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Looking at CRM choices

All great posts here, thank you. I use an iPhone called Always Be In Contact to add new contacts and set reminder triggers so I don't forget anyone I meet. It has a timeline to see the people added to the app and you can quickly take notes in the app, it's really simple and easy to use during my day. I then go to our Reynolds System to update the contact info, and then into eleadscrm to update my people. I then also update salesforce crm for our Mas dealer and then another CRM tool for the Ferrari's. So many to update!!
 
We are with Vinsolutions right now. I love our rep but the system has had a lot of flaws lately. Looking at what options are out there and if we move I would want it to be a better choice not a lateral move. I was looking at eleads but I saw that their email server was blacklisted last year and that scares me. Ideas.. thoughts...

We use Reynolds and Reynolds DMS. I would want to be able to push deals to our DMS from our CRM, I would love to have a better ability to create email templates than in Vin, I would want to be able to create reports on usage, leads, ROI etc. ease of use for salespeople. Please let me know which companies that you use and what you love and hate about them.

Also if I need to stay away from any companies.

Thank you in advance,
Julie
Hey Julie, Elead1one was blacklisted last year that is correct. But due to that, we partnered with Salesforce to complete all our Emails now with a 96% receive rate. rest assured it will never happen again.
 
Sorry I missed the earlier post!
Brian, there doesn't seem to be one single player that has it all down. I learned that these dealer CRMs are far more complex than what's seen at the surface. Is it OEM compatible? DMS compatible? that's step one. Years ago, Dealer.com had a cool CRM developing, but it got eaten up in takeovers. I think the biggest problem in this space is that the pool is shrinking, the fully compliant vendors are getting buried in business and playing catch up.

Elead seems to have the ingredients to cover the bases, they all have their weaknesses.

If you're switching, insist on help from the new company before the transition. Having a clean data file is critical.

Doing it again,
1- I'd ask for a system to be up and running as much as possible before making the final switch. Shake it out before going live. Fixing the leaks after the ship has sailed is stressful at best. CRM changes are not easy.

2- Does the new vendor have everything you need? Does it do what your individual store needs? Is there room for expansion?

3- Performance...What is the delivery rate for their emails? Uptime? Blacklisting? When ELead went down last year, it was rough going. It wasn't them, it was one of their clients, but we were all down.

4- Support... in-store support, set up help, training etc. Turnaround time for issues to be fixed etc.

5- Everyone on board from the owner down. If your management is not holding folks accountable, entering data and working the tools daily, it won't fix your problems. At the end of the day, a so-so CRM that gets used is better than a high-end CRM that isn't used to it's potential.
 
Years ago, Dealer.com had a cool CRM developing, but it got eaten up in takeovers. I think the biggest problem in this space is that the pool is shrinking, the fully compliant vendors are getting buried in business and playing catch up.

Amen brother! ;) ;)

1- I'd ask for a system to be up and running as much as possible before making the final switch. Shake it out before going live. Fixing the leaks after the ship has sailed is stressful at best. CRM changes are not easy.

Keep preachin' :thumbup:

2- Does the new vendor have everything you need? Does it do what your individual store needs? Is there room for expansion?

In my time, building and selling the Dealer.com/Dealertrack CRM, I learned that 98% of dealers do not know what they want. This is exposed by the simple question of: what is your process for selling a car? Sure, they know how to do the job, but they don't know how to define things. Without the definitions, the needs cannot be articulated.

Then there are philosophical elements of each and every technology solution. Everything was built by people who have ideas. I would argue that it is more important to be aligned on the ideas than it is to be concerned about the feature check list. Sometimes the features that were important in one tool do not even need to exist in another because the ideas are different.

3- Performance...What is the delivery rate for their emails? Uptime? Blacklisting? When ELead went down last year, it was rough going. It wasn't them, it was one of their clients, but we were all down.

Damn straight! Preachin' good again.

4- Support... in-store support, set up help, training etc. Turnaround time for issues to be fixed etc.

Yup, yup, yup all the way. And the best way to ascertain whether the support is up to snuff is to ask current clients. Don't trust the sales guy. And don't 100% trust his reference sheet either. DealerRefresh, Driving Sales, and Facebook Groups are filled with honest answers.

5- Everyone on board from the owner down. If your management is not holding folks accountable, entering data and working the tools daily, it won't fix your problems. At the end of the day, a so-so CRM that gets used is better than a high-end CRM that isn't used to it's potential.

:iagree: with this more than anything.
 
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