE received this prestigious honor:

“The portable DealBuilder Showroom and the Online app provide all the tools for dealership personnel to manage the buying process. It is structured to be convenient and satisfying for the consumer and yet, highly informative for dealership management. A key separation factor of DealBuilder is that the financial calculations are done with ELEAD1ONE’s industry-leading desking suite, and payments are calculated to the penny in all 50 states and counties in the U.S. DealBuilder can truly facilitate the entire process - automated and streamlined – all the way through loan and lease documentation and delivery.”

DealBuilder is a digital retailing application that guides customers through the entire car-buying experience, while allowing dealers to own the leads and retain control throughout the process. DealBuilder can be used either in-store with DealerBuilder Showroom, or on a dealer’s website with DealBuilder Online. The Showroom and Online versions are synchronized for a seamless online to offline experience. Both apps are fully integrated into ELEAD1ONE CRM and can be used on a desktop, mobile tablet or smartphone.

According to PCG Companies, ELEAD1ONE’s Service1One platform distinguishes every important step in the dealership service experience, from intake to repair completion, while streamlining operational processes and incorporating crucial marketing tools to help dealers capitalize on every possible sales opportunity.

The Service1One suite centralizes every component of service drive technologies into one comprehensive view; including online service scheduling, lane applications, multi-point inspections, shop management, automated marketing and service advisor training.

For more information about DealBuilder and Service1One, visit http://www.elead-crm.com.

About ELEAD1ONE

ELEAD1ONE, the benchmark in automotive software, helps dealers bridge the gap between sales, service, and marketing operations. The company’s automotive-only contact center, CRM, and service drive technologies are the foundations of their unique suite of products that drive its clients forward through strategic business advantage. Headquartered in Georgia, ELEAD1ONE has over 1,500 employees nationwide and serves more than 8,000 dealerships across the United States and Canada, including six of the top ten dealer groups.

ELEAD1ONE continues to lead the industry standard by providing insight to the community, identifying trends, and through the continuous development of personalized retail solutions that help dealers operate more profitably. For more information, visit our Website, like us on Facebook, YouTube, or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

In this week’s Witt’s Wise Words, ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer gives multiple tips on how you can deliver that authentic sales experience.

You’ve probably heard many people say they’d rather be lucky than good, but not ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer, who says he’d rather be the opposite. In this #FreebieFriday Bill explains why being so good you don’t have to worry about luck is more important.

Dealers are great at creating expectations. They advertise their dealerships as family owned, friendly, hassle-free and low-price leaders. These promises are what motivate the customer to call in the first place.

Then the expectation gap opens up. Typical problems that dealerships run into include:

• Calls getting put on hold, transferred to voice mails, routed to a carousel of wrong persons, or worse, disconnected
• Customer does not get the information they called for, such as a price quote
• Nobody returns the customer's call

When these things happen to your customers, your dealership instantly loses credibility. You promote how easy it is to do business with you, but that's not what customers experience.

It's not difficult to fix your phone processes, but it does require a strategy. Try these tips to help bridge the customer expectation gap at your store.

Get a Call Analysis

If your digital marketing strategy is effective, you are receiving more calls than ever before. Approximately 50 percent of car shoppers who use their phones to browse inventory find it easier to "click to call" rather than fill out a lead form.

Phone leads outnumber Internet leads by four to one and are probably your best, low-funnel leads. If you don't have the personnel and training in place to handle this increased call volume, you are likely losing money.

Do you know how many inbound calls your dealership receives each day? Do you know how many are answered? Most dealers find a call analysis very eye-opening. If you've never had one done for your dealership, I highly recommend it.

Consider a Virtual BDC/Call Center

Many dealers believe their staff should be answering phones and having those initial conversations. This would be great if it actually happened or if these calls were handled properly. The irony here is that if your employees are doing their jobs, they are often away from their phones and with other in-store customers.

Another reason why dealers are hesitant to have a BDC is that their sales managers and service advisors want to be in control of their own scheduling. That's because they want a schedule that's best for them and not necessarily what's best for the dealership. If a service advisor wants to leave at 5:00 pm, do you think he's going to schedule a 4:30 appointment?

Dealers that have committed to setting up a BDC or outsourcing their calls to a BDC service rarely go back to the 'old way.' They immediately see the benefits, including:

• More phone calls answered
• More sales and service appointments
• Shop capacity is maximized
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Big reduction in employees playing phone tag with customers

I realize that setting up, staffing and managing a BDC can be an expensive proposition. Many dealers find it's cheaper and more efficient to outsource their calls to a professional BDC service.

Sell Expertise, Not Appointments

In many dealerships, this may require a paradigm shift. It’s important to understand that you are selling information and expertise, not appointments. Your dealership advertises a hassle-free experience, but when a customer calls to ask a price, most times the salesperson refuses to give it to them. Instead they try to sell the appointment. That's not exactly hassle-free.

I've worked in the car business for many years. I used to agree and be a whole-hearted believer in selling the appointment. But the mentality of today's shopper has changed, and this is no longer the best approach.

For one thing, car shoppers research online extensively. Before they call any dealers, they know the model and make of the car they want. They know the price range they believe is fair.

By the time they call your dealership they're in the process of elimination. When a customer calls they want to confirm three things:

• Inventory availability
• Pricing
• Whether you are someone they want to do business with

If it’s difficult to do business with you over the phone, the customer immediately thinks, "What's it going to be like when I get there?" Consumers already have trust issues with car dealers. Don't make it worse by playing games with them.

I'm not saying just to quote a price and be done. Every phone call is an opportunity to sell yourself and your expertise, and to sell your dealership's value proposition.

Remember that when a customer calls your dealership, you've got one chance to make a great first impression. Ensure that your phone processes quickly connect customers with your staff. Give customers the information they’re looking for, and they’re more likely to do business with you in return.

When it comes to sales, everyone has been pitched a couple of times already. ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer says, in this week’s Witt’s Wise Words, if you want to stand out to consumers you need to do more listening.

If you’re spending more time pitching to customers and prospects than solving problems for them then you’re likely not experience as much success as you should. In this #FreebieFriday, ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer explains how great salespeople offer solutions, not pitches.

Are you a “Me Guy” or a “We Guy”? In this week’s Witt’s Wise Words, ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer explains the difference between the two and what the most successful salespeople are.

Too often we see sales people make efforts to overachieve by making customers happy by agreeing to everything they want. In this #FreebieFriday, ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer says DON’T be that person acting like you work in a drive-thru offering fries with that new vehicle purchase.

We all have fears – fear of failure, fear of unaccomplishment, and so many others. In this week’s Witt’s Wise Words, ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer explains why we need to start using fear as our greatest motivator instead of allowing it to hold us back from real success.

As a kid you were always taught not to talk to strangers but, as ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer explains in this #FreebieFriday, the power of networking is a massive opportunity in the automotive sales industry. Here are several tips to make strangers no longer strangers.