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Making the CRM and Website Switch wish me LUCk

DevlonC

Green Pea
Jun 16, 2010
5
1
First Name
Devlon
Hey all, I've been a lurker on this forum for a 1 year or so now. I'm a Sales Manager at a Toyota/BMW dealership and have been using Naked Lime Marketing (formerly Reynolds) for our Website (old and antiquated), CRM (old and Antiquated) and we use them for MMS (managed market solutions- works well but really expensive). I've wanted to update all these products but trying to get anything done with them is worse than pulling teeth. Once your under long term contracts they have very little motivation to improve the product or help the client. Tried to get Contact Mgt updated to the NEW Contact MGT but they wanted $7000 in new database setup and mandatory onsite training plus renew for another long term contract. They just launched a new Website platform and that cost was reasonable but to avoid the setup and to get a price discount, they wanted me to sign a two year contract on the MMS. I was getting ready to send the paperwork in and out of the blue two reps from Dealer Socket /Dealer Fire walked in. Talk about timing. Long story short I can cancel MMS (it is year to year and i can cancel it now) in doing that pay for a new CRM and get service marketing with cash left over. I also moved some money away from Cars.com and revamped my homenet service's to what i was actually using within the product and have enough for a new DealerFire Website. Making these changes plus still paying for the Reynolds CRM and website I'm still coming out ahead $700 a month the first year and almost $3500 a month afterwards. I had looked at DealerSocket and VIN Solutions in the past but couldn't make the $$$ work while under long term contract hell with Reynolds/NLM. VIN Solutions looks to have a nice product but since being bought up by the Autotrader Group. I'm not interested in joining another huge conglomerate.

I have nothing but great things to say about how much DealerSocket has worked with me so far (way early in the process) just signed contracts today but so far dealing with them vs REYREY has been a breath of fresh air. The nice thing is we still have the old CRM to fall back on if the new one doesn't work for us for the next year and will make the transition more smooth.

If anyone has anything I should look out for in switching CRM's over I'm all EARS. I did the conversion to Reynolds CM from Autobase 5 years ago and it was an OK experience not great but nothing blew up.
 
The notes!!
The customer notes system in Contact Manager was very different from DealerSocket, we lost a lot. We did end up printing quite a bit and entered manually as we went.
The Schedules in Contact Manager are built very different from the DealerSocket Business Rules & Campaigns combination. Easy to setup your own automatic campaigns for just about anything, from ultra customized prospecting to birthdays to fixed ops.
Hit me up if I can help!

Edit: by different I mean it took a minute for it to click how they work vs how we were used to.
 
Switching CRMs is a chance to start over. Its like buying a new house and getting to throw away all the junk you never used. Don't just copy processes and templates 1:1 be overly critical and examine your old ways as now's the time to change! Simpler is better, especially since you'll have a learning curve out of the gate.

Be diligent in making sure you get all your old data-- notes, history, etc. If you don't ask you may not get, and it's not easy to fix it once it's done converting.

At the end of the day CRM is just a tool. Software doesn't sell cars, people and processes do. Upper management needs to be heavily involved in how you define processes to sell more cars.

Sell 'em all!
 
This is just my personal feelings, having the old CRM has a fall back if you don;t like the new one will make the new one fail. That is if you have members of your staff who don't like change. If it were me, I would take the stance that once the new system is in place it is the only option. Thats not to say that you can't go back to cross check data but you do not want a reason for people to buck the new system.
 
I think you will like Dealersocket, we have been using them for years and they have had their stumbles, but have always came back swinging. I also agree don't let the sales people use the old one at all, they won't switch over, fine to keep in the background just in case. I don't know if you plan on using their mobile app, but I live by the thing, If you have salespeople that are ready to use something like that I would look into it.

I have been bugging them to make it so I can attach pictures to the emails(like a quick shot of a car) through app, so annoying that you can't, your have full access to all of you complex templets but you can't attach a picture. KILLING ME
 
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