When I sold cars I remember multiple times when the sales manager would tell the salespeople to make their daily follow-up calls and some salespeople would simply respond that they had completed their calls, even when they hadn't.  It became a constant battle.  Apart from not making the calls, these particular salespeople were notorious at finding ways to cut corners and cheat the system.  I know not all salespeople are like the ones I worked with but how do we encourage our salespeople to be accountable for their daily, weekly and monthly activities?

In today’s dealership, 80% of the leads received come through the phone and/or internet.  That means that 80% of your business is dependent on your salesperson’s ability to schedule appointments that drive people into the showroom.  CRM utilization becomes critical when managing these processes that are attached to your leads.

A CRM tool should allow salespeople to achieve new levels of production with unsold AND repeat customers, thereby increasing their personal incomes.  CRM enables salespeople to work more efficiently, be better organized, and better manage time and relationships.  The benefit to the dealership is that managers have access to reports that enables them to monitor all activities and can help coach and motivate each salesperson.

The reason accountability was low at the dealership where I worked was because the managers weren’t doing their job of monitoring what was going on every day at the dealership.  What they thought was being done in the dealership often wasn’t and they had no concrete way to show that it was or was not happening.

In order to help improve accountability I suggest utilizing these reports to track the number of new opportunities that your salespeople are entering into the CRM.  Nothing is worse than seeing someone take multiple ups and not having any of the customers entered into the CRM.  A rule many dealers have is “if it isn’t in the CRM, it didn’t happen”.  If everything is not getting put into your CRM, it throws off your marketing and ROI reports.

The second key metric is phone calls.  It is important that your CRM is integrated with your phone system in order to track outbound phone calls.  Having your salespeople mark all of their calls completed is one thing, but it’s better if there is proof that they actually made the call and how long they were on the call.  Looking at the data that I have compiled, the top salespeople are constantly those who take the time and make the most calls.  If your state allows it, I suggest recording your calls. This is great for managing quality and training. Make sure you are also monitoring inbound calls.  It is easy to think since the customer is calling you that it might not need to be monitored like the outbound calls, but most customers are calling multiple dealerships and this is often the first contact the customer has with your dealership.  If your salespeople don’t handle inbound and outbound calls correctly it will ultimately affect your conversion rate.

E-mail and weblead tracking is also important.  You need to know how many e-mails the salespeople are receiving and sending out, as well as how long it is taking them to respond to their webleads.

Salespeople love people that come in and buy, but what about those that don’t buy or those that they talk to but are hard to get in touch with afterward?  Are they reaching out to them?  Make sure you are looking at reports that reflect this data.

Pipeline Management is a key for success.  When salespeople get busy, the first thing thrown off their plate is prospecting. When sales people stop prospecting, the pipeline eventually runs dry. Make sure when you are tracking calls that you know what types of calls the salespeople are making and that there is always a focus on prospecting.  Salespeople also have a tendency to move people to Lost.  Often, this is a way to get the CRM follow-up to stop or to hide those customers they did badly with.  Do you have a review process in place for a manager to look at each lost deal and try to “save a deal”?

Some CRM tools have a daily activity report or check out report that shows everything the salesperson has done for the day (ups, appointments, calls, talk time, e-mails).  One dealership with which I was working had a problem with accountability, so they instituted a new process: before a salesperson left for the day they would print out a report and give it to their manager to check out.  The report told the manager everything they had done as well as all of their calls (Daily To Dos) that they didn’t complete.  Quickly, managers were able to see what had been done and what had not been done.  Often, the manager would send the salesperson back to make more calls before they left.  Salespeople began to feel ashamed when they handed a manager their sheet that said they didn’t do anything which motivated them to make more calls.  The dealership drastically improved their follow up process and began to see an immediate increase in their sales.

Having a plan and setting goals is also an essential part of improving accountability.  It is crucial for salespeople to establish a set of daily, weekly and monthly benchmarks that help them measure and manage their ultimate goal.  If the goal of each salesperson is to sell X amount of cars, don’t focus on the end goal, but actually the activities that will help them reach that goal. It also helps if the salespeople are included in setting the goals.  If you do this, they should have a personal stake in the outcome.  Without inclusion, salespeople will figure out the best excuses in the world why they can’t achieve.

If you have a salesperson who isn’t taking responsibility then you may need to mentor them individually.  Focus on their behavior and the problems it is causing and not on the person.  They need to be held accountable for their actions which can include low prospecting activity, not meeting sales targets, or low margin sales.

As accountability grows, your salespeople will form a good habit of doing the things they must do on a regular basis and will help them on their way to becoming a top producing salesperson.

Hunter Swift is the Director of Sales Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift

When I sold cars I remember multiple times when the sales manager would tell the salespeople to make their daily follow-up calls and some salespeople would simply respond that they had completed their calls, even when they hadn't.  It became a constant battle.  Apart from not making the calls, these particular salespeople were notorious at finding ways to cut corners and cheat the system.  I know not all salespeople are like the ones I worked with but how do we encourage our salespeople to be accountable for their daily, weekly and monthly activities?

In today’s dealership, 80% of the leads received come through the phone and/or internet.  That means that 80% of your business is dependent on your salesperson’s ability to schedule appointments that drive people into the showroom.  CRM utilization becomes critical when managing these processes that are attached to your leads.

A CRM tool should allow salespeople to achieve new levels of production with unsold AND repeat customers, thereby increasing their personal incomes.  CRM enables salespeople to work more efficiently, be better organized, and better manage time and relationships.  The benefit to the dealership is that managers have access to reports that enables them to monitor all activities and can help coach and motivate each salesperson.

The reason accountability was low at the dealership where I worked was because the managers weren’t doing their job of monitoring what was going on every day at the dealership.  What they thought was being done in the dealership often wasn’t and they had no concrete way to show that it was or was not happening.

In order to help improve accountability I suggest utilizing these reports to track the number of new opportunities that your salespeople are entering into the CRM.  Nothing is worse than seeing someone take multiple ups and not having any of the customers entered into the CRM.  A rule many dealers have is “if it isn’t in the CRM, it didn’t happen”.  If everything is not getting put into your CRM, it throws off your marketing and ROI reports.

The second key metric is phone calls.  It is important that your CRM is integrated with your phone system in order to track outbound phone calls.  Having your salespeople mark all of their calls completed is one thing, but it’s better if there is proof that they actually made the call and how long they were on the call.  Looking at the data that I have compiled, the top salespeople are constantly those who take the time and make the most calls.  If your state allows it, I suggest recording your calls. This is great for managing quality and training. Make sure you are also monitoring inbound calls.  It is easy to think since the customer is calling you that it might not need to be monitored like the outbound calls, but most customers are calling multiple dealerships and this is often the first contact the customer has with your dealership.  If your salespeople don’t handle inbound and outbound calls correctly it will ultimately affect your conversion rate.

E-mail and weblead tracking is also important.  You need to know how many e-mails the salespeople are receiving and sending out, as well as how long it is taking them to respond to their webleads.

Salespeople love people that come in and buy, but what about those that don’t buy or those that they talk to but are hard to get in touch with afterward?  Are they reaching out to them?  Make sure you are looking at reports that reflect this data.

Pipeline Management is a key for success.  When salespeople get busy, the first thing thrown off their plate is prospecting. When sales people stop prospecting, the pipeline eventually runs dry. Make sure when you are tracking calls that you know what types of calls the salespeople are making and that there is always a focus on prospecting.  Salespeople also have a tendency to move people to Lost.  Often, this is a way to get the CRM follow-up to stop or to hide those customers they did badly with.  Do you have a review process in place for a manager to look at each lost deal and try to “save a deal”?

Some CRM tools have a daily activity report or check out report that shows everything the salesperson has done for the day (ups, appointments, calls, talk time, e-mails).  One dealership with which I was working had a problem with accountability, so they instituted a new process: before a salesperson left for the day they would print out a report and give it to their manager to check out.  The report told the manager everything they had done as well as all of their calls (Daily To Dos) that they didn’t complete.  Quickly, managers were able to see what had been done and what had not been done.  Often, the manager would send the salesperson back to make more calls before they left.  Salespeople began to feel ashamed when they handed a manager their sheet that said they didn’t do anything which motivated them to make more calls.  The dealership drastically improved their follow up process and began to see an immediate increase in their sales.

Having a plan and setting goals is also an essential part of improving accountability.  It is crucial for salespeople to establish a set of daily, weekly and monthly benchmarks that help them measure and manage their ultimate goal.  If the goal of each salesperson is to sell X amount of cars, don’t focus on the end goal, but actually the activities that will help them reach that goal. It also helps if the salespeople are included in setting the goals.  If you do this, they should have a personal stake in the outcome.  Without inclusion, salespeople will figure out the best excuses in the world why they can’t achieve.

If you have a salesperson who isn’t taking responsibility then you may need to mentor them individually.  Focus on their behavior and the problems it is causing and not on the person.  They need to be held accountable for their actions which can include low prospecting activity, not meeting sales targets, or low margin sales.

As accountability grows, your salespeople will form a good habit of doing the things they must do on a regular basis and will help them on their way to becoming a top producing salesperson.

Hunter Swift is the Director of Sales Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift

As a vendor, these last couple weeks were pretty busy as we prepared for NADA.  It is amazing how much goes into an event like this in order to be successful.  NADA consists of some very long days and my body is still trying to recover.  The show was very good for us and I imagine it was for others as well.

The first thing that stood out to me; dealers had positive outlooks on the current and future conditions of the auto industry.  Dealers were eagerly looking for new and innovative products to buy.  There are sure a lot of vendors out there now.  Competition is good; it sparks innovation and keeps vendors having to improve in order to keep being competitive.

As dealers shopped different vendors it was interesting for me to hear what the technology, features, and benefits they liked.  But what was more interesting to me this year, was how many dealers seemed very interested in learning more about the companies, the leaders, the culture and its employees.

I heard multiple times dealers say they do business with people who they like.  I heard others say, it was important for them to really know and trust the people they give their money to.  Apart from technology, they also seemed interested in the customer service, the support and the company’s reputation in the industry and what their customers had to say about the company and its employees.

 I feel privileged to work for a company (DealerSocket) that prides itself for being a moral and ethical company.  A company that takes pride in offering services to dealers that they sincerely want to help be successful and works hard to make sure its customers can trust and respect them.  Working with people who have character, are trustworthy, honest, moral and ethical goes a long way and makes working with them a pleasure.  And these types of behaviors do not just come from how they perform when they are working but even when they are not.   This helps customers know that they can rely on us and we will be there for them when there is a need.

I think this can also apply to dealerships.  Apart from the design of the dealership, inventory, advertising and tools they use; customers also ultimately buy from those people who they like.  We need the customers to know they can trust and respect dealerships. This ultimately comes from their interaction with the people that work at your dealership.  Is moral and ethics an important part of your dealership and business model? Is it in-line with your personal morals and ethics?

Hunter

Hunter Swift is the Director of Sales Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift

As a vendor, these last couple weeks were pretty busy as we prepared for NADA.  It is amazing how much goes into an event like this in order to be successful.  NADA consists of some very long days and my body is still trying to recover.  The show was very good for us and I imagine it was for others as well.

The first thing that stood out to me; dealers had positive outlooks on the current and future conditions of the auto industry.  Dealers were eagerly looking for new and innovative products to buy.  There are sure a lot of vendors out there now.  Competition is good; it sparks innovation and keeps vendors having to improve in order to keep being competitive.

As dealers shopped different vendors it was interesting for me to hear what the technology, features, and benefits they liked.  But what was more interesting to me this year, was how many dealers seemed very interested in learning more about the companies, the leaders, the culture and its employees.

I heard multiple times dealers say they do business with people who they like.  I heard others say, it was important for them to really know and trust the people they give their money to.  Apart from technology, they also seemed interested in the customer service, the support and the company’s reputation in the industry and what their customers had to say about the company and its employees.

 I feel privileged to work for a company (DealerSocket) that prides itself for being a moral and ethical company.  A company that takes pride in offering services to dealers that they sincerely want to help be successful and works hard to make sure its customers can trust and respect them.  Working with people who have character, are trustworthy, honest, moral and ethical goes a long way and makes working with them a pleasure.  And these types of behaviors do not just come from how they perform when they are working but even when they are not.   This helps customers know that they can rely on us and we will be there for them when there is a need.

I think this can also apply to dealerships.  Apart from the design of the dealership, inventory, advertising and tools they use; customers also ultimately buy from those people who they like.  We need the customers to know they can trust and respect dealerships. This ultimately comes from their interaction with the people that work at your dealership.  Is moral and ethics an important part of your dealership and business model? Is it in-line with your personal morals and ethics?

Hunter

Hunter Swift is the Director of Sales Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift

I was recently reading an article on DrivingSales from Keith Shettery called Traffic Is Everything about the focus and solution for most dealerships in driving more traffic. Although I agree with Keith that driving traffic is important, I think an important part that is missing, is that most dealers look to drive traffic through "online reputation, SEO, PPC, CPM, websites, cable TV, radio, print, direct mail, email", etc and then we hope salespeople will use the CRM or even enter the traffic that comes into the dealership in the CRM.

There always seems to be this focus on leads and traffic that cost dealers money for a lead with little information and not even guarantied exclusivity. At every tradeshow I attend, almost all the speakers talk about driving more traffic. I agree with Keith that "traffic is everything" I wanted to write this article becuase I feel dealers should be focused using their CRM and driving traffic from existing data.

In your CRM you now know more about your customers than any time before or with any lead. We know:

• Every Call, Email, Letter, Text…
• Mailing Address, Phone Numbers, Email.
• Every Lead and Vehicle they have looked at.
• What Vehicle they own, have owned.
• Service History, Average RO.
• Estimated Mileage.
• Trade Value, Equity.
• Previous Deal Structure.
• Communication Preference.
• Bank Programs, Manufacture Incentives.
• plus more.

If you have access to all this data you should be using it to cater marketing and follow-up to that customer to drive traffic. Instead dealers are spending the majority of the effort and money to drive traffic marketing to the 98% that are not in the market versus focusing on the 2% that’s in the market.

Just look at the comparison between a Floor Up, Internet Lead and a Repeat Customer:

• Fresh Up: Closing 10%, Gross: Average, CSI: Average, Ad Spend: 70%
• Internet Lead: Closing 40%, Gross: Low, CSI: High, Ad Spend: 15%
• Repeat Customer: Closing 60%, Gross: High, CSI: High, Ad Spend: 5%

But where do most dealership focus their attention? Driving new traffic.

Most dealers don’t even know how to handle the traffic they do get. If 80% of your leads come from the phone and internet that means 80% of your “Success” is dependent on Appointments. And according to a DealerSocket research study of 346 dealers and 1,956,624 calls only 6% even included an attempt to set an appointment. Talk about missing huge opportunities with new traffic!

It doesn’t get any better on the lot. I attended Keith Shetterly’s session at Automotive Boot Camp this year where he said, “Only 25% to 35% of dealership visits get put into the CRM.” Dealers, Yikes! This means your marketing and analytics data could be off by over 75%!

If you initiate traffic from your CRM your salespeople are more likely to use it. Get your salespeople to think of their CRM as a pump; where the more they work the CRM the more that comes out of it.

Driving traffic is important. You have to look at what you are doing to drive traffic and manage the traffic efficiently. CRM's have an important role in this. I believe it is all about sending the right message, to the right person, at the right time.

Here is a list of marketing campaign ideas that yield high traffic returns:

• A customer life cycle (customer for life)
• Finance termination
• Extended warranty
• We want your trade
• Declined services
• Aftermarket accessories
• Customers in equity
• Bought elsewhere, service introduction
• High customer pay RO to new vehicle
• Future model introduction
• Lead escalation
• Sales notification of a customer in service


and the list goes on…

I would love to talk with any dealer who is looking to successfully drive more traffic to their store through the use of their CRM, regardless of which vendor.

Thanks Keith for sharing and inspiring me to write something.

Hunter

Hunter Swift is the Director of Sales Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift

I was recently reading an article on DrivingSales from Keith Shettery called Traffic Is Everything about the focus and solution for most dealerships in driving more traffic. Although I agree with Keith that driving traffic is important, I think an important part that is missing, is that most dealers look to drive traffic through "online reputation, SEO, PPC, CPM, websites, cable TV, radio, print, direct mail, email", etc and then we hope salespeople will use the CRM or even enter the traffic that comes into the dealership in the CRM.

There always seems to be this focus on leads and traffic that cost dealers money for a lead with little information and not even guarantied exclusivity. At every tradeshow I attend, almost all the speakers talk about driving more traffic. I agree with Keith that "traffic is everything" I wanted to write this article becuase I feel dealers should be focused using their CRM and driving traffic from existing data.

In your CRM you now know more about your customers than any time before or with any lead. We know:

• Every Call, Email, Letter, Text…
• Mailing Address, Phone Numbers, Email.
• Every Lead and Vehicle they have looked at.
• What Vehicle they own, have owned.
• Service History, Average RO.
• Estimated Mileage.
• Trade Value, Equity.
• Previous Deal Structure.
• Communication Preference.
• Bank Programs, Manufacture Incentives.
• plus more.

If you have access to all this data you should be using it to cater marketing and follow-up to that customer to drive traffic. Instead dealers are spending the majority of the effort and money to drive traffic marketing to the 98% that are not in the market versus focusing on the 2% that’s in the market.

Just look at the comparison between a Floor Up, Internet Lead and a Repeat Customer:

• Fresh Up: Closing 10%, Gross: Average, CSI: Average, Ad Spend: 70%
• Internet Lead: Closing 40%, Gross: Low, CSI: High, Ad Spend: 15%
• Repeat Customer: Closing 60%, Gross: High, CSI: High, Ad Spend: 5%

But where do most dealership focus their attention? Driving new traffic.

Most dealers don’t even know how to handle the traffic they do get. If 80% of your leads come from the phone and internet that means 80% of your “Success” is dependent on Appointments. And according to a DealerSocket research study of 346 dealers and 1,956,624 calls only 6% even included an attempt to set an appointment. Talk about missing huge opportunities with new traffic!

It doesn’t get any better on the lot. I attended Keith Shetterly’s session at Automotive Boot Camp this year where he said, “Only 25% to 35% of dealership visits get put into the CRM.” Dealers, Yikes! This means your marketing and analytics data could be off by over 75%!

If you initiate traffic from your CRM your salespeople are more likely to use it. Get your salespeople to think of their CRM as a pump; where the more they work the CRM the more that comes out of it.

Driving traffic is important. You have to look at what you are doing to drive traffic and manage the traffic efficiently. CRM's have an important role in this. I believe it is all about sending the right message, to the right person, at the right time.

Here is a list of marketing campaign ideas that yield high traffic returns:

• A customer life cycle (customer for life)
• Finance termination
• Extended warranty
• We want your trade
• Declined services
• Aftermarket accessories
• Customers in equity
• Bought elsewhere, service introduction
• High customer pay RO to new vehicle
• Future model introduction
• Lead escalation
• Sales notification of a customer in service


and the list goes on…

I would love to talk with any dealer who is looking to successfully drive more traffic to their store through the use of their CRM, regardless of which vendor.

Thanks Keith for sharing and inspiring me to write something.

Hunter

Hunter Swift is the Director of Sales Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift

Current technology is geared toward mobility, convenience, easy accessibility of information, and staying connected. I can still recall a time when a cell phone was something of luxury; a commodity that only a few select considered a need. Today, according to Erin Touponse, President of the ElmGroup Consulting, “92% of adults in the U.S. own smart phones.” Society has gone mobile! This is something of a phenomenon when you consider how dependent we have become to our mobile devices. If you’ve ever gone a day without your mobile device, then you must know the anxiety that begins to set in from feeling a sense of disconnection from “the world.” Technology has also empowered consumers by allowing them the amenity of information at all times. With such a shift in the buying process, naturally, businesses must adapt to their customer’s buying habits and mimic the way in which a customer prefers to communicate. For these reasons, dealerships cannot help but to implement a mobile CRM tool, that enables them to mobilize their reps, add convenience to the buying process, empower them with product information, and maintain a connection with their customers.

Utilizing a Mobile CRM application is helping dealers capture 39% more fresh ups. It also helps creates a transparent and convenient customer experience. One dealer, after implementing a Mobile CRM app, noted that “customers seem more comfortable giving their information to staff when they are standing in front of them with an iPad or smart phone, rather than the employee needing to run to a computer. This allows the dealership to capture more data, more quickly, which leads to better follow-up by the salespeople.” Putting the customer in a comfortable situation to make a buying decision is fundamental, seeing as how people can research to the point of exhaustion when buying a car. Touponse states that “individuals will spend a total of 19 hours researching a car purchase.” A convenient customer experience should minimize the time it takes to complete a vehicle purchase, something a Mobile CRM app can help achieve by enabling the sales representative to easily log in information on the lot or on a demo. With more data captured, the follow-up process becomes very effective and allows for improvement by measuring sales results from marketing processes.

The Hawthorne Effect which says that “what gets measured gets improved,” rings true in an industry where measuring ROI is a key factor to success and maintaining business doors open. By fully integrating the Mobile app with the core CRM, the CRM tool is able to track inbound and outbound calls, linking customer records to such calls and logging in completed activities. A sales representative can also respond to inbound leads and “stop the clock.” By putting a stop to the “clock” sooner with the Mobile CRM app, the dealership can better qualify for special manufacturer incentives and bonuses, which is based on the response time to a lead. Because the Mobile app enables its users the ability to access key functionalities 24/7, it increases the capacity to measure and improve employee and dealership performance. Such key functionalities like: inventory searchability, VIN barcode scanning, quick sales event creation, the ability to receive and respond to new lead alerts and to-dos, the ability to email or text electronic vehicle brochures, and usability of email templates when responding or sending a new email. Sales reps should be excited at the fact that they can do what they do best; engage with customers on the lot in a more personable fashion and not be bogged down behind the desk.

A Mobile CRM app also assists the needs of managers. With a Mobile app, managers are able to not only manage multiple dealerships with a mobile sales dashboard, but also oversee the activity of the dealership, even to the point of knowing what an individual sales person has pending or up-and-coming on their plate. In so many ways, a Mobile app enables dealerships to track and measure multiple actions that are then reflected back on the actual desktop CRM. With a Mobile app, the power of the desktop CRM is now at the palm of the user’s hand.

A Mobile CRM should also enable its user to communicate with a customer via phone, email, and text without the need of a computer. Text messaging specifically is something that is not too often considered as a means to improve the customer’s buying experience. Having all three modes of communication puts the dealership in a position to give the customer choices to be communicated with in the manner that fits with their lifestyle. It is plain to see, when people have the choice to communicate using their mobile device, that some people prefer texting, some are more email inclined, and others opt for a simple phone call. According to a poll taken by Nielsen in 2012 to 2013, 94.4% of smartphone users send text messages on their devices, while 87% of US smartphone owners regularly send and receive texts on their devices. The same poll noted that US women text on their mobile phones 14% more than men. With such staggering statistics on texting, it behooves a dealership to leverage this technology on their Mobile CRM app for their sales and service departments.

Staying with the times and adapting to the communicative trends of consumers is key to, what Ron Willingham, author of “Integrity Selling For The 21^st Century,” says is “selling the way people want to buy.” A mobile application that gives dealerships the edge in enabling fluid communication, sales, and marketing processes, is the turnkey solution that differentiates “old school” from “new school.” With a reliable Mobile CRM app dealerships can expect to have mobility, convenience, easy accessibility of information, and stay connected with their customers to be a part of their social network.

Do you have a reliable Mobile app that ingrates with your CRM?

Is it downloadable now on iTunes and Android?

What success stories have you experienced with Mobile CRM?

Hunter Swift is the Manager of Market Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift

Current technology is geared toward mobility, convenience, easy accessibility of information, and staying connected. I can still recall a time when a cell phone was something of luxury; a commodity that only a few select considered a need. Today, according to Erin Touponse, President of the ElmGroup Consulting, “92% of adults in the U.S. own smart phones.” Society has gone mobile! This is something of a phenomenon when you consider how dependent we have become to our mobile devices. If you’ve ever gone a day without your mobile device, then you must know the anxiety that begins to set in from feeling a sense of disconnection from “the world.” Technology has also empowered consumers by allowing them the amenity of information at all times. With such a shift in the buying process, naturally, businesses must adapt to their customer’s buying habits and mimic the way in which a customer prefers to communicate. For these reasons, dealerships cannot help but to implement a mobile CRM tool, that enables them to mobilize their reps, add convenience to the buying process, empower them with product information, and maintain a connection with their customers.

Utilizing a Mobile CRM application is helping dealers capture 39% more fresh ups. It also helps creates a transparent and convenient customer experience. One dealer, after implementing a Mobile CRM app, noted that “customers seem more comfortable giving their information to staff when they are standing in front of them with an iPad or smart phone, rather than the employee needing to run to a computer. This allows the dealership to capture more data, more quickly, which leads to better follow-up by the salespeople.” Putting the customer in a comfortable situation to make a buying decision is fundamental, seeing as how people can research to the point of exhaustion when buying a car. Touponse states that “individuals will spend a total of 19 hours researching a car purchase.” A convenient customer experience should minimize the time it takes to complete a vehicle purchase, something a Mobile CRM app can help achieve by enabling the sales representative to easily log in information on the lot or on a demo. With more data captured, the follow-up process becomes very effective and allows for improvement by measuring sales results from marketing processes.

The Hawthorne Effect which says that “what gets measured gets improved,” rings true in an industry where measuring ROI is a key factor to success and maintaining business doors open. By fully integrating the Mobile app with the core CRM, the CRM tool is able to track inbound and outbound calls, linking customer records to such calls and logging in completed activities. A sales representative can also respond to inbound leads and “stop the clock.” By putting a stop to the “clock” sooner with the Mobile CRM app, the dealership can better qualify for special manufacturer incentives and bonuses, which is based on the response time to a lead. Because the Mobile app enables its users the ability to access key functionalities 24/7, it increases the capacity to measure and improve employee and dealership performance. Such key functionalities like: inventory searchability, VIN barcode scanning, quick sales event creation, the ability to receive and respond to new lead alerts and to-dos, the ability to email or text electronic vehicle brochures, and usability of email templates when responding or sending a new email. Sales reps should be excited at the fact that they can do what they do best; engage with customers on the lot in a more personable fashion and not be bogged down behind the desk.

A Mobile CRM app also assists the needs of managers. With a Mobile app, managers are able to not only manage multiple dealerships with a mobile sales dashboard, but also oversee the activity of the dealership, even to the point of knowing what an individual sales person has pending or up-and-coming on their plate. In so many ways, a Mobile app enables dealerships to track and measure multiple actions that are then reflected back on the actual desktop CRM. With a Mobile app, the power of the desktop CRM is now at the palm of the user’s hand.

A Mobile CRM should also enable its user to communicate with a customer via phone, email, and text without the need of a computer. Text messaging specifically is something that is not too often considered as a means to improve the customer’s buying experience. Having all three modes of communication puts the dealership in a position to give the customer choices to be communicated with in the manner that fits with their lifestyle. It is plain to see, when people have the choice to communicate using their mobile device, that some people prefer texting, some are more email inclined, and others opt for a simple phone call. According to a poll taken by Nielsen in 2012 to 2013, 94.4% of smartphone users send text messages on their devices, while 87% of US smartphone owners regularly send and receive texts on their devices. The same poll noted that US women text on their mobile phones 14% more than men. With such staggering statistics on texting, it behooves a dealership to leverage this technology on their Mobile CRM app for their sales and service departments.

Staying with the times and adapting to the communicative trends of consumers is key to, what Ron Willingham, author of “Integrity Selling For The 21^st Century,” says is “selling the way people want to buy.” A mobile application that gives dealerships the edge in enabling fluid communication, sales, and marketing processes, is the turnkey solution that differentiates “old school” from “new school.” With a reliable Mobile CRM app dealerships can expect to have mobility, convenience, easy accessibility of information, and stay connected with their customers to be a part of their social network.

Do you have a reliable Mobile app that ingrates with your CRM?

Is it downloadable now on iTunes and Android?

What success stories have you experienced with Mobile CRM?

Hunter Swift is the Manager of Market Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift

I was recently talking to a dealer about how to handle his "No longer owned" vehicles in his CRM. I was surprised to learn that his CRM didn't have this feature. In my opinion, having a CRM with the ability to automatically Inactivate Vehicles, is one of those features that is a must have.

DealerSocket has 4 ways we recognize a vehicle as “No longer owned” (inactivated) on individual customer records.

1.       Vehicle Trade In - Customer Trades in their car that they originally purchased from the same dealership.

Ex. Bob buys a 2003 GMC Yukon from ABC dealership, 5 years later… I decide to trade that same vehicle to ABC dealership and buy another car.  The DMS sends DealerSocket this information as part of the Sold Transaction and we recognize that the Trade In was a car Bob previously purchased and we “Inactivate it” as a vehicle that is no longer owned on that customer record.

2.       Closed RO - A Service Customer closes a repair order on a vehicle that another customer originally purchased from the dealership.

Ex. Bob buys a 2003 GMC Yukon from ABC dealership, 5 years later… Bob sells the vehicle privately to John.  John decides to service that vehicle at ABC dealership.  DealerSocket recognizes that a different customer now owns that vehicle and “Inactivates” that vehicle on Bob’s customer record.

3.       Email Marketing - A customer receives an Email from the dealership and clicks on a link telling the dealer they no longer own the car referenced in the email.

Ex. A dealer might decide to enable a campaign targeting customers that purchased 3 years ago, offering to purchase their vehicles.  When customers click on the link stating they no longer own their vehicle, DealerSocket knows to no longer market to customers based on that Year, Make, and Model that was inactivated.  All ongoing service reminders, recall notices, and tailored messages based on that vehicle will be stopped.

4.       Service Scheduler - Service Appointment Scheduling Process

Ex. A customer decides to either book an appointment through the mobile garage, website, or over the phone.  As part of that process, the customer can easily tell the dealer through that process that they no longer own certain vehicles.

The true value of a CRM is its ability to send TARGETED RELEVANT messages to customers/prospects. 

The result of doing CRM right through automatically inactivating vehicles:

1.       Improves Campaign ROI by helping dealers spend less on collateral

2.       Opt outs are decreased due to more relevant targeted messages being sent

3.       Customer CSI goes up because customers aren’t annoyed

4.       Database management is improved by having ongoing updates to vehicle ownership on customers

Hunter Swift is the Manager of Market Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift

I was recently talking to a dealer about how to handle his "No longer owned" vehicles in his CRM. I was surprised to learn that his CRM didn't have this feature. In my opinion, having a CRM with the ability to automatically Inactivate Vehicles, is one of those features that is a must have.

DealerSocket has 4 ways we recognize a vehicle as “No longer owned” (inactivated) on individual customer records.

1.       Vehicle Trade In - Customer Trades in their car that they originally purchased from the same dealership.

Ex. Bob buys a 2003 GMC Yukon from ABC dealership, 5 years later… I decide to trade that same vehicle to ABC dealership and buy another car.  The DMS sends DealerSocket this information as part of the Sold Transaction and we recognize that the Trade In was a car Bob previously purchased and we “Inactivate it” as a vehicle that is no longer owned on that customer record.

2.       Closed RO - A Service Customer closes a repair order on a vehicle that another customer originally purchased from the dealership.

Ex. Bob buys a 2003 GMC Yukon from ABC dealership, 5 years later… Bob sells the vehicle privately to John.  John decides to service that vehicle at ABC dealership.  DealerSocket recognizes that a different customer now owns that vehicle and “Inactivates” that vehicle on Bob’s customer record.

3.       Email Marketing - A customer receives an Email from the dealership and clicks on a link telling the dealer they no longer own the car referenced in the email.

Ex. A dealer might decide to enable a campaign targeting customers that purchased 3 years ago, offering to purchase their vehicles.  When customers click on the link stating they no longer own their vehicle, DealerSocket knows to no longer market to customers based on that Year, Make, and Model that was inactivated.  All ongoing service reminders, recall notices, and tailored messages based on that vehicle will be stopped.

4.       Service Scheduler - Service Appointment Scheduling Process

Ex. A customer decides to either book an appointment through the mobile garage, website, or over the phone.  As part of that process, the customer can easily tell the dealer through that process that they no longer own certain vehicles.

The true value of a CRM is its ability to send TARGETED RELEVANT messages to customers/prospects. 

The result of doing CRM right through automatically inactivating vehicles:

1.       Improves Campaign ROI by helping dealers spend less on collateral

2.       Opt outs are decreased due to more relevant targeted messages being sent

3.       Customer CSI goes up because customers aren’t annoyed

4.       Database management is improved by having ongoing updates to vehicle ownership on customers

Hunter Swift is the Manager of Market Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. He specializes in helping dealerships improve processes through the use of CRM technology. Prior to DealerSocket he sold cars and is a graduate of Pepperdine University.

Follow him: @HunterSwift