Changing CRM's

[Mitchell Brenner]

We are changing CRM's and the consensus from the management team is to go with Reynolds and Reynolds' Contact Management. I'd like to hear from people who are currently using the system to let me know their honest thoughts as to:

1) Ease of use for the sales staff
2) Handling of Internet Leads
3) Email Blasts
4) Service Marketing.

 

[Dean]

I am also very interested in this. We suffer from alot of double handling and as a result alot of time is wasted asking the same people the same question multiple times. It appears unprofessional.

 

[joe.pistell]

read it and weep: http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f5/rey-rey-bad-email-remove-248.html

IMO, Alex and Jeff are VERY skilled in all things CRM.

FYI: CRM and Internet Technology Has Crept in Dealership’s Back Doors

 

[Alex Snyder]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Joe

I have absolutely zero experience with ReyRey other than what I hear from people I trust. I always view the big DMS companies as too slow to proficiently handle the faster-growing technologies: CRM, ILM, Websites, SEO, SEM, and virtually anything that isn't a DMS. I get a lot of calls from dealers who want to switch to a CRM I can vouch for and the top three things those dealers are leaving behind: ReyRey Contact Management, AutoBase, and HigherGear. Take that for what its worth.

Happy to talk to you about ADP CRM, AutoBase, Webcontrol, or iMagicLab.....or just the general principles of CRM/ILM and anything else that falls under the CRM umbrella.

 

[jschofer]

Things have changed significantly in the CRM, Internet lead management, Service marketing arena over the past 12-18 months. I believe there are many tools that can provide a better, more modern, and efficient solution than the DMS tools.

I would recommend taking a look at what your long term goals are, and find a solution that will help you reach those goals. Sometimes software is a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, how big of a hammer do you want to use?

I have seen many dealerships get caught up in "technology" that end up failing because thay overlooked the less flashy, but often times more important, support and on-going training. Also be sure to find a solution that can grow and adapt with you.

 

[JohnScott]

Don't forget to invest time/money in proper training. There's a lot of software out there sitting idle on hard drives because people don't know how to properly use it.

I think that sometimes the resistance you get from employees about new technologies or procedures is often based on fear of the unknown. A lot of people seem to resist training, especially in groups because they're afraid of looking foolish. Im not sure how you overcome that because I know you cant always afford to train people one on one. Just understanding it from the trainee's perspective is a good start though.

If someone says "thats a waste of time" or "its a pain in the ass to use" they might actually be saying "I dont know how to use it properly, and my pride prevents me from asking how".

 

[Mitchell Brenner]

I want to thank every one for their input. It has actually gotten me to convince the other managers that there are better solutions than ReyRey. I always knew that but it was my way to get away from HG as chalk on a blackboard would be better than that. Keep the comments coming. They're very helpful!

 

[Shawn Morse]

Good for you. I think you will find a number of better choices on the market and most of them wont ask you to sign a contract like I am sure reyonlds will.

 

[mattwatson81]

Good for you. I think you will find a number of better choices on the market and most of them wont ask you to sign a contract like I am sure reyonlds will.

We only request that you provide feedback so we can continue to make the most kick butt CRM system ever dreamed of!

 

[Tordiway]

We switched to Rey Rey's CRM five months ago. The negs:
- It seems to take 3-4 clicks to accomplish what could always be done in 1 or 2 clicks on our previous system. This tool is laborious and time consuming to use.
- No email read receipt! Repeat - no email read receipt!
- Tool allows management to micro-manage employees to the nth degree. As an employee I am hamstrung by all the restrictions put in place by my employer; that is not the fault of the tool, of course, but I am now wary of tools that give mgmt too much power.
- Cannot merge duplicated prospects into one viable prospect. This drives me nuts!
- Confusing nomenclature; a "Client" is a customer, a "Prospect" is a sales opportunity.
- If you kill a non responsive prospect you have to manually kill all iterations of that prospect since there is no merging of duplicated prospects. Labor intensive.
- No ability to put your "hot" or "warm" prospects into a special area on the screen so you can easily remember to tend to them. Real easy to forget about a prospect until days later, then it is too late.
- Email program sucks at attachments, both outgoing and incoming. If you have to send or receive an attachment better use Outlook.
- Overall the tool is sluggish. It hangs a lot, and we get Javascript Error warnings all the time. It happens to everyone here, at the office or on our home PCs.
- Weak customer support. I've sent in 2 comments/questions and never got a reply.

These are the items that immediately come to mind. I'm sure there are more but these are the big ones I could think of quickly.