Has anyone Has any experience with Vin Solutions CRM/ILM?

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wow a lot of good info on this thread! There are a lot of details I could ask about here - one that caught my eye was the comment about "only working with IE", and that iMagiclab worked well on Firefox. Supposedly, a browser is a browser, so maybe there is something I missing by not using firefox? I have tried both and didnt see a difference.
Thanks!

Alex J - I have found it best to send an email to the iMagicLab support center when I can't get someone on the phone or start a ticket inside their online support forum. Yes, the support forum tracks all of your support items and keeps records of their responses to you. I wish every company did that.

I think you'll see a renewed sales effort from them once they've gotten all the new things they're doing pushed. You're not a current customer and that is probably why you haven't heard back. They don't want to take on too many new accounts right now, but I can make a connection for you if you want?

Thanks for your input Rob.
Alerts are a VERY big deal to me and I was assured by the Dealersocket Rep that DS handles alerts for new leads and new emails. This concerns me to hear this.

Alex J.

Joshua,
Glad to hear you like Dealer Socket. I have not had the success you have though. *Sometimes* the duplicate calls are marked incomplete, while often they stay put and open. It's not consistent at all. With regards to support, I also haven't had the luck you have. I have only called twice.

1. Called to inquire about how to send a text alert when an email is received. DS doesn't support it, and apparently has no plans to. Terrible omission.
2. None of my salespeople were getting text alerts at all for several days. Called in, they blamed the carrier. Would be fine, if not for the fact that my team has Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, Cricket, etc. All different carriers, none working. The problem resolved itself several days later mysteriously. Alerts are still *very* flaky however.

IMagicLab seems to be head and shoulders above based on what I saw the product do. However, I am wondering how customer service is. I put in another call to them and left a message saying I was looking at a new CRM tool in the next 60 days or so on Friday and haven't heard back from them yet. If it takes that long to hear back with the opportunity to make a sale I'm wondering how their support line it. Alex do you have any integration issues with the CRM tool? Can it push and pull like they say?

I think I left my last comment a little too soon.

Alex J - you should look at everything diligently. When that same information was presented to us (back in 2006) we were only using iMagicLab's ILM tool (iCarMagic/iCarConnect then) and it wasn't as crucial a piece of our process as it is today; now that we're using the full CRM. When we made the decision to switch to the CRM, those items resurfaced. ADP brought those things up to deter us from leaving their CRM product. They were discussed and we decided the iMagicLab product was superior enough to look past those things. I don't recall needing to negotiate any significant changes to the iMagicLab CRM contract. We did look at quite a few things about their architecture and back-up programs/servers.

Our IT Director and CFO did not want to move away from ADP CRM while our VP of Sales and eCommerce Director did, so we had to do a lot more diligence in order to make the change happen. All in all our internal opposition helped us make a clearer decision, and argument, that makes me feel good about the move.

I just wanted to make those points clear instead of just saying...

"Any company could be sold tomorrow. Any company could fold tonight. Everybody has a skeleton or two in the closet. If you don’t like something, re-write the contract."

Keith Latman isn't only a vendor-partner of ours, he is also a friend of mine. I was not involved in his previous business nor can I comment on it. Unfortunately, other vendors use that argument against him and also try to paint the picture that he'll sell to the highest bidder. I came to the conclusion they have no fight against the actual product and have to resort to these measures. It was a turn-off for me.

Any company could be sold tomorrow. Any company could fold tonight. Everybody has a skeleton or two in the closet. If you don't like something, re-write the contract.

I'm not trying to sell you on iMagicLab. I'm just trying to help you find an answer based on my own experiences.

LOL...I meant to say IMagicLab had the "best" presentation I saw.

Alex,
Thanks for you input. I agree that IMagicLab had the presentation I saw. However, I am concerned about 2 things. One-the negative press the owner/CEO has received. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20060324&slug=latman24
I am concerned about this company not being around in a few years...And 2, based on what they told me they do not have "in house" training which would be good initial for some sales teams. How is there customer support and what to you know about thier Owner/CEO, I heard the contract is "suspect" when it comes to your client records and things of that nature.

The only tool that can handle most of what you're looking for is iMagicLab:

1. Yep - works better in Firefox (IMO)
2. Yep - you can do whatever you want on notifications and can set timers for who should get what lead depending on their response time
3. Yep - you can set this however you want
4. Haven't seen much that is simpler
5. Currently, this isn't 100%. They have made a commitment to fix it, but I can't give IML reporting a perfect score yet.
6. Nope - this is based off of how long after a lead came in or when you hit send on an email broadcast. That would be a nice feature. I've been asking for a "newsletter"/"scheduled email" piece that could take care of this - just don't have an ETA on when that will be added.
7. Yep - this is based on how you set things up.
8. Yep - it puts the duplicate lead into the original record instead of creating a duplicate
7a. Yep - see response number 2
8a. Yep - you can set this up in a number of ways
9. Yep - mobile.dealercrm.com
10. Yep - this was a feature request I've been asking for and they just added it!

I can tell you iMagicLab tackles your list better than any other system out there. eLeads might be second, but DealerSocket can't based on what I last saw from them. AutoBase, Reynolds, ADP...not even close about 6 months ago. A lot could have changed in the last 6 months though.

Wow...this is interesting. The system (Dealersocket) that did not jump out to me seems to be getting the most "plugs" on this thread. I still haven't heard anyone say anything positive about ADP CRM tool which is interesting. Here are somethings I am looking for a CRM/ILM to be able to do.

1. Webbased and work in browsers other than just I.E.
2. Techonology to send out simultaneous blast notifications to salespeople phones when a new email lead comes in and have it setup on a first come first serve bases for who ever claims the lead.
3. Technology to notify salespeople phone when a customer opens any email received from the salesperson.
Spam assassain rankings for email templates.
4. Simple and easy to use without tons of pop-up screens that confuse non computer savy salespeople.
5. Accurate Reporting and the ability to customize reports
6. Schedule specific times automated emails go out instead of the server randomly sending them out on the day
7. Have automated activities on schedules pause when customer sends response. ex. customer responds on Tuesday night and automated email goes on on Wed morning before we have had a chance to manually respond.
8. Ability to stop duplicate autoresponses when customer submit leads back to back.
7. Automatically assign lead to next available salesperson after so much time of non reponse.
8. Good criteria for determining duplicates...(HUGE PROBLEM with Reynolds Contact Management) The system only looks if email address matches up when a new lead comes in. If it's a new email address then a new Client is created!
9. Mobile CRM...Response ability and tracking through mobile device.
10. Store car in system client is interested in and email salesperson automatically when that EXACT vehicle comes in. e.x. I'm looking for a 2005 BLACK Honda Accord with TAN LEATHER interior, under 50,000 miles and 17 inch wheels. (Most systems I see can only do make, model and year.

There are tons of other things but for the post I focused mostly on the internet lead handling capabilities of a system.

Let me know what you guys/gals think. Who is out there that can do all this that is not a "fly-by-night" company.

Thanks.
Alex J.

Well I see many good friends here, and this is one subject which I am passionate about.

First, when we get into issues of CRM/ILM and then take into consideration cost, I am reminded of what one of my mentors said about leads...there is no such thing as a $20 lead. Ain't that right Ralph? A cheap system TYPICALLY begets cheap results…not always, but most of the time. Deeper issues here, I know.

And the same is true about CRM/ILM. I've used nearly every system spoken of here. As most of you know, I have been in the internet side of this business since it’s inception, and we all know there are many CRM/ILM “magic bullets” that have fallen by the wayside. In my dealer group, we’ve used many of them in a sort of disjointed manor. I study CRM/ILM, the interface, what each system is capable of, and which are most likely to have staying power. If it is cheap...but no one uses it...what good is that? Further, and here is the real issue; Which system allows my employees, across a three state region, to best communicate with our client base AND see the bigger picture, thus enhancing the ability to make deals in both sales and fixed operations. What about reporting/remote reporting? Who is going to provide effecting on site and online training, thus enhancing the viability of the tool? And most of all...who is going to take care of you when the chips are down, there is a problem, and it is Friday night at 5:00pm and most other companies are quitting for the day...and so now your weekend is shot due to a CRM/ILM problem.

At this juncture, and after a few years of direct involvement with several of the companies listed here, I can only say that DealerSocket has become, in my opinion, the only truly viable company with witch I would conduct business...and entrust my business with. Very few problems! And, when I have had a problem, they actually put a guy on an airplane to my store to fix the problem. DealerSocket is the only tool that I have seen effectively demonstrate internal business synergies which have created business for my teams, and it is the most effective at helping my employees communicate with our client base. Further, with some of the new product packaging they have right now, it is competitive purely on a dollars and cents level with most of the other less capable systems out there. I guess what I am saying is that DealerSocket seems to be the one that is packed with value and is backed by an honorable and financially viable company. Does it have 18 million different ways of looking at Client Data? Sure! That does not mean you have to use them all, however. It just means that they have considered all of the options and needs, and provided them.

My dealership has been with DealerSocket for the past 3 1/2 years and prior to that we were with Salespoint.

Our Internet department has been named eDealer of the Year for both 2007 and 2008 by Ford Motor Company and Ford Direct. We use DealerSocket for a complete CRM (We had ADP Right Relationship for CRM prior), but obviously DealerSocket’s functionality for Internet leads allowed us to sell more Ford sourced leads than any other Ford dealer in the nation.

I don't agree with the earlier assessment of DealerSocket at all. As simple as the fact that if a call is left open and a new call "To Do" is scheduled the past due call will be updated "incomplete" automatically and only the new call will exist in the employee's dashboard. Duplicate calls are avoided because of this process.

Additionally, you need to look at the support staff for a CRM or ILM tool. DealerSocket's support staff is extremely helpful. They will resolve the issues you have and if you have suggestions about changes they open a ticket and once a week review them for future enhancements. I just looked and there were 37 enhancements or new features released in 2008 alone. DealerSocket is interested in meeting their customer's needs as they change or develop.

Face it; no software program will ever do everything the way each individual user wants it to happen. You need to find a software tool that best meets your needs as a department or dealership. We went with DealerSocket because they provided a software tool that met the needs of our dealership and the results speak for themselves. In addition to our Internet success our dealership has been ranked 4th in Ford retail sales in the Nation for 2007 and 2008? At the end of the day it is about People and Processes and having a software tool that can support those two.

Does anyone have experience with Arkona's CRM, specifically with the Contact Activity Scheduler? Arkona's website has no details on building activity schedules.

We currently use Reynolds CM. The interface is clunky and the reports are limited, but the phone support is very good, IMO. I also use the VinSolutions inventory tool for organizing and sending out our used inventory. It's a great tool, and the folks at VinSolutions are always helpful.

Bill Congdon
Atzenhoffer Chevrolet Cadillac Mitsubishi Mazda

I have used a number of CRM and ILM tools over the years. I have seen just about every CRM mentioned on here. I have found Dealer Socket to be the best solution for our organization. Their capabilities are fantastic.

We have over 200 business rules and campaigns running automatically every day . . .touching almost every department in our dealer group. Works great for us!

Reuben Muinos

Hey Pisstell, we need your blood type, HIV screen, SSN, phone number, DOB, mothers maiden name, Grand Ma's report card from the fifth grade, for "Transparency" reasons. Who died and made you the Dealerrefrsh police?

Let people comment with out you jumping in their grill claiming that they have a hidden agenda.

People blog to give their opinion, not their DNA.

Joseph "Joey" Stivick, Jr

[email protected]

Randy,
You don't leave any personal ID on your post, so, you leave me to conclude that you work for ADP and have simply created an advertisement ala Web 2.0 (nest your product within the outline of a peer review).

If I am wrong, c'mon and finish the job, show thy self! The 'net is all about transparency, so get to trans-parencing already!

CRM Review Starved
Joe

Wow Randy! I have had quite the opposite experience; especially with your favorite contender.

I've used the following and rate them accordingly on a 1-10:

Imagiclabs = 2
EleadCRM = 7
Higher Gear = 6
DealerSocket = 5

I have looked at both Reynolds Contact Management but dont trust the CEO, Brockman. Hes the Hitler of Contracts what WhatI've heard.

Have spent the last 3 days evaluating and talking with dealers at NADA, No one has got CRM right yet for reason I cant understand.

ADP's CRM appears to have the edge from what I see.

Sounds like all the ILM/CRM tools are just designed differently. They all have things they are good and bad at. It is hard to do everything perfectly.

Haha I think you're absolutely right. You aren't likely to find the perfect ILM tool... just one you can live with.

Wow...
Those things you spoke about would probably annoy the hell out of me. It looks like the schedules that are created by Dealer socket are all "results based schedules". In Reynolds CRM we can at least choose between a set schedule and a results based schedule. It looks like it's back to the drawing board for me. I'm looking into BZ/ADP's Buzztrak/Netrak today to see if their ILM may work well with ADP's CRM tool. I looks like when your looking at CRM/ILM tools your just trying to find the one that gives you the least amount of headache's.

Previously we used iMagicLab ( Webcontrol before that ). I did not love imagic.. but it was a heck of a lot better than DealerSocket.

DS is To-Do focused, which isn't a bad thing. The problem is that the system will often automatically create multiple to-do's ( sometimes 2, 3, or 4 ) per customer. For example, if you have an action plan set up to schedule calls on certain days.... if for some reason you miss a call, it will often ( not always ) schedule a duplicate call, with the previous call still hanging out. Just an extra step that's time-consuming when you're talking about lots of customers.

Also, another thing that I can't believe I forgot.. there are THREE ( 3! ) separate and different "views" for each customer record. Some functions are only accessible in certain views.. and each one is layed out quite differently. Insanely frustrating. I cannot recommend DS to anyone... until they make some major changes.