I have been usin g the ADP CRM for 1 1/2 years. The follow-up campaigns that I can creat are great. Everyday our salespeople can open there user screen and it will give them all there calls for the day, appointments, etc. However, there are several steps to make it come out right. I have battled and battled trying to get my end-of-month reporting to come out right. When a lead comes in, you have to stay on that lead thru the entire process! There are so many people involved; salesman, sales manager, Fi, Fi mgr, accounting, comptroller. Eventually, someone creates a new deal and you no longer have an accurate report!! So if a customer sent a lead this month AND bought, they are not necessarly in the internet dept sold report. It is a constant struggle. I would rather have something more user friendly, that will sweep the DMS, looking for matches to the incoming leads and match them up. Does anybody know of such a product?

I've been using ADP's CRM tool for just under 3 months now, since starting my current job.

I have used AVV Web Control and Net Trak Previously and AVV's tool is the BEST of the 3 by far.

What features do you like and/or dislike?
I'm now using version 4.11 of CRM

The ADP tool has a lot of steps to everything you do. Rather than having one screen with links and popup windows, there are several screens with a lot of repeated information. Also there some things that have to be done in specific ways. To send a bulk email you need to create a template. You can't just write one and go.

How would you rate their customer service?
The customer service from ADP has been great. I call and I get through to a person 99% of the time. The people there know the product well and have helped with every issue I've had.

What ongoing issues have you had with ADP web CRM?
Most of the issues I seem to have are to do with the BDC module. Issues with creating campaigns and bulk email problems.

How strong are the Internet Lead Management features?
I'm not honestly sure about what this question actually means.
The Internet Lead Management Features.. hmmm..??

Would you recommend their CRM and Desking tool to other dealers?
Not if AVV WebControl was an option for them. I haven't used anything with Desking, but their Internet Lead process management and template control is fantastic.

Anyone who works with Mazda has been using AVV for the last 5 years as part of Mazda's requirement. It's the best I've seen or heard about.

Working for both Cobalt Group and now with Comcast Spotlight as their Automotive Marketing Specialist I see tons of reports, articles, and such based on the advertising budget moving to online...

BUT WHAT IS ONLINE?

Online advertising on Cars.com, Autotrader, Vehix for inventory or the actual advertising that is available? Do third party leads count? What about local news paper or Broadcast stations' online websites?

How do we decipher the Online vs Traditional?
And Why has it taken this long to move it online? There have been reports like this for YEARS.

The traditional media is not dead, but as a dealer you have to think about frequency and finding your niche. There is more market share to be had, you are going to fight for it, and then fight to keep your customer. Keep in mind why people shop from you: Service, parts, Inventory, Special Fi, or just because of your location. Use this to your advantage and brand it. From there start expanding your budget to include these other options that are out there - Be an early adopter and you can win, but dont think that moving budget from here to there every month will get you more sales. Think long term and you will prosper and make it through the lean months.

As always,
Have a great end of month & Happy Holidays!
Greg K.
Seattle, WA

Im sure that many dealers will be increasing their paid search spend. Print ad spend and results are declining and I feel like many dealers like the direct response medium of paid search. If done correctly with complete tracking in place the ROI for a search marketing campaign can be a lot larger then many traditional media buys.

I would like a list of states where I would pay no sales tax when buying an automobile

Thanks Jeff for the heads up

We do have Auto USA and happy with them.

We were not happy with Dealix.

Question...

Has anybody used Vehix.com for a lead company?

If so would you recommend them?

Is there a Lead company any one would recommend?

Thank you

Bob

I believe THGG's Robert Gruen was a car guy, no?

LOL. A debate? No. Just looking for full disclosure which you provided and I appreciate.

I wish you nothing but good luck.

Take care.

DeCoder74,

Just so you dont have to speculate here are the facts:

I do work in Novato, CA for a company called iMagicLab (formerly iCarMagic). I did step out of the dealership, giving up my Internet Manager title. I did move my family across the country from a small dealer group in Indiana...

All for my belief in the products at iML. If you are looking for a debate I will happily meet you in any public forum to discuss software in the Automotive Retailing space, fyi.

Jake, sounds like you work for a certain ILM/CRM based in Novato, CA...wait, perhaps you do. Transparency is pretty high, fyi.

Maybe its due to issues like this that Higher Gear has you sign a LONG term contract when using their solutions......

Come to think of it, I think there is an ILM tool out there that measures the likeliness of your email templates getting blacklisted when you create them.

Like I mentioned before, be sure to shop around. The most expensive solution surely cannot be the best, can it?

Don't worry guys, there are alternatives to Higher Gear!

Be sure to shop around for an CRM or ILM tool that was actually developed by car guys for car guys!

Things like this are bound to occur with software. It does seem short-sighted that they would attach unknown.txt files in place of HTML in the message, but at least they fixed the issue quickly. Not being a user of automotive CRM, why does the system not recognize leads by email address? Are there security reasons for this?

I wonder what happened to there Quality Assurance(QA) process. Next time choosing a vendor ask them about there QA process. From a programmer view mistakes like this do happen in development... but should have been caught before going into production.

You could catch on to these errors by making your email servers part of feedback loop from AOL, Hotmail and others. This way any message that is marked SPAM you get a report and can look after them pro-actively. Hotmail goes a step further and provides you with delivery stats for a given day. Another thing to ask any provider that offers email campaigns is what is there policy on the spam rate. For example we will suspend an account for 10 spam complaints for each 5000 emails sent.

We just signed up with Higher Gear. This is not something I would have ever thought to ask them about. But I thought there was an ILM tool??

Hi,

Our store is on of the largest dealers of a quality import brand in the nation (800+ vehicles per month). We have an internet, fleet and bdc department. I agree with you, Jeff, on the importance of followup phone calls. Our bdc calls several hundred people back every day. They can be yesterday's visitors, last week's, or from three years ago. We don't try to sort out who is on the national DNC list. Because we use a very low key approach from a courtesy call follow-up approach, we rarely offend anyone. We have never been reported for violating the DNC list. If someone is irritated by a call, we apologize profusely and state we will immediately delete them off our contact list (which we do).

A majority of people are pleased with a courteous followup call. It gets us a good percentage of "beback" business and lets our prospects vent if they were mishandled on the sales floor (not that it ever happens, of course). Even if they don't buy from you, it neutralizes a lot of ill will.

Cheers

Hey Jeff,

Nice that you posted about the article and thanks for mentioning my site.

I will give you a few thoughts on this and please keep in mind, I am not a dealer.

I can see why you would be steamed, I think any car dealer would. While this may be upsetting, I also think there is another way to look this.

Instead of 'fighing' the user, embrace them. This may be very hard, maybe impossible but I suggest at least giving the following a try: look at the authors concerns or resistance in buying from you as opportunities for growth. Have a look at what he does not like about the process and see if that can be changed in your own dealership.

I don't know how reflective his experience is for all dealerships, but here are some things he did not like:

-dealers getting his phone number and being called after he visited the dealership
-getting back to the dealership and being played on by 'good cop' (dealer), 'bad cop' (his boss)
-being made to feel cheap for passing on upgrades
-psychological warfare as he puts it

Whether this is the case or not, it is important to realize that that is the perception of some buyers. If your dealership does employ some of these practices here are some questions to ask: are you comfortable with them being in place? Do these practices generate more sales than another way of doing business? Would you want that experience if you were buying a car and were not a dealer? What do these practices do for brand building and long term sales?

You can't fight the environment around you, see the sticking points of your customers as an opportunity to grow your business effectively. Improving the customer experience will generate more sales and keep your customers happy.

Maybe that is a naive outsiders perspective but that is the only one I have and I felt like sharing it.

Brian

Well I always like when an online entity sends out data on how the market is changing. I whole heartily agree that the market is changing and my generation X plus the y’s and the next are tech savvy and online. I would not however say pull your TV advertising or for that mater any of your advertising. It is time to change the way you look at it. The key I see if frequency and longevity. You need to hit your target where they are and with great creative to get them involved with your brand. That being said frequency is the easy part. Be there on the FM radio when their alarm goes off in the morning, hit them when they turn on the tube for the traffic report or morning sport cetner, or morning videos. Then sponsor al local pod cast, place a radio by with the local independent, top rated, or news stations. Buy some online advertising with local sports teams, online news papers, online automotive classifies, Vehix, Edmunds, or some other geographic targeted online advertising. Hit them again on their ride home and then be on their favorite TV shows. Have a multimedia marketing mix and stay with it. Stop thinking about what is going to sell me more cars this month and start thinking about a plan that will sell you more cars year over year!

Just make sure you are targeting your customers with the right message at the right time. Hit them in every step of the sales funnel with. Don’t buy what you watch or listen to unless you are your targeted demographic and please find yourself a niche so you will be around in 5 years.

Thanks for all the great data Jeff and Mr. Bonnell!

I think this information brings a lot to light that all us Gen-X, Y & Z'ers have known for a long time now.... Traditional TV (and old-school advertising in general) is of a dying breed! Until TV conglomerates and Newspapers alike find a magical way to:

Effectively measure the amount of impressions made on their audience, the amount of leads generated from that advertising and can justify the ridiculous amount of $$ they want for that 30-second spot after that Late Night Re-Run nobody watches....

They WILL see the same demise as the great Disco Music I am so happy to have been born after!

Why would a savvy Dealership throw money into the dark hole that is local TV advertising without ANY WAY of measuring the results generated from their hard-earned $$'s spent? Especially when they can INVEST in Web-based advertisements and a good CRM tool that will track the results of their advertising and provide them with accurate data. They can then analyze the data from their advertisements and decrease the amount of advertising $$'s spent and see an increase in ROI along with a LOWER cost per sale?

Just my two cents Mr. Kershner!

Hey Jeff:

I spent 11 years in advertising sales for a regional cable television system. Being there when it all began, I was able to watch as the (then new) concept of placing localized television commercials within National class programming - make television advertising a reality for dealerships in many markets. Dealers especially benefited in major markets where broadcast television advertising just wasn't financially viable.

Now what I see beginning to happen, and become an option for regional dealerships is geo-targeted advertising on National calibre websites. Ad sizes have standardized, and there is now a viable case for agencies to put together media plans which include a variety of National sports, news, entertainment and enthusiast websites.

Not only will dealerships increasingly be able to consider incorporating Flash ads on cnn.com, weather.com, univision.com, si.com, and dozens of of "national" websites - with geographically targeted exposure.

Couple that with the use of Flash animated ads, and the ads themselves are not simply - "click through to my websites" ads - but they can deliver enough message and garner enough excitement to bring the campaign's essential advertising message onto the screen itself - and can deliver the dealership's sales message without clicking through to anywhere.

I was recently asked to prepare just such a media plan for a small dealership group. They were considering taking their television budget and moving it to just such an online plan. The $45,000 monthly budget included online ads on major area radio and sports team, and newpaper sites as well, and would deliver 2.35 million ad impressions each month.

Although the dealership didn't pull the trigger in this case, just the fact that the plan was seriously considered, to me, shows that this transition will be happening for real more and more.

- Jeff Bonnell
mjmi.com

While we are dealing with items within the vicinity of Coupons for your dealer website – Do they really work? | DealerRefresh, Purchase coupons online and print them at home. Doing so can save you at least 50% on the face value of the coupons.

Speaking from the retail sales side. Coupons are just another piece of the marketing pie. However small the increase in the sites conversion ratio is, it is better to have it than not. On the consumer side, It allows them to get that "I've got something up on people who are not clever enough to use the Internet" feeling. Bonus!

Coupons should be easy for you to sell against and replace. I would just browse the web for anyone with a coupon and give them a call. I have one customer that has already received 90 leads this month with a closing ratio of close to 20%, I don't think you could get him to change for any reason. Why? Because for some they work and some they don't.
Just like some dealers sell Hondas and some sell Hummers, everybody likes something different. By the way, this dealer gives window tint away. Big deal, it cost them about $110 to the deal.

One other thing, for those who say that coupons cost them money when the customer throws it in at the last minute have to consider 2 things. First, they probably received training on holding back from previous experience with various sales tactics. Not dissimilar to holding back on the trade or other techniques. The other thing and the most important one is this, if you received a lead on John Doe and he walks in and you are not prepared to ask him for the coupon you got the lead from, you whiffed that ball. All you have to do is find them in your CRM before working your deal with them.

Bottom line, some like coupons some don't. Coupons work for some and not others, same with numbats. Not everyone is going to like them, that's what keeps life interesting.

By the way, I think it's a great product. Good luck with it.

Coupons are a waste of time and a joke. I despise them, they are a gimmick. I also get mad when I visit a site and they pop up, it is aggravating. The coupon does not guarantee a faster response nor does it really save money when you have to quote a low price anyway. The coupon just generates a lead. There are many other better ways to generate leads. How many times has a customer tried to use the coupon as an excuse to save even more money? It creates more bad then good. In order to create a lead and get a customer interested the site needs something eye catching and something unexpected. Visit www.paramushonda.com or www.riversideaudi.com or www.gardenstatehonda.com . Now tell me what catches your attention and your eye on that site? You are on a car dealer website and you see a little creature that has nothing to do with cars. Now tell me if you naturally click on it. If you click on it you will submit a lead because curiosity will always kill the cat. Now you generate leads instead of aggravate a customer and tempt them to leave your site without contacting you.