Richard beat me to the punch- but I was exposed to AUTOJOCKEY a couple of years back, and it is a highly functional CRM that has the power you need to manage leads, set appointments, etc., and it is very affordable. I am not sure what our rate was, but I believe it was under $500/mo. Check them out at www.autojockey.com- they also have some other tools that can bring you more sales. They are also pretty responsive whenever you have a problem.

Hi everyone:

Well, this is an open opportunity to talk about Lead Machine from Dealer.com. Especially when coupled with a Dealer.com website, the possibilities with this product are endless...

Here are a few capabilities.
Anyone on our sales team can run you through a complete demonstration.

Lead Tracking
[automatically track incoming website and 3rd party leads]
• Track and organize leads from your own website, AutoTrader,
Cars.com, Autobytel, regional websites and more
• Monitor response times to these valuable leads

Email Tracking
[automatically receive + track all incoming and outgoing email]
• Respond faster with web-based email and email bouncing
• Create email template blasts with our PowerMail Broadcast
Email System
• Bring live inventory to customers
• Automatically track all archived email for each lead sales representative dashboard

Activity Tracking
[automatically track all correspondence for your contacts]
• Track all types of correspondence and activities for each
contact
• Monitor all activity in one place including email, 3rd party leads, notes, phone calls, trade-in leads and much more

Dealer Group Version
[manage multiple locations from one login]
• Manage all dealership leads from one login or several, you
choose
• Track each store’s sales process and create real accountability
• Sales Managers can assign and track multiple sales people » advertisement performance

Take Control Of Your Dealership’s Success
• Full sales person activity history and reports
• All activities are stored and time/date stamped for manager
review
• Track success and closing rates with our detailed sales
reporting system
• Track efficiency ratings for all sales reps

Sales Processes
[set up automated tasks, reminders & media-rich emails]
• Leave no customers behind
• Consider the power of advanced PowerMail email marketing
campaigns: Email media-rich, monthly, weekly or daily specials
to people who know who you are
• Schedule unlimited, calendar-based automated emails and
task reminders
• Offer virtual “Walk Arounds” to your customers with our
media-rich email content
• Convert your expensive third-party leads into qualified leads
on your website
• LeadMachineTM can market to your current and potential
customers for years to come

Thank you for this opportunity to post.

Oh, Lead Machine is included with all of our websites and can be purchased very inexpensively as a stand alone product.

Mike DeCecco
www.dealer.com

Here is some more relevant info:

iMagicLabs does have two products last time I talked with a rep. One is the full blown CRM package with ILM. Runs for about $5,000 per month per roof top. The other is the basic ILM which i believe runs for $2500 per month.

Another alternative might be AutoJockey. www.autojockey.com - One of the dealers we support uses this product. While it has its own quirks like any CRM, it is robust and cost effective. On average $600 per month if you just use the CRM/ILM, but essentially unlimited users. We currently have an entire BDC staff and 25-30 sales people all using AutoJockey for one low fee of $600 per month. Mike or Everett will be happy to demo the system for you.

Like most others I had to download Chrome too just to see... but I am waiting... and waiting for Chrome to give me the same fuzzy feeling Firefox did a few years back and still does this very second. I really don't think it'll happen soon.

Despite being forced to run my Nissan corporate intranet page, like training and certification through Explorer, I keep Explorer asleep in the cellar of my hard drive.

I thoroughly appreciate the robust experience I get running Google Applications through Firefox and think Google is an amazing company, but Chrome leaves me with less than the gleaming hopes I'd desired.

Ahhh, so-so. It is not truly incognito. Tested with a few site meters and it works like herbal remedies. Promising, some potential benefits but...

Also, why would Google use IE colors? They look like crap. The other thing is that they are not allowing java console and a plug in is required that's not available as far as I have found.

They are kind of stomping their feet in a tantrum because Microsoft is go after them and a little news story also about Microsoft buying Ciao.com for +-500M.

Knock, knock? Amazon:Who's there? Microsoft! Oh, no....

I also definitely don't appreciate that I cannot access Hotmail and other apps with Chrome too.

One of my major problems with Safari is that it tends to have more problems properly displaying web sites, esp. more complex ones like manufacturer sites. I've noticed similar problems with Chrome, which isn't surprising since that it's based on the same Webkit that underlies Safari. As an example, BMW's OEM site (bmwusa.com) doesn't display the main navigation bar in Chrome. I spend a lot of time of OEM sites, so this has been really noticeable (and really annoying).

For a first version, it really like it. I have no doubt that they will bite a piece of the browser market away from microsoft over time.

I like the expandable text boxes...

For those of you with extremely short attention spans & already bored with it - apply a new skin to your GC here: http://elitehudson.com/XChromeP5.zi

Right click in the browser header and access the task manager; I like how Google keeps geeks entertained with the "Stats for nerds" links in the task manager window.

For developers, or those curious, right click on a web page and select "Inspect element" to view HTML, CSS and other dev. element properties.

Cool stuff throughout - its only a rough draft at this point. I can't even image what they have in store for subsequent releases...

I've used Chrome since it was released on my xp computer at work and on my vista computer at home. I still use it, if that means anything about 50/50 (mainly because I still don't know how I feel about it). FYI, you have to enable the home icon in the preferences. Here are my pros and cons.

The good:
- Speed? I don't notice it being so much faster. Maybe a little, but I really can't tell.
- Memory usage!! Uses almost 2.5x less memory than Firefox, IE, or Safari. Very good for older/low mem computers.
- I like how the status bar shows up when it does so you can see what's going on, then disappears when it's blank.
- vertical spacing - how the tabs are near the top, almost in the title bar. Very small titlebar, vista style.
- the ability to drag tabs into a new window, and then back in one it came from again (but who really puts it back in huh?)
-I can copy and past correctly from the browser into excel (I hate how you can't do that w/ firefox).

The bad:
- right click doesn't work w/ google docs, and other weird things w/ it sometimes.
- When I go to download on certain sites, the downloads don't start.
- I've had an error close the whole browser, and not just the tab like it's supposed to do.
- To check if there is an update (so far as I've found out) you have to go to the tools->About. Then it says if a new update is available or not. It would be nice if it just told you.
- If you just type in the address bar it will take you to the web page instead of pulling up the search results.
- Extensions/Themes. There's always hope right?

Anyways, Chrome is a very good browser, I wish that I could use it exclusively (mainly google docs, and downloads sometimes). I would love to see some mozilla type add-ons and themes for it. It will be tough to win firefox users (like me).

Uh, no Google Toolbar!! This was the biggest con (besides the slow speed) for me. I don't want to have to type in google each time I want to search. Or let it guess or go to a new page and click on most visited site google. Try googling "Google Toolbar + Chrome" and you get a million sites saying the same thing...where's the toolbar?

First off, no Mac version yet. Come on Google, get there.

Although I am sure future updates will improve upon it, the bookmarking features are incredibly sparse. I'm a very happy Firefox 3.0 user, I love most Google apps, but i'm not switching to a new browser unless it makes a better case than this!

I am a huge fan of Google, and I downloaded Chrome the day it was released. I was initially impressed by how clean it looked (like Chip). But then I found it to run somewhere between slow, and ridiculously slow. I am sure that it will be killer with an update, or two. I am going to stick to Firefox, for the time being.

Those of you who think it runs fast: what operating system(s) are you using? Maybe it is my crappy Vista...

@Chip

the chrome v8 js engine is not faster than the one that will be in ff3.1

It definitely has define pros and cons.

My Pros:
- Extremely light and a very short top section make it perfect for mobile browsing. As netbooks become more popular, I suspect people will really start to appreciate how little vertical resolution it takes up.
- The speed at which it computes JavaScript is amazing. There are things I've always wanted to implement on our site, but because IE and FF can really hang on complex JS, we couldn't release these features. However, if they can now adobt Chrome's engine, the web will change forever (for better or worse, yet to be determined).
- Incognito mode - interesting addition - Google's cookies are immune to this though.
- GZip works faster than any other browser I've tested.
- When you click on the address bar, the whole thing is selected so you can just start typing. You don't have to double click like in FF or TRIPLE click like in safari.
- All websites seem to load real fast.
- If one tab hangs, it doesn't kill the rest.

My Cons:
- Having it phone home every time you type anything into the address bar.
- There's no Home button at the top by default.
- It's would be tough to move away from FF and all the important extensions I've grown to love.
- It's based on WebKit (the html renderer Safari uses) and therefore about 75% of the websites you visit are going to have alignment issues.
- It scrolls funny when using a mousewheel.
- There's no way to disable JS.
- Anyone can install it on their computer, there's no way to lock it out as an Admin.

It is fast!

Gale,
good to hear from you as well!
Tell Mike I said Hello!

Its good to know you are staying busy, at least. Congrats on you upcoming wedding. I'll pass all this info on for you.

Gail!
How in the world did you run across this?
Small world I guess!

Hey Brian,
Great interview. You haven't lost that wonderful sense of humor I see. Best of luck on your upcoming wedding and all of your future endeavors.
Gail

@ Susan
good to hear from you!
Hope all is well up north, is your hubby still flying those jets?

Hi Brian,
It was great to read your interview and hear that you are doing well. Best wishes for the end of September!
Susan

my motor has been hitting on about three cylinders lately but I am about to start riding regular again, this house thing has been a drain. The trans Atlantic bicycle trail runs right by new house so if you ever decide to ride cross country make sure you stop in and say hello. Cycling and internet sales go hand to hand....it's all about the pain and suffering...

Brian, thanks again for doing our Reader Spotlight. I had no idea you were into cycling. If you're ever in Maryland let's get together for a road course.

thanks for the good wishes on the wedding, hopefully the marriage works out as well. Tell Christine, geographically speaking we are closer to Hollywood...
I hope everyone else had a great labor day weekend!
time to start working on September now can't wait to see those incentives and what Toyota does to answer the employee pricing campaign of G.M.
Could be a good month for buyers if they want to save some money.

You can't have Christine