If you're not 100%, then why make such an irresponsible post? That rumor has been going around for a few years. That would be like me calling the dealer you work for and asking for a refrence, because you've applied for a job with another dealer.

I would like to know as well who the "source" is, or if it's just another rumor that seems to pop up every few months.

It does not seem like this is happening. No one at Cobalt has heard about this yet, nor any news...

Might want to check with your sources.

It does not seem like this is happening. No one at Cobalt has hear about this yet, nor any new...

Might want to check with your sources.

Sometimes things like this are to blame on national ad salepeople selling without consideration to how it affects the local dealer efforts and can create conflict. I will say that I am a local rep for cars.com and our Power Position banner ad is available on an exclusive basis by indivitual make with each territory.

Jeff,
Yesterday I left a comment for this "post" and shared with your readers a site that does not allow banner ads intentionally. I felt it was useful information and pertinent to the original article/post.
Can you please explain why you chose to suppress my comments. I would like to be an active reader/contributor to this blog.

Sincerely,
Alex

Hi there. Let me share this link with you here.

Hi there. Let me share this link with you here.

ADP CRM is awesome, if you have never ever seen another CRM, you like wasting time and money, or you're a complete f-ing idiot.

Otherwise it's, without a doubt, the biggest piece of crap on the market! Full of bugs and glitches, it never does what it is supposed to do and most of the advance features (main selling points) do not work properly, or at all. The ADP staff and support try hard, but they are stuck with this POS. It's criminal that this product even available.

Buy this product if you hate yourself or sale staff or your customers.

It really doesn't take that much to get CRM to work and to get people selling more cars with it. I've been doing it and working with stores on how to do it for the last 8 years.

Mike - I'd be very surprised if we don't see ADP buy a CRM system in the very near future. Their current system can be made to work with a ton of time, effort, and education BUT I'd rather spend that time honing in our processes right away with a simpler CRM system. There are still too many things ADP's CRM is lacking compared to the more progressive systems out there.

But yes, you're right. With enough time and effort it can work in its current form.

ADP CRM is not the perfect system and I agree with most of the complaints but when a dealer invests $40k+ on a system, they need to put someone in charge of it. It's easy to complain about the systems drawbacks but when it's already in your store, you may want to consider becoming the stores' CRM expert. I've worked in three stores that used this system and I was able to demand more pay in each store because I was able to "make the monkey dance." You also need to demand in store training. If you can have Steve Lincoln come into your store, I highly recommend it!

I actually use ADP w.e.b. CRM ILM (iLeads) tools and have developed processes to make it usable and profitable (and quick!).

We have been using ADP web CRM for several years. My biggest complaint is the poor ILM tools, however they are working to improve them. Other concerns I have seen or heard are training, primarily access to this training. Poor inventory tools, display integration etc.

We were on it until about June of 2008. I have heard they made some improvements since then, but if I could pay someone to help me forget the time we were on it, I would.

Is there anyone who is currently using ADP for their CRM and ILM. They claim that they have made so many "new upgrades" and enhancements. We are looking into their system because we are possibly moving from Reynoylds Contact Managaement. I am currently Neutral on their (ADP's)CRM system.

We just started using CRM from ADP...And we are unable to use email....Out of the blue, one day, we are unable to send emails or receive them....Our Admins have been on the phone trying to resolve this issue (2 days now)...Is anyone having similar problems or can offer any ideas would be greatly appreciated...

Thank you for your time. I love the functions of web crm in retreiving data. We are using CRM for service reminders, Tracking ROI, BDC nightly programs to generate tasks,Internet Lead Management, monthly campaigns and lastly use the tool to hold people accountable to their jobs.
Once your systems and in place and they are tweaked to the comfort level of the users(employees) all you have to do is maintain your processes. If you are a BDC manager you will need to be in the loop of what is going on in the dealership. This means knowing who is working there and who is not. You need to know mfg. programs and everything that makes the dealership tick. If you just sit in your office and do nothing except campaigns you are just as good as someone not running the system.
One thing I would like, is to be able to generate reports on the fly. What I mean by this is I get to select and create my own reports that give me the results the dealership requires. The reports CRM gives are great but sometimes you need more detail. One example, If you are running service reminders, I would like to track $'s that came in for customer pay or warranty or internal ro's. overall CRM is a great product and like many other responders have said this system is designed to have a manager run and maintain it. Don't forget you are in a position of holding people accountable who might have never been in that situation before. So know your system, know your data and be sure of your results. If you are not you will decrease the value of the CRM product and your position. It's a fun product has some glitches but really works good. If you are good with access you can make this system dance and give you more detailed results from the exported data from campaigns or service reminders. Don't forget DMS aslo gives reports that can be used in conjuction with crm when using access to create more detailed reporting. Lastly If you are thinking of hiring someone for this position don't hire some one with no knowledge of computers, no education, and expect that a greater can give you the results you want. This system will not work and you will become frustrated with CRM when actually it was the employee.
Thanks Joe

I had to share my thoughts on w.e.b. CRM...

My dealership has used the w.e.b. CRM from ADP since it was first released. I'll admit that it is better now than it was then...but it is still terrible.

The biggest problem I have with CRM is loss of customer information. At some point during the overnight DMS update, some customer information gets switched (i.e. Customer A that bought a Camry, now suddenly owns Customer B's Tundra, or Customer A's phone and address information is now Customer C's). I've been addressing this issue with support and technicians for months...

To address your specific questions:

What features do you like and/or dislike?
It does do a good job for laying out follow-up through BDC campaigns via phone, mail, e-mail, etc. There is a section on the salesperson's screen that lays out how many phone calls need to be made, who to follow-up with, and all of the other tasks that typically get ignored. There is also a campaign manager that I use for direct mail, which is helpful for tracking direct mail response. One final feature I like is that the CRM will also tell the salesperson if any of his/her assigned customers have a service appointment.

What I don't like is that there is no "skate alert" feature. It's far too easy to work the system and skate each other. Ileads...useless. It's also difficult to learn for some people (just in my observations). Doing some tasks require about a 5-6 step process that has been hard for some salespeople to grasp. This may be more of an issue if you don't have someone available to spend at least an hour or two with a newbie to go through the system.

How would you rate their customer service?
Phone support is ok if the answer is something the support rep can do on the spot, and over the phone. Beyond that, my experience has been that it takes months to get an answer (with daily phone calls and messages). I don't slack off and wait for them to call me back, especially when it's an important issue like customer information getting screwed up! The account reps never answer the phones, or knows the right answer. We've been waiting 2 years to get license scanners in, and we finally have one due to arrive in 2 weeks (pray for us that it shows up).

What ongoing issues have you had with ADP web CRM?
1. Timeliness of support addressing issues
2. Lost/misplaced customer information (by the way...confirmed to NOT be operator/input error)
3. Cumbersome to use - too many steps to accomplish simple tasks

How strong are the Internet Lead Management features?
THe ILM features are basically nonexistent. We do not use CRM for managing our Internet leads because it's so poor, and we found another alternative that helps our reps better manage the leads, and has a lot more options in terms of ways to follow-up. For a bare bones solution that will have a place for incoming leads to land, it's fine. If you want to sell the customers a car, I'd recommend using something else for ILM.

Would you recommend their CRM and Desking tool to other dealers?
I like the answer, "I sure would, to my competitors!" There are better options out there (I'm in the middle of researching replacements) with fewer bugs and (I hope) better customer service. Granted, there are no perfect solutions, but there are far better ones than w.e.b. CRM.

One final thing that irks me about CRM, but could simply just be a peeve of my own that nobody else shares, is that it's limited in the sense that only the sales floor has use for it. F&I, Parts and Service all use a sister program called w.e.b. Suite in their dealings, and information has to get migrated through an overnight DMS update. It's a minor thing, I know, but I simply would prefer there to be one program that can cover the entire house.

I've read through these postings several times, and just can't help myself. I have to reply.
First, I will admit (?) that I worked for ADP for over 10 years, the last 5 of those going to dealerships to install the CRM product. In the early years, we learned one basic fact: If the dealership(s) did not have a designated person to manage (oversee) the product, it would often fail.
You have Used Car managers to manage the inventory; you don't just wait for vehicles to be traded in. And yes, you will need a CRM Manager, for ANY of the CRM products mentioned.
And that's where I am now. I got "burned out" on the travel involved in installing CRM systems, so I went to work for a dealership group as the CRM and DMS manager. This person doesn't need to spend 8 hours a day on CRM; they can have other duties, such as managing Internet leads, working with DMS users, and any other software programs the dealership wishes to use.
The main advantage of the ADP CRM program is its integration with the DMS. I could try to answer several of the questions that are posted above this reply, but I think most of them have been overcome or are not fully understood by the end user.
Yes, there's a lot of screens and information, but isn't that what we want? We have about 50 salespeople using CRM on a daily basis, and it certainly helps identifying previous Internet Lead customers when they come to the showroom. And all of our dealerships use CRM reporting to help go back over customers who have not yet purchased.
We also do regular "Campaigns" (mostly mailings), Customer follow-up (prospects and sold customers) and Service Reminders to our customers. All through CRM.
Sure, it's not a perfect product, but if you just had ADP train your salespeople and sales managers, and then sat back and watched it fail, maybe it's not all product related.

Jeff my opinion is obvious advertising for one product or another is harmful to the board. Anonymous postings that claim the have knowledge of anything is a waste of all of our time

I have been using the CRM as a daily tool on the sales floor for our follow up and sales process, and it can be fairly difficult to wrestle with. It's continually buggy and requires constant phone calls to ADP to settle things, or find a "work around" to the problem. *NOTE* A "work around" is ADP's way of having you find a long-winded, round-about approach to accomplish a supposedly simple task. It is NOT a solution by any means. As far as day to day activities, it is time consuming but somewhat manageable. So, in the end, most of the sales floor ends up indifferent after a month of dealing with it.

NOW to the Internet Lead Management (or lack thereof) for CRM. Our upper level has been pushing us to use it, and it has been an absolute nightmare! Nothing works properly so far and to assign a customer, you have to jump through 7 steps (which we shortened from 9). The steps involved do NOT make any sense and to find any information about an Internet Lead, you typically have to back track and go into a completely different area to pull information up. When a lead is viewed, it comes up in full HTML with the tags attached and you have to click something to remove them. For what? Why can't they be removed/not displayed automatically? I cannot assign emails that are sent in to the wrong department to the right department. The system as a whole is antiquated and archaic. It only sends black and white emails without graphics - may as well be a telegraph.

In the end, I would give my first born to not have to use the CRM as an ILM tool. I've seen and heard awesome things about AVV from a few Internet Manager seminars and it is on the top of my Christmas list.

ADP should stick to what they do best - NOTHING.

After reading some of the comments in this thread I don't believe many of the posters know what else is on the market. Granted, we are in a business that is still years behind the technology curve we are being catered to by programmers - not car people.

There are some truly great systems out there! Unfortunately, they don't have the advertising budgets some of these other systems have.

As an ADP dealer who plans to retain their DMS services, I wish to remain anonymous in this post. ADP CRM is counter-intuitive, and some of their other new products are just plain terrible. I feel that we made a major mistake in using most of their products excluding DMS. If you have a selling process in place, ADP CRM will frustrate your salesfloor and absolutely destroy the effectiveness of your Internet department. The system looks Greek when it is first opened, and requires way too many steps to complete any task. We figure we are able to communicate with less than half the customers we could handle before putting this CRM in because of all the required fields and steps. We have tweaked the system to require less, but you can't turn everything off. Not to mention their contract terms are ridiculous.

Would I recommend this system to another dealer? I sure would - my competitors! I would also recommend this to dealers who care about being wined and dined - ADP does an excellent job in this area! Their higher-ups are super friendly too. I hold no ill-will toward anyone in the company. I think they made a mistake in releasing their CRM tool, and simply need to admit that. Yeah, it will be a costly mistake but if they continue on this path it will ultimately cost them more.

Do I think ADP can fix this? Yes, but only if they rewrite things from the ground up.

Carlos,

Please giv me a call when you get a chance. 719-575-7213.

Thanks,
Gilbert

Evaluated ADP in use at mult-franchise family owned dealership that had been using it for over 12 months. Remember, despite the name (360 web suite) this is a server based CRM basically a renamed Right Relationship. This is not a web based CRM solution!

As mentioned above their data mining tool is second to none for their ADP DMS. You could pretty much cut up the data any way you chose; it was an outstanding campaign tool unmatched in the market--it was costly too on top of the $1100 CRM (48 month lease; servers on site) an additional $1200 for campaign module.

Now to the CRM--not JAVA based so no real time email and cannot see previous emails. Reporting module is extensive but flatly never works. You can run the same report over some past data period and come up with different information each time. Dos based interface is EXTREMELY hard to use and train; for example you might close a program with a small dot on one page, an "x" on another page, and completely differently in other parts of the program.

The program is completely unintuitive for users making it very hard to train. It just does not make sense what you have to do on each page; and what you learn in one part of the program might not translate to the next part of the program. Part of ADP's piecemeal approach to building Right Relationship.

Long term contract, very high startup fees and training day fees are a big detriment as well. There are much better and more user friendly programs in the market that does what ADP does much, much better at a much nicer price point. They dealership abandoned it for Icarmagic...