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DealerSocket, get your act together (RANT)

I read these posts and I'm left with one overwhelming feeling: I know so little about what Dealersocket is capable of that its almost terrifying. What I do know though is this - FROM A BASIC, FRONT LINE VIEWPOINT - Dealersocket is the most obtuse, under-thought piece of CRM garbage that I have ever worked with in my decade in the car biz. When you can't tell what you've sold for the month on one EASY TO UNDERSTAND screen shot, when you can't date range your sales....SALES, MIND YOU...not F12, sold dep, float, sold pend, mind deal, etc.....ONE PAGE DS....then you have failed miserably at your job (if your job is to design a good piece of intuitive, user friendly Client mgmt software).

MISERABLY - are you listening?

If I can't look at the sales of the day and see a car that was sold...TODAY...but because the client was entered this past weekend and THAT'S WHERE THE SALE WENT...then you have failed...MISERABLY. If I can't see a list of the trades that I have taken in today, yesterday, this entire month.....then you have failed, MISERABLY. If a salesman has a to-do list...a task list call it - and this list includes HIS OWN NAME 4 TIMES and his co-worker who sent him a joke on email - you have failed MISERABLY.

If all these things (and the list of a hundred more that we have ON HAND) are fixable or in the system already and the "boy band" you sent in to train us on them didn't show us to begin with - then you have failed....MISERABLY.

If you haven't signed up....DON'T. Stick with what you have and figure out a way to make it work for you until something truly outstanding does come along - cuz this ain't it.
 
I read these posts and I'm left with one overwhelming feeling: I know so little about what Dealersocket is capable of that its almost terrifying. What I do know though is this - FROM A BASIC, FRONT LINE VIEWPOINT - Dealersocket is the most obtuse, ....

Strong words and a lot of yelling going on. Obviously you are new here to the DR forums and community. When you decide to rant so negatively about a vendor, you should really say who you are, otherwise your rant holds little authority or value to the readers.

Say who you are, allow dealer socket to hear you while possibly allowing them the opportunity to make your situation better. If that still doesn't work then speak your peace but do it in a professional manor.
 
Coming from a technical background, I am actually very fond of DS in some respects, and very annoyed at some others.

I enjoy the depth of the program and I like how deep you CAN go. The way I work dealersocket is I field complaints about it from fellow BDC members and sales staff and find ways to fix it. I find that when I proactively try to help people with dealersocket, it doesn't work. I do like that I can create my own business rules to funnel people into campaigns on a whim and I do like the ability to track the campaign results.

I am not as enthused with the "front line" features that an everyday user has to work with. I find that for most of the sales staff it's a bit clunky and it's missing a few abilities that would let me make our sales persons life a bit easier. The lack of being able to create your own code snippets is very unfortunate, and I don't think there is a large enough variety.

I can get by with what's available in dealersocket, I just wish I was able to impact more of a "personal feel" on the software. I don't ever really feel like I created something, just mashed some code together and something came out of it. Which is very true with the email editor, it creates SOOO much code that isn't required and is overkill... I don't need any help getting spam blocked.

Overall DS is a fantastic tool on the management level, and if you can get the sales staff on board it works great. The trouble is having your management level meet the required tech level to take use of it.
 
As Jeff said, it is tough to solve problems and better the relationship over a blog post as a response to an anonymous blog entry... So, I am including a short reply here. Please call your rep or contact me with your name, number and dealership and we can address the issue specifically and completely. We have a solution for that I will have someone call you today... that is, if you can tell us who you are. :D
Regards,
Shellie Pierce
[email protected]
www.dealersocket.com
 
Strong words and a lot of yelling going on. Obviously you are new here to the DR forums and community. When you decide to rant so negatively about a vendor, you should really say who you are, otherwise your rant holds little authority or value to the readers.

Say who you are, allow dealer socket to hear you while possibly allowing them the opportunity to make your situation better. If that still doesn't work then speak your peace but do it in a professional manor.


Jeff- since this is a forum of professionals concerning one niche of the auto business----why are these fake names and bogus avitars even allowed. Put your real name and dealer/company or shut up!

These people may have legitimate concerns but to me they sound like competing CRM companies
 
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Jeff- since this is a forum of professionals concerning one niche of the auto business----why are these fake names and bogus avitars even allowed. Put your real name and dealer/company or shut up!

These people may have legitimate concerns but to me they sound like competing CRM companies

Scott, I hear ya and we contemplated over that from the beginning. Just like you said - there are members/readers that have legitimate concerns but are afraid to voice. Seems weak on many levels, I understand but it happens. Like forums across other verticals - people are free to build out profiles as they see fit. With that being said - we do our best to call bluff when we see it.

Heck, just today I caught wind that a vendor was harassing one of their dealers for posting a simple question here in the forums. He expressed to me his concern and said that he would no longer be posting in the forums.