Has anyone used or hear of Lead Zen CRM?

[Tallcool1]

Burt, I can help you. I can integrate with anyone that wants to be integrated with. I would actually like to integrate with someone new anyway, and could use another Beta User. My CRM is designed for Independent Dealers but is quite a bit more advanced that Selly.

Just understand that my Beta Users aren't just riding along for free. There are some expectations that come with it.

Let me know if you want to talk about it.

@Alex Snyder @Jeff Kershner , please let me know if I am out of bounds here.

 

[Dan Sayer]

Burt, I can help you. I can integrate with anyone that wants to be integrated with. I would actually like to integrate with someone new anyway, and could use another Beta User. My CRM is designed for Independent Dealers but is quite a bit more advanced that Selly.

Just understand that my Beta Users aren't just riding along for free. There are some expectations that come with it.

Let me know if you want to talk about it.

@Alex Snyder @Jeff Kershner , please let me know if I am out of bounds here.

@Tallcool1 you created a CRM?

 

[Tallcool1]

@Tallcool1 you created a CRM?

I did @Dan Sayer . I was bored one night so I just knocked it out in my spare time. (Maximum Sarcasm Here)

I came from the Franchise side and was the CFO for a dealer group for about 20 years. When I opened my Independent Dealership 12 years ago, I didn't really need a CRM and honestly they were just really getting going. When I got to the point that I was ready for a CRM, I couldn't find one that did what I wanted it to do, or I couldn't afford the ones that fit my needs. I hired a developer and built my own.

Software Development is super easy!! I wish I was serious. This is absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done. My CRM kicks ass, is lightning fast, does the things I need it to do, integrates with who I need it to integrate with, and it is about as simple as it can be given the amount of features it has. I haven't launched yet, but do have some Beta Users on it. I plan to onboard 5 more beta stores in the next 10 days.

It has been both fun and not fun. It has also been expensive. Dealer Refresh has been my biggest resource through all of this. There are some really smart people in here. There are also some really good people in here.

FYI, Safeguards really threw a wrench into this project, but I am past all of that now.

 

[Burt Lewis]

Burt, I can help you. I can integrate with anyone that wants to be integrated with. I would actually like to integrate with someone new anyway, and could use another Beta User. My CRM is designed for Independent Dealers but is quite a bit more advanced that Selly.

Just understand that my Beta Users aren't just riding along for free. There are some expectations that come with it.

Let me know if you want to talk about it.

@Alex Snyder @Jeff Kershner , please let me know if I am out of bounds here. to

I ruled out Lead Zen because it couldn't automatically check the DMS to see if the vehicle is available or not and it couldn't include in a reply to a vehicle that was sold, vehicles not sold that are similar to the vehicle being asked about. We don't want anything pushed to the DMS, only queries. Maybe this is a pie in the sky thing but that's what I'm looking for. Oh, the price needs to be the same as Selly, $99 a month. I'm an old school 13 years retired government IT application developer manager and know how systems should work. Thank you.!

 

[Tallcool1]

I ruled out Lead Zen because it couldn't automatically check the DMS to see if the vehicle is available or not and it couldn't include in a reply to a vehicle that was sold, vehicles not sold that are similar to the vehicle being asked about. We don't want anything pushed to the DMS, only queries. Maybe this is a pie in the sky thing but that's what I'm looking for. Oh, the price needs to be the same as Selly, $99 a month. I'm an old school 13 years retired government IT application developer manager and know how systems should work. Thank you.!

Checking the DMS to see if the vehicle is available would rest on the DMS side. If the DMS would send a new FTP Inventory file every 10 minutes (or whatever time period), I would update your inventory every 10 minutes. Or you could ask Carpro Live to send an Inventory Feed every time a deal is finalized or every time a vehicle is added to the DMS.

The idea of Suggesting Similar Vehicles is cool. Unfortunately that isn't the kind of feature that likely will exist at that price point. I could be wrong, and that is something I am fairly used to .

I am asked if the CRM does this or that, do you integrate with these folks or those. These integrations are not limited by my system, they are limited by the other folks. Those limitations might be technology based and they might be limited by my lack of willingness to spend $50K to get Dealer Track to talk to me. Either way, the problem isn't usually me.

 

[Burt Lewis]

Checking the DMS to see if the vehicle is available would rest on the DMS side. If the DMS would send a new FTP Inventory file every 10 minutes (or whatever time period), I would update your inventory every 10 minutes. Or you could ask Carpro Live to send an Inventory Feed every time a deal is finalized or every time a vehicle is added to the DMS.

The idea of Suggesting Similar Vehicles is cool. Unfortunately that isn't the kind of feature that likely will exist at that price point. I could be wrong, and that is something I am fairly used to .

I am asked if the CRM does this or that, do you integrate with these folks or those. These integrations are not limited by my system, they are limited by the other folks. Those limitations might be technology based and they might be limited by my lack of willingness to spend $50K to get Dealer Track to talk to me. Either way, the problem isn't usually me.

I would expect the fellow that runs carpro might be open to working with you. The similar inventory list is a nice to have but more important is not having to go into the DMS manually for every lead to check the current sold/available status. We might be a buyer of your CRM if it can include those features and come close to the price point I mentioned. Thank you!

 

[Alex Snyder]

I did @Dan Sayer . I was bored one night so I just knocked it out in my spare time. (Maximum Sarcasm Here)

I came from the Franchise side and was the CFO for a dealer group for about 20 years. When I opened my Independent Dealership 12 years ago, I didn't really need a CRM and honestly they were just really getting going. When I got to the point that I was ready for a CRM, I couldn't find one that did what I wanted it to do, or I couldn't afford the ones that fit my needs. I hired a developer and built my own.

Software Development is super easy!! I wish I was serious. This is absolutely the hardest thing I have ever done. My CRM kicks ass, is lightning fast, does the things I need it to do, integrates with who I need it to integrate with, and it is about as simple as it can be given the amount of features it has. I haven't launched yet, but do have some Beta Users on it. I plan to onboard 5 more beta stores in the next 10 days.

It has been both fun and not fun. It has also been expensive. Dealer Refresh has been my biggest resource through all of this. There are some really smart people in here. There are also some really good people in here.

FYI, Safeguards really threw a wrench into this project, but I am past all of that now.

Holy shit, FUCK YEAH, Clint!!!!!

Massive respect - building a CRM is not easy. Building one that dealers buy and scales might be the toughest software to make in this industry. Expectations on CRM software are insane because it has to work for EVERYONE in the store.

I'd love to see what you've done sometime.

 

[joe.pistell]

[sidebar] Hey @Tallcool1, tell @Burt Lewis how this is "text a rep" is working for you


SUVs

Clint, I just love this idea. I'd LOVE to hear is ppl still use it and what kind of questions they ask.

Joe

 

[Ryan Everson]

I would expect the fellow that runs carpro might be open to working with you. The similar inventory list is a nice to have but more important is not having to go into the DMS manually for every lead to check the current sold/available status. We might be a buyer of your CRM if it can include those features and come close to the price point I mentioned. Thank you!

Realistically if you're not logging all sales in your CRM and pushing the deals to your DMS, you're always going to have to doublecheck the vehicle status in the DMS if the system relies on an inventory feed. Which at $100 /mo, it's definitely going to rely on an inventory feed due to integration fees far exceeding that.

 

[Tallcool1]

[sidebar] Hey @Tallcool1, tell @Burt Lewis how this is "text a rep" is working for you

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SUVs

Clint, I just love this idea. I'd LOVE to hear is ppl still use it and what kind of questions they ask.

Joe

When we set this up on our website, it was really just another lead form. We would get the lead notification and simply start texting from one of our personal cell phones. Now that I have a CRM, these flow into there, and we message through the CRM.

The majority of the Text Messages that we receive are simply the Pre Populated Message that says "Clint, Please text me about this 2015 Chevrolet Equinox (2GNFLHE30F6348228).

Every once in awhile we get a message that will ask a specific question about a given vehicle. Most of these are on units that have not yet been pictured, or are asking for a very specific picture of a given unit such as "Can you text a picture of the undercarriage of this vehicle". Most of these result in a live video walkaround or something like that.

What I like about this feature is that these Shoppers actually engage with us. When we send them a Text Message, they will answer. This is easily the highest engagement rate of all leads INCLUDING credit applications!