GM 1 Source Leads

[superchevy69]

shawn,
i get the vinsolutions email alerts on the blackberry, i was told vinsolutions was not yet capable of stop clocking leads from the phone that the only way to stop a lead was on the computer. How can i stop them from my phone with an email also, is the mobile platform capable yet of stoping leads?

thanks, dave

 

[mattwatson81]

shawn,
i get the vinsolutions email alerts on the blackberry, i was told vinsolutions was not yet capable of stop clocking leads from the phone that the only way to stop a lead was on the computer. How can i stop them from my phone with an email also, is the mobile platform capable yet of stoping leads?

thanks, dave

Yes you can respond to the leads from a smart phone via an email reply and have it stop the clock and record the email in our system in the customer's contact history. Give our support team a call and they can explain how to set it up in our system. We also have a full mobile CRM that you can use by going to http://m.motosnap.com on your smart phone. You can use it to do all kinds of things.

 

[ghen]

The fact that auto-responders don't stop the clock is because then the number would be meaningless. Why would GM want every dealer to have 1 minute response times? Worthless. So thats why with any CRM package worth it's salt you aren't allowed to do that, but you get other options like mobile versions of the CRM and alerts.

For GM leads I switched my chevy store to using Izmocars ILM. Its a very simple straightforward tool with a mobile interface. I have two salesmen with blackberrys that answer leads after hours with built in templates that get slightly personalized per lead.

If you can't get your average under 5 hours doing that you're doing something wrong. And if you see dealers in your area with under 10 minute average response times they're either cheating the system or have 24/7 staffing.

 

[mattwatson81]

The fastest way to stop the clock is to log a phone call attempt in your CRM. If your CRM provider is web or mobile based then you might even be able to do that from your smart phone very quickly after hours.

 

[Alex Snyder]

The best and fastest way to stop the clock is to probably log a phone call attempt in your CRM, even if you didn't call them.

If your CRM provider is web or mobile based then you might even be able to do that from your smart phone very quickly after hours. Once you have the clock stopped then you can figure out the best answer to the lead for real.

If you wait to log a phone call until after you actually complete the real call, that could be several minutes later... I guess you could say this suggestion is "working the system" a little bit, but it is probably the best way to lower your response times if every minute counts.

As someone who oversees a CRM inside a dealership, this is the absolute worst thing I could ever hear a vendor telling my staff. NO WORK-AROUNDS! We work very hard to get our staff using the CRM the right way - I'm sure you know how tough that is.

If I were a GM dealer, and was worried about their backlash, I would have my people actually answer the leads at all hours of the day. I would buy a blackberry and assign it out each evening.

 

[mattwatson81]

As someone who oversees a CRM inside a dealership, this is the absolute worst thing I could ever hear a vendor telling my staff. NO WORK-AROUNDS! We work very hard to get our staff using the CRM the right way - I'm sure you know how tough that is.

Yes, I completely agree with you. Getting salespeople to use the system properly 100% of the time is a never ending battle. The last thing you want to do is to teach them work arounds and ways to beat the system.

As with most things, there is a right way to do things, and then there is the fast way to do things. I provided the fast way... but you are right that it isn't the right way.

Using a CRM that allows salespeople to respond from a mobile device is the best solution by far. This allows them to provide a quality response all hours of the day from anywhere.

I was merely providing the technical insight to the mechanics and I'm sure most people already know that logging a phone call attempt stops the response times, and that is true for all OEMs, not just GM.

 

[Eley Duke]

We run into the same issue with GM OneSource. GM is now paying $10k per 1/4 if you are averaging under 2hr response time. I check with Responseligix after Jeff Kershner gave me their info, but they are not GM Certified, so isnt going to help. And I founsd on the internet a few companies answering after hour leads, but I wasnt impressed or interested in a company having access to my GM Global Connect login. We use Votenza CRM, also not GM Certified, but a great tool for sales and service and they are working on certification. We are at 8mins with Votenza and under the 2 hour mark with GM.

There is an issue though that hasnt been discussed and you would want to talk with your HR people, if you have a hourly or non-exempt employee answering leads after hours, that is a violation of labor laws because they are not on the clock. You could run into a problem where your person is answering leads all night, they or a spouse get upset that it is inturpting lifestyle and you could have an issue on your hands. And a bonus system doesnt make it legit. Basicly it has to be a manager if your going to issue BlackBerry's for after hour leads. We bought a Netbook, I handle all our leads afterhours, yes it is a pain, but remember it is $40k a year from GM and the faster you answer a lead with good quality the better the chance of a sale. I answer all leads from time we close to time I go to bed, I am not waking up at 3:30 to answer a lead though, so we battel the ones while we are awake as fast as we can to lower our avg response! And it doesnt always work, your driving, eating dinner, out at a party, fishing, etc!

Matt, I wasnt aware of the phone call apt, I will use that to cut a few mins off each lead, although like Alex and yourself I dislike shortcuts and want all leads answered 100% the right way. Here is a question, if you do the phone call apt and it stops the clock, do you still have to answer the lead in OneSource for it ot show as a "lead responded to" or can I answer it in Votenza where I want my lead threads to be handled?

Help, any GM people that can help with why i cannot get to GM Global Connet (VSP Logon) from my BB Tour, when i went to google and pulled up VSP and clicked on the site, it goes blank and will not load.

Thanks,

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Matt, I wasnt aware of the phone call apt, I will use that to cut a few mins off each lead,

I would make sure that your CRM vendor does in fact turn the clock off when making a phone call to a customer before taking that to the bank.

How much do you think a dealership would be willing to pay monthly to have a person send a manual response during non business hours? A quarter of your yearly bonus might just convince me to start a new division of Phone-up Ninjas. How does "Internet 1st Response Ninjas" sound? If I could get five dealers to say "yes" I'd start putting the infrastructure in place next week.

While we're on the subject, it might be wise to look at a service that provides 7x24 1st responses. I once looked at the average response time of a hundred dealers and compiled a report with the average. Would anyone care to take a guess what it was? And I am only talking about leads that came in during dealership business hours.

 

[StevePace]

Matt with all due respect, I would have to disagree with your quote saying "Realistically no one can respond to every lead there is within 30 minutes." this is not true at all for there are services that can provide this service for dealers.

I can understand the pain GM dealers are experiencing right now and I know this is something on the forefront of most GM dealers minds. It's a lot of money to just let slide by. We do offer a solution for dealers that would help GM dealers but unfortunately we are not yet GM certified....

 

[DrewAment]

Would anyone care to take a guess what it was? And I am only talking about leads that came in during dealership business hours.

I would say 7.6 hours - and I base this on the most recent reporting from a major OEM I saw. Hard to believe salespeople are waiting ALL day to respond to a lead.

On a side note - some it it might have to do with training. I had a salesperson at a dealer leaving the task in the CRM "open" until he contacted the customer as a reminder to call them. I had to show him how to "close" the task and therefore stop the clock in both his CRM and the OEM reporting.