Every dealership has a script: a preconfigured, tried-and-true reel of company footage and the same tagline plastered onto each commercial. “President’s Day Sale”, “End of Year Clearance Event”, ad nauseam until the script can be recited by anyone within earshot. And then you forget about that dealership until the next holiday.

Welcome to 21st-century advertising in the automotive industry. It’s been Groundhog Day for what feels like decades. Floor and phone sales still dominate much of the market, and the interaction between dealers and customers after purchase is nonexistent. When 92-99 percent of your audience would rather engage with the online market than talk to sales professionals, you’ll find a distinct void sucking up sales within the industry. Impersonal commercials and greeting cards won’t bring kindle to that fire.

This has partially to do with a complete absence of strategy. Inconsistent communication and a general lack of aggression in driving sales put otherwise prominent dealerships behind the Eight-Ball. Our own LA Williams, known for igniting latent talent in sales professionals, once ran a “Power Hour” exercise to see just how motivated he could get his clients to be. Tactfully, however, he wasn’t measuring the top performers; instead, he chose to focus on the lowest scorers. They resulted in an average of 37 calls in an hour’s time. That’s 37 ways a dealership could capitalize on Internet phone sales but weren’t. That foundation needs to be cemented into the minds of each and every sales professional.

“But not everyone is going to answer their phones”, you might argue. And that’s a valid point. Have you asked your sales professionals how else they’ve contacted potential leads? If they’re flexing all of their talents behind phone calls, they’ve already lost. Emails, however, begin the building process for developing leads into customers. But email alone is one aspect to taking charge of your leads. A coalition of sales professionals and managers should take charge of these leads. You should know the strengths of your team better than anyone. If you’re the best phone sales professional in the office, get your coordinators involved in the email process. What seems like a wasted resource is actually an interpersonal attempt at engaging with buyers, inquiring with different perspectives.

Then go beyond that. Don’t just call a customer or a lead: video chat them. Get them into your lot without visiting it. Let them see the face behind the phone call or the email. Reassure your audience. Offer them live advice that gets them to stay engaged. We live in a society of instant gratification, and by providing the knowledge at their convenience wins over potential buyers that would otherwise block a cold call.

Just getting leads to your dealership isn’t enough. You need to keep winning them over. Customers deserve to feel like you’ve earned their trust. Something as simple as a video message wishing them a happy birthday or a festive video wishing them well during the holidays keeps the dealership in the back of their minds as a friendly and trusted source. There may be hiccups along the way, and potential clientele might take to the Internet to vent their frustrations or offer criticism. That’s why it’s vital to address these concerns. Don’t just apologize for the poor experience; learn from it, make it a priority to root out the issue and address how best to rectify it. Contact these people and understand where you lost their trust. Try to earn it back, and don’t burn the bridge. Every lead was worth the effort, and it’s vital to retain a positive standing with your clients. Be transparent in your approach to making their experience better than the last dealer.  Do everything in your power to “suck less than the other dealers”.

There’s a sense of “set it and forget it” that has plagued the way dealerships market themselves. It’s easy to insert the strategies that have worked decades ago to chase leads. That doesn’t help the ship without a captain. Steering a ship without a course makes your strategies lost at sea. Guiding your customers beyond the initial journey offers gives them a reason to sail with you over and over. It’s vital to make your CRM an ongoing experience to make leads and clients remember you. Otherwise, you’ll end up another regurgitated commercial during holiday weekends.

http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/ 856-546-2440

Dealers, Do Not Forget About Your Receptionist - Make Money Mondays - Special Edition

In this week's Episode of Make Money Mondays Special Edition, Toni Anne Fardette, Business Development Director of the Atlantic Auto Group and The Billion Dollar Girl, explains the importance of training your receptionist. Most Dealerships do not take the time to make sure their receptionist is properly trained. Remember, the receptionist is ofter the first impression and first point of contact with potential customer. Taking the time to make sure they know how to check in appointments and use the CRM properly will help streamline your process.

If you like Make Money Mondays, you will love Bradley On Demand: http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/
856-546-2440

For more information about Dealer Synergy, visit http://www.DealerSynergy.com/

Sign up now for the next Internet Sales 20 Group in Philadelphia July 10-12th!
http://internetsales20group.com

If you have any questions, call or text Sean on his cell 267-319-6776.

http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/ 856-546-2440

Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley -The New Road to the Sale

In this week's Episode of Make Money Mondays Sean V. Bradley, President of Dealer Synergy, explains the importance in reviewing your dealership's Road to the Sale. While every dealership has a variation of the Road to the Sale, most of the core steps are present in everyone's process. Some new technologies are causing dealerships to change or modify their Road to the Sale.

Sign up now for Internet Sales 20 Group 10 in Philadelphia, PA July 10-12, 2017!
http://internetsales20group.com

To visit all of our Make Money Mondays in one place visit: http://www.MakeMoneyMondays.net/

If you like Make Money Mondays, you will love Bradley On Demand: http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/
856-546-2440

For more information about Dealer Synergy, visit http://www.DealerSynergy.com/

If you have any questions, call or text Sean on his cell 267-319-6776.

http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/ 856-546-2440 

Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - Revive Your Dead Leads

In this week's Episode of Make Money Mondays Sean explains why you should NEVER give up on your Dead Leads! There are multiple reasons why people dead their leads and if they haven't followed through on the process then they may not be dead! Focus on your dead leads if you have no others to follow. 

To visit all of our Make Money Mondays in one place visit: http://www.MakeMoneyMondays.net/

If you like Make Money Mondays, you will love Bradley On Demand: http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/ 
856-546-2440 

For more information about Dealer Synergy, visit http://www.DealerSynergy.com/

Sign up now for the next Internet Sales 20 Group!
http://internetsales20group.com

If you have any questions, call or text Sean on his cell 267-319-6776.

http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/ 856-546-2440

In this week's Episode of Make Money Mondays Dealer Synergy's President, Sean V. Bradley walks you through what you hold do if a lead bought a car elsewhere. Most sales peoples would dead the lead and never come back. Sean says that you should treat the dead lead as if you where the one who sold them the car. By putting in the time and effort to follow up with this customer, even if they bought elsewhere, would open up opportunities to convert them to your service drive or gain a referral..

Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - How to Handle Dead Leads That Where Bought Elsewhere

If you like Make Money Mondays, you will love Bradley On Demand: http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com/
856-546-2440

For more information about Dealer Synergy, visit http://www.DealerSynergy.com/

Sign up now for the next Internet Sales 20 Group!
http://internetsales20group.com

If you have any questions, call or text Sean on his cell 267-319-6776.

In this week's Episode of Make Money Mondays Dealer Synergy's President, Sean V. Bradley gives advise for Managers to make sure your employees are using the CRM the right way. A lot of dealerships do not use their CRM properly by forgetting data or duplicating leads. Sean breaks down a method to make sure everyone in the dealership is using the CRM.

http://www.DealerVideoProduction.com 856-546-2440

Example of An Effective Video Email Template For Your CRM

EXAMPLE of an AWESOME Video Email Template for the "End of The Month". Dealerships should be creating a Video Email Template Library and programming their CRM action plans to deploy automatically. Remember a video in an email increases "read open rates" 200-300%

7 Ways to Mix Up Your Auto Dealership Marketing

Written by Jason Unrau on 09/30/2016

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Like most of you that read this blog, I’ve spend years and years in the automotive industry. I’ve become immune to the sales techniques and upsells, just like most of you have. When I get my vehicle serviced or repaired, I am able to objectively make decisions about each item’s urgency.

But when it comes to our customers, we don’t usually think they’re on the same level as us. We think they should blindly trust what we tell them, because we are the experts after all. We’re surprised when they’re skeptical of the repairs we try to sell them. They decline repairs that are obviously safety related.

It’s our fault.

You see, we don’t give our customers enough credit. They’re intelligent about their cars and you can only expect their blind trust once you’ve built a relationship. To do so, you need to speak with them on your level as an expert and reach out in a way that is most convenient to them, your paying client. It’s a surefire way of delighting your customers.

Would you approve repairs without knowing the full story?

If your car is in for its $50 oil change and you’re approached about a $500 oil leak the technician just noticed, would you blindly approve the work? Probably not. You’d want to see it, wouldn’t you? Your customers are the same way. They aren’t inclined to place their trust in your dealership’s service department, especially not until you’ve given them a reason to do so.

Build that trust with your customers by providing proof of the required repairs and maintenance. Take photos or video of the problem areas, then send them off to your customer. When they can visualize the issue on their car, it’s undeniable. It’s trustworthy. And that’s when the wallet will open more freely.

Your DMS system may have something like this already built into it. Or maybe it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, find a way to make it happen. AutoVitals Inc. has a solution known as SmartFlow that is revolutionizing the service department from front to back, and it includes a slick way for technicians to take pictures and video of any issues, including a walkaround inspection. I can’t see how it WON’T improve your ability to close on sales.

Contact customers on their terms

Did you know that your customers aren’t inclined to answer a phone call? You knew that, yet you still expect them to answer when you call them throughout the day. 98 percent of text messages are opened within the first minute of receiving them, and most people respond to those messages right away. Businesspeople and those how can’t answer their cell phones at work can usually respond to a text message, making it a more reliable method of contact than the telephone.

Email is on a slight decline in popularity, although it’s still more effective than waiting for someone to call you back from a voicemail message. The additional benefit to both text message and email messages it the ability to send attachments. Have a photo or video you want your customer to see? Include it in your message! Have a quick repair quote they can authorize by text? It could save you several valuable minutes over a lengthy phone call, trying to explain what needs repair and why.

However, if you can’t implement text messaging or email communication as effective methods of customer contact, the phone is better than nothing! Be consistent, contacting customers regularly throughout the day so there’s no worry about how their vehicle is doing.

As a rule of thumb, be the one to reach out to your customer before they can contact you. If they have contacted you first, you can bet that they’ve already been stewing about the lack of contact for a while. It’s the kind of customer that is more likely to give you a bad survey response or decline repairs on the basis of principle.

When you’re timely in your communication and are able to back up your upsells and repair estimates with photo or video proof, rest assured, your customers will be exponentially more satisfied. There will be less complaints to management, higher conversion rates on estimates, and the bottom line is guaranteed to increase. 

Source: http://www.drivingsales.com/jason-unrau/blog/contacting-customers-on-their-terms

In this week's Episode of Make Money Mondays Dealer Synergy's President, Sean V. Bradley gives us advise on streamline your workflow. You need to keep it simple and focus on the basics. It is not about being fancy or knowing everything, it's about showing up with the desire and hunger to be successful.

http://www.bradleyondemand.com 856-546-2440

Sean V. Bradley, President of Dealer Synergy Interviews Dan Moore, Sr. Director of Marketing at VinSolutions. A leading provider of Automotive CRM and other solutions. VinSolutions attracts, sells, satisfies, and retains your customers more profitably. VinSolutions consolidates data from all areas of the dealership to enhance the dealer’s external marketing and internal dealership management. An industry-leading developer of Internet-based desking, automotive CRM and Internet lead management (ILM) software, VinSolutions helps dealers find, sell and keep more customer profitably. In addition to CRM, ILM and Inventory control products, VinSolutions builds award winning custom SEO optimized dealership Web sites, mobile Web sites, uploads and brands inventory photos and videos.

Want to learn more about Dealer Synergy? Check out http://www.DealerSynergy.com

In this week's Episode of Make Money Mondays Dealer Synergy's President, Sean V. Bradley gets passionate about using your CRM the correct way! Most BDCs are set up wrong which means you are not utilizing all of your leads! Separate your CRM into 6 different categories...watch this week's video to find out what those 6 are. 

If you want to turn your CRM into an ATM, you need to integrate it with your BDC. In order to do this, you should make sure that all processes are mapped out in all of your departments. The reason why most CRM's fail is because the CRM is not set up properly. If you want your BDC to be successful, then you should be focusing on making your CRM successful as well. Make sure that your CRM is mapped out for Internet lead management, set up proper inbound and outbound action plans, map out outbound, video emails, and texts. You want to make sure that all communication points are integrated, including social media. Now, what should you be doing with dead leads?

You should redirect your dead lead to a service opportunity or a referral. You should do this because NADA say that if someone buys a car today, someone else in their household will buy a car within 90 days. On the service side, a customer is seven times as likely to purchase a vehicle from where they service their car. Just because you lost a sale, doesn't mean that you lose a service deal or a referral. Remember that the R in CRM stands for relationship. You need to have your CRM mapped out with birthdays, anniversaries, service appointments, holidays, etc. Think of your CRM as an ATM. In order to make withdrawals, you need to make deposits. Understand that your BDC and your CRM are synergistic and dependent upon each other. 

If you want more virtual training check out http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com

For more information on the Automotive Industry check out http://www.AutomotiveInternetSales.com

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www.VinSolutions.com

What Has Been Your Experience With VinSolutions?

With any large company there will be lovers and haters but as a national consultant, it is my responsibility to identify the truth and value of any and all corporations that effect dealerships, especially my Dealer Synergy clients.

I posted a simple question on my Facebook and in less than 24 hours it received almost 200 comments. It seems that there are a lot of people that have an opinion about VinSolutions. There were a lot of people passionate in their positions! It shows that CRMs are very important for a dealership to be successful. Even more important is that dealerships choose the right partner to help them achieve that success.

Here is the "Cut and Paste" from my Facebook Thread.

* I would LOVE to hear your thoughts and experiences about VinSolutions.

#CarPeople I want to get your opinion about VinSolutions as a CRM. I have a lot of Dealer Synergy clients that have been giving some candid feedback and I want to ask my network here on Facebook your thoughts. I am curious to hear from DEALERS, NOT from Vinsolutions or their employees. Please let me know what you like and what you do NOT like. As a national consultant and trainer, It is very important to gauge what the dealers are thinking so I can make the best decisions and provide my clients with the most accurate feedback. Thank you all in advance- —

Shane Locke It's great for the salesmen as far as accountability goes , you have to complete tasks or u cannot input a new customer . Internet sales is another story , dealer peak was great from a internet perspective . Dealer peak allows you to make high volume calls without losing your place with the "last action" option . We miss dealer peak.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Thank you Shane Locke for the feedback. I too think that DealerPeak is a good tool!

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Stanley Damer I'm a dealer in the D. Bout to sign up with there new web platform that's adaptive with mobile! Great new product. Other than this platform I never been impressed with them. Sean V. Bradley Csp if ur interested with the best CRM that all us large ford dealers use in Detroit message me! Ford are high volume in the D and follow up is the key (33 ford dealers in 3 counties) let me kno. Love money Mondays

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Stanley Damer Thank you so much for your insight!

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John Roberts Like Shane said, the accountability of Vin is great. The main drawbacks I find with it is a lack of inventory page for salespeople and it does not remove a no longer owned car from marketing campaigns, so you find need your trade emails going to people that no longer have the particular car.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp I would love for you to post here what the CRM company that you DO prefer on this thread but if you prefer not to make your opinion public I respect that. I guess it is enough that you do NOT recommend their CRM...

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Sean V. Bradley Csp John Roberts, Thank you very much. Shane Locke is on top of his game... like it seems you are! I appreciate your opinion

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John Roberts One other issue I forgot to mention, Vin does not update from DMS, so if something changes in DMS it will not push to Vin.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp That can be frustrating

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Gary Reed Been using Eleads, seems to be working pretty good. I thought it was a jr. Vin solutions crm as I have used Vin before.

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Kristin Buckley Don't even get me started.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp I have also heard some really good things about eleads!

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Kristin Buckley please do, you have been a valued Dealer Synergy client for a LONG time and are a Veteran of the Internet Sales 20 Group events and even a "Best Idea" contest winner. Your Ford dealership has been in business for OVER 100 years! I would LOVE to hear your opinion

Kristin Buckley Okay... Let's see.. Their "support" sucks. No one ever knew what they were talking about, they could only ever "open a ticket".

We couldn't get one good, accurate report to come out of that thing they like to call a CRM/ILM to save a life.

Anyone who has any type of BDC should just track everything on paper and save themselves a shit ton of money because it is definitely NOT designed to work based off of your dealership. They definitely think you should run your store based off of how they have their CRM set up.

Oh, and Sean Rancier was the worst account manager I've EVER dealt with (and I deal with almost all of our vendors). He told me he had too many accounts to pay attention to us, and if I wanted a certain report I should learn how to make them myself because support was only there to try and fix something if it breaks, not create reports for us.. I wonder if I still have his emails........

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Brian Keith Redmond and James D Brafford say hello to RC Lacy Ford Lincoln Subaru

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Sean V. Bradley Csp WOW! I am sorry to hear that Kristin Buckley.

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Kristin Buckley DealerPeak has been amazing. Their staff always knows what's going on, they definitely communicate with each other, and go out of their way to try and make their tool work around our stores processes.

My favorite part is the fact that it's not just set up for "admin" "manager"
And "salesmen" logins. They control each piece individually.

I wanted the salespeople to be able to close out their own sales and 15 minutes later they all had access to it.

If I have a suggestion on something they either work on changing things, or at least give us the option to have it built for us by their support team. Couldn't be happier

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Sean V. Bradley Csp I am very happy to hear that! Jock Schowalter Joel Matteson and the rest of the DealerPeak is AWESOME!

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Sean V. Bradley Csp For the record, Dealer Synergy works with 13 DIFFERENT CRM / ILM companies with dealerships all over the country. I am VENDOR neutral. I only want to know what dealers like and don't like and why-

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John Roberts Thought of another, any problems that come up they want three samples before opening a case. Not everything happens in threes.

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Megan S Barto DISCLAIMER: I am a dealer.
I love VinSolutions. We've been on them since 2007 and every issue I've ever had has been rectified.
As far as "support ticket issues" - find out who your Performance Manager is - go through them. The custom reports are amazing. I have 20-30 of them set up for just about every person that needs any kind of reporting. Including salespeople! "Save A Deal" - delivered to my sales professionals email inboxes. Daily. With their ups.
Salespeople CAN close out their own visits - or they can't. If you don't trust your Green Pea? Don't let them close out visits! VinSolutions does integrate bi-directionally with your DMS - all it takes is a simple phone call to set it up. Id anyone needs any help with VinSolutions - let me know - I'd be happy to help!

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Thank you Megan S Barto You have been nationally recognized for your Internet Success. I appreciate your insight-

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Kristin Buckley My performance manager was the biggest problem we had.

The system wouldn't track customers for our BDC reps at all.. Once it was switched over to a salesperson it stopped tracking for them. I tried like hell to make that system work for us because it costs so much money to switch systems, plus loss is customers etc. but it just wasn't going to happen. I am very computer savvy and I knew that system inside and out.. The problem is that not everyone was/is that savvy and VinSolutions is complicated for the average user

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Kristin Buckley did you meet Megan S Barto at our Internet Sales 20 Group ?

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Kristin Buckley Not officially but I know of her. We were on Auto Dealer Live together once

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Megan S Barto Kristin - you can assign specific BDC agents and there's even a system report (not a custom report) that's "Performance by BDC Agent" which makes a FANTASTIC tracking/breakdown sheet. And if you don't like your PM - you can ask to have them changed!

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Kristin Buckley I know the report.. We had a problem with it because it would round robin a BDC agent onto every customer added to the system. So it was definitely not accurate. Believe me, I spent a lot of time on the phone with whoever would listen to me from Vin. It wasn't designed to work with our store and by the end of it they could have completely redesigned their tool and I wouldn't have used it if they paid me to.

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Megan S Barto The nice thing about VinSolutions is there's a work around for just about everything. Just in certain situations - you just need to find a Performance Manager with some knowledge of the system and some imagination.

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Kristin Buckley I imagined that system going right out the window.... And it was so weird because the next thing I knew, it was gone.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp LOL!

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Subi Fernando Ghosh I'm no longer a dealer, but it's been less than a year after 6 years in a showroom but I had vin (among others) and had a single really bad experience. when I took it to them, they addressed my issues, took input for opportunities to help the platform and really dove into great options with reporting. I ended up with a strong vin relationship with my reps after they helped me out. I will say that their new restructuring efforts have made huge differences for the better. I'm impressed with their direction and growth in the last year. I would definitely recommend them but ensure (like with any Crm switch) that they have an individual in house that understands the ins and outs of CRM for proper set up. My experience is that poor set ups usually set the tone for poor experiences with CRMs. I've even had a great experience with ADPs CRM that most complain about after setting up a great partnership for my dealer group.

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John Roberts I would love to find out about getting ours to be Bi-directional. Don't take my posts wrong, I do not hate Vin, it is head and shoulders above our previous CRM, just wish a few things were better.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp This is not an Anti VinSolutions thread. This is a clarity thread. We have heard from numerous people naming the pros and cons of the tool

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John Roberts I agree, just want to make clear my feelings

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Absolutely! Thank you so much for your insight

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Kristin Buckley The way Subi and Megan talk about vin is how I feel about dealerpeak. The entire staff has treated me like gold and I love the fact that I can name probably half of their staff by their first names. Not only does their tool work so much better for our store, and performance wise, but they're less expensive.

Having been treated like we were not important from a company we were spending $3500+ monthly was all I needed to move on.

People buy from people they like, right #carpeople!? Lol

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Megan S Barto John - DM me your questions about Vin - I'll be happy to answer any!

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Tammie LeBleu CRM thats the key to being successful in todays market. I used Car Research and had phenominal success with it. When I was still at ORR Group I trained some Internet Managers on VIN Solutions and found it hard to navigate. There are so many components that are not utilized. I had the honor of training my first store over a week ago in BDC and their CRM was VIN. I am not one for bashing but I defintely prefer Car Research to VIN.. I am partial because of the great succes I had with it but lets just cut through all the red tape. It doesn't matter what CRM tool you use. You must marry it adapt its processes and put those strict processses into place and you will be successful. It is the road map to great success and must be utilized everyday....

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Subi Fernando Ghosh Aaaand tammie comes in to lay it out! Preach on sista!

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Thank you Tammie LeBleu you (and I) are on the COVER of AutoSuccess Magazine for this very subject... CRM! http://issuu.com/autosuccess/docs/as.nov14

AutoSuccess November...

issuu.com

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Nathan Hays Our DMS Import from Autobase to VINSOLUTIONS was/is atrocious. 56,000 people, 4 brands, 3 rooftops and 4 store IDs. Data wasn't scrubbed. Each store/ID has different settings, permissions. Part of it our issue, part AutoBase, Part ADP. It's brutal.

The customer merge function is better than it was. The website provider/software compatibility is mediocre. Minimal Cheome/Firefox support. Internet explorer sucks, but I'm forced to use it because of VIN. The mobile app is better, however my settings have been shut off at random.

Their support is pretty good. Very quick, yet very concerned with closing tickets, even without resolution. I have a few other complaints, but many of it is out of my control.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Tammie LeBleu for the record... you were the #2 Nissan Consultant in the United States, selling 47.5 units in one month and 400.5 in one year and made OVER 1.5 Million Dollars selling cars on the showroom floor in less than 5 years right?

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Kristin Buckley We had auto base before vin too. It was like living with the Flinstones and then moving in with the Jetsons lol

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Subi Fernando Ghosh One last note. If we're talking CRMs DealerSocket has a fantastic product, is incredibly intuitive, and excellent customer service.

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Tammie LeBleu Right! And Car Research was my tool and my road map to success!!!

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Megan S Barto I was on the cover of AutoSuccess talking about CRM as well! #smallworld http://issuu.com/autosuccess/docs/as.july14/0

AutoSuccess July 2014

The #1...

issuu.com

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Sean V. Bradley Csp I gave you kudos Megan S Barto!!

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Ours was last month... #JustSayin

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Megan S Barto So you're copying me???

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Actually... you were copying me. My clients and I were on the June issue too http://issuu.com/autosuccess/docs/as.june14

AutoSuccess June 2014

The #1...

issuu.com

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Sean V. Bradley Csp LOL!!!

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Megan S Barto My GM is in on this month's cover. http://issuu.com/autosuccess/docs/as.dec14

AutoSuccess December 2014

Sean V. Bradley Csp OUCHHHHHH! You GOT ME

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Megan S Barto I know - it doesn't happen often.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp This thread is one hell of a plug for Susan Goodman Givens and AutoSuccess Magazine!

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Nathan Hays Needs some Midwest love.

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J.r. Batchelor I've used almost every CRM personally and what I noticed with Vin was that you can't use their follow up process or you would not touch customers daily during the initial 30 days. I agree with Tammie LeBleu unless managers and salespeople own and master the CRM any tool the dealer chooses will be in vain.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Thank you J.r. Batchelor I appreciate your insight!

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Megan S Barto JR - I absolutely agree with you. A CRM is a *tool* you need to have competent people running the tool - no matter what the CRM is. With Vin - their processes are a great base, but as with anything you need to add your own "flair" to it. Which is why I've modified every single process in VinSolutions. It's also the job of their Performance Managers to help you modify them for your store!

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Sean V. Bradley Csp I will say this though Megan S Barto, you are one of the exceptions... as you pointed out, you were on the cover of AutoSuccess Magazine. So, you know what to do, how to do it and how to modify it and make it better. There are a LOT of sales reps, Internet Managers / Directors that do NOT have that knowledge or experience and are dependent of Customer Service / Client Support to guild them and assist them, to coach them, to assist them and if it isn't there... then the dealer is screwed. And this goes for ANY CRM COMPANY.

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Kristin Buckley We are process driven, not task driven.... Right Sean V. Bradley Csp lol

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Sean V. Bradley Csp YES!!! Kristin Buckley EXACTLY

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Dealer Synergy does NOT want the CRM to tell you WHO to call in the "task list". Process driven versus task list driven wins all the time, every time. Task list driven leaves too many errors and gaps.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp That is J.r. Batchelor 's point

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Kristin Buckley Another reason I love dealerpeak.... But they're going to have to start signing my pay checks if I keep going lol

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Sean V. Bradley Csp I am referring to CRM as it relates to an Internet Department or BDC that has "Coordinators" or BDC Reps... b/c these people do NOT have to get up and do product presentation, deliveries etc...

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Sean V. Bradley Csp LOL! Kristin Buckley

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Kristin Buckley Applies to salespeople too. Our "guys" have their folders they go through daily to keep their customers in front of them. They don't operate just based off of tasks either. I've been able to set our system up to work for THEM. We have folders for everything.. Makes life much easier

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Look at this Video I created in April, 2014 about VinSolutions and how to actually set up VinSolutions the RIGHT WAY! This is the Dealer Synergy system (qucik version). Do you hear the COMPLIMENT I give VinSolutions? This is TRULY a NUTRAL post https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyo5w0aTM40

Set Up VinSolutions...

youtube.com

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Sean V. Bradley Csp If you are not part of the solution... you are part of the problem-

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Joshua Shackelford Dealersocket is a far superior CRM.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Thank you Joshua Shackelford. There have been numerous people on this thread that have spoken highly of DealerSocket and I have a lot of Dealer Synergy clients using DealerSocket but I would love to hear what you like about them most and what you think they do that sets them a part from all other CRMs...?

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J.r. Batchelor As we all know this is a people driven business. You can have all the best tools in the world and have an $200K ad budget but when the rubber meets the road you MUST have the right PEOPLE. Processes without the right people are utterly worthless. Sean V. Bradley Csp Megan S Barto

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Well said!

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Joshua Shackelford Compared to VinSolutions is like comparing Harvard to grade school. Endless amount of data to pull. It gives you alerts daily on all previous customers, ups, and service customers as well. I run a Ford and GM store, I can pull equity positions (you're no longer upside down), APR (based on your rates and payment history I can save you X amount of dollars when you trade in and up), how much they would save on fuel by trading out of an older car they're in to our newer one that's also under warranty, time since last service, warranty expirations and renewal etc. It gives the amount of data I can have my employees mine nearly endless. It's much more complex but it's reports and data on MY employees as well as the salesman has helped show me who's working it right and who's not. I can automatically generate birthday, anniversary or purchase etc and link directly to the customers social media to communicate, congratulate etc. It brings more "development" of business than any other CRM, including Vins than I've ever seen. It's allowed me to help make actual "salesman" out of salesman instead of product pushers. Makes all the difference in building and retaining a customer base.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Thank you very much for the detail Joshua Shackelford!!

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Joshua Shackelford I tried to be objective but it's honestly apples to oranges. What do/would you prefer?

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Joshua Shackelford Oh yea, the mobile app of socket is second to none. It really makes my job as manager of 2 lots much easier.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp What do I prefer as a CRM? or do you mean as to your feedback?

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Joshua Shackelford CRM.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp LOL! of course...

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Sean V. Bradley Csp First, I want to say that I truly believe that there isn't a perfect CRM. There are NUMEROUS functions of a CRM, BDC, Dealership(s). And different CRMs specialize in Different things. For example... some CRMSs SPECIALIZE in Special Finance, some CRMs specialize in Data Mining, some in LEAD MANAGEMENT, other in showroom control / desking...

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Joshua Shackelford Haha.. So are you obligated to prefer vins? Lol.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp So it is important for a dealership FIRST, "Begin with the end in mind". What are THEY looking to accomplish...how are they going to use the CRM?

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Now with that being said... As it relates to Internet Sales, BDC... Lead Management. I have my (NEW) Top 5 in NO particular order...

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Joshua Shackelford The downside to socket is teaching those less tech savvy how it can help them. Some guys are pen and paper guys, but it's MY job to show how the benefits of managing leads in their customer bucket and every detail of their deal and how it can make them money. If I'm not showing them how it's here to make them money then I am failing them.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp 1. DealerPeak 2. DealerSocket 3. eLEads 4. Dealertrack DMS 5. AutoLoop (VERY SOON)

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Sean V. Bradley Csp LOL!

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Sean V. Bradley Csp THAT is ANOTHER issue... NADA just released its 3rd Annual Industry report on Workforce. It states that Dealerships have a 66% Turnover rate on the showroom floor! http://www.nadafrontpage.com/Dealership_Workforce_Study... That means that with such a HIGH Turnover... all of the new sales reps that join the force have to be accimated to the CRM ASAP... who is doing that? Who is monitoring that this is getting done the right way?

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Joshua Shackelford BDC managers are the most under appreciated people in any dealership.

Because who's going to teach them? We are. And in our market, producing 50 additional sales to a 150 car a month lot plus cleaning up sales staff garbage, spending most my day on 700 credit to pre-qualify.

I've turned my departments out of appointment based and into qualified buyer based. Im incentivizing getting credit apps more and more. It's saving and making my company more money in the long run for all the obvious reasons... What salesman wants to waste 2 hours on a guy 7k hooked who can't even buy paper?

No one. We sat at a 50% show to sale conversion last month which is absolutely unheard of.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Strong!

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Joshua Shackelford The manager I replaced had 82 shows and 4 sales in her last month.

That's essentially stealing from the company.

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Tom Hawkins We install Vin Solutions starting at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Over the years, I have been on Autobase, Interflow, Dealer Socket, back to Interflow, and then Car Research. After a painful year on Car Research, I decided to give Vin a try after running into Sean Stapleton at Driving Sales Executive Summit. We are already using Cox products vAuto, HomeNet, Auction Genius, and Auto Trader so going to Vin Solutions was an easy choice and a large savings due to consolidation. I am sure I will have my share of frustrations with Vin Solutions at first, but he two things I like about Vin are: 1. The marriage of all these products under the Cox Automotive label will allow the exchange of data that will benefit dealers a great deal...now and well into the future. 2. They use the performance manager model similar to vAuto. We are very satisfied with our vAuto performance manager process. I will be holding them accountable for how well we use the system. To be fair to Car Research, the previous owner was draining the company and not investing in the future of the product. I believe Auto Loop, with Tammie LeBleu's leadership, will make it much better company by upgrading the platform and giving them the tools to succeed (I was on the Autoloop Dealer Advisory Board). However, I couldn't wait, especially with the advantages for me of the platform consolidation. I guess I will know for sure when we're fully into it. But as you can see I have had enough experience with different CRM's to have a little bit of an idea.

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Tony White My thoughts as I am a user of VIn.

I myself have been in the industry for about 14 years. I have used many programs and there's not a single one that has it all.

Vin needs to work harder on their fixed operations side. Not as robust as the sales. And we all know how much business comes out of service.

Vin like anything is accountability. Fair warning to those getting ready to buy it. Map your processes out on paper first. This way you don't create useless processes that people won't follow and you have a printed out manual of the processes and email responses. This way no one can ever say they didn't know.

I worked for Autotrader and KBB as well. There is still a lot the COX corporation has to do to get everything to work together. Some of it never will unless they rewrite the entire code.

Vin is good. But like anything, it's only as good as the users and management team. I would be happy to help you with it if you need. Or to run ideas.

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Tony White You also need to know the depth of involvement your dealership is going to have in the tool. Are you only going to use it for Internet department, sales and Internet? Finance, forms, write ups? Trades? Marketing? Farming? Are you willing to make your service department use it? I think that has to be a big discussion. Then base your CRM around those needs. Not the other way around. Or you will be stuck with another headache and looking for the next shinning toy. Good luck!

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Tony White Sorry Sean V. Bradley Csp for writing so much. Just a huge topic. Bottom line is VIN is good. But only as good or as bad as you make it.

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Tina Ledoux Norton The best CRM depends on your dealer group and your level of usage. Tony White said it well above. In 2010 - 12, we made the decision to leave Autobase and we shopped everyone under the sun - it took everyday of 2 years to decide our next step. For our situation, we felt that VIN did not have the enterprise reporting necessary for a large dealer group - there were a lot of promises for what it would do in the future but we did not want to experiment. At the time, their poster child was Gary Crossley Ford. We visited them and found slowness issues, usage issues and because they were not a multi-point dealer, they could not address a lot of what we would need in a CRM. We also did not feel that it was as BDC friendly as some other tools on the market. In the end, we went with DealerSocket. Change is always difficult and there will always be those that resist. Roll out took almost a year and then it was another 6 months to a year beore I could say that we were truly users of the system and we are still learning more every day.

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Jeremy Lewis Great Topic, if VIn was smart someone would be reading this and using it to their advantage!

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Jarrod Kilway Sean V. Bradley Csp just throwing this out there if any of your stores need assistance or have a question please give them my contact info.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Thank you Tom Hawkins for the feedback!

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Tony White, great sincere insight as always! Thank you

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Tina Ledoux Norton, thank you so much. There have been a lot of great kudos for DealerSocket.

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Sean V. Bradley Csp Thank you Jarrod Kilway

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Susan Goodman Givens Thanks everyone for the AutoSuccess shout outs. I am feeling the love!

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Vicky Cooper An Internet dealership will utilize all their available tools to their maximum but having the right tools can definitely have an impact on success. Vinsolutions is horrible about the "bad leads", customer merge, and support. One the other hand, it is somewhat user friendly, has mobile app, and is easy to edit templates & auto responders. The push from the DMS is less than desirable.

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Megan S Barto Vicky - have you tried their most recent Customer Merge? It's wonderful and is eons above the previous version.

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Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - "CRM" - Customer Relationship Management

CRM is one of the most important tools in a dealership and one of the most underutilized! Turn your CRM into your ATM!

http://www.internetsales20group.com 856-546-2440
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