Anyone Using Deal Activater, AutoAlert, etc.??

[jmoses]

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to see if any of you have used products similar to Xtream Service (sp?), AutoAlert, or JM&A, Dominion DealActivator??

For those who are not familiar, I think these tools are used to determine finance and lease payments on a similar new vehicle. For example, for the new vehicle you would have to enter in what you'd want to sell each vehicle for and what the factory incentives are. For the trade, you would have to use an estimated payoff and obtain a trade value using a blackbook value, sticking to the conservative side. Miles can be obtained using service records or estimated.

As far as I know, what these services do is alert or prompt you to call customers who are in equity situations that would allow them to keep their payments the same on a new car if they are approaching end of lease

Have any of you heard of these products, or has anyone used these (or anything similar) with any success?? Looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say. Thanks!

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I have 2 dealers that are going live with AutoAlert here very soon. I've messed around with it before and saw value but always wondered why a CRM didn't offer the same thing. Yes, some have bit and pieces but not all the features.

Mercedes USA was endorsing it for their dealers about 2 years ago - there should be a few MB dealers that could/should comment.

Like many tools you get out what you put in. These tools are very "Active" and truly rely on the dealer to get it done. This is where I'm hesitant.

I believe you mean IMS Deal Activator? Which is being resold by several companies like AutoRevenue / Dominion. I'm not yet familuar with this product yet.

Once I have some more information and opinion on AutoAlert, I'll report back!

 

[Craig]

I started this conversation here a while ago..... http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f44/anyone-using-auto-alert-1157.html
Jeff was the only 1 who chimed in then too....... maybe everyone is thinking like me and waiting for these programs to integrate with their CRM..... or better yet for them to be part of your CRM, should be the focus of CRM companies now instead of building more reports.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Dang, I totally forgot about that post Craig. Thanks for linking to it. It's amazing that we have OVER 1,100 threads here on the forum. We need to make the search box more visible I think.

We use eLead and they have been talking about GoldDigger (a service that I personally use quite a bit) turning into a real time piece that would integrate into the desking tool as well and CRM. I need to give them a call and see how far they are with it.

It has a few legs in Google as well..

anyone using autoalert - Google Search

 

[bpreston]

I definitely agree guys that this is something that should be a part of the CRM and this is why I am concerned with signing up for one of these products.

In theory the idea is great. Right now our CRM schedules end of finance calls informing our sales people how long till the maturity of their customer's loan or lease. However, rather than simply calling our customers saying "your lease is almost up" it'd be so much stronger to say, "your lease is almost up and I can likely get you out early and into a brand new Camry and keep your payments the same!"

However, it was hard enough to obtain buy in for our CRM. Separate from the CRM, I don't foresee effective utilization of programs like this because they don't provide synergy (there just another program that sales managers and sales people have to use), they aren't very user friendly, and from what I have seen offer little accountability through contact histories and call recording.

 

[Craig]

I definitely agree guys that this is something that should be a part of the CRM and this is why I am concerned with signing up for one of these products.

In theory the idea is great. Right now our CRM schedules end of finance calls informing our sales people how long till the maturity of their customer's loan or lease. However, rather than simply calling our customers saying "your lease is almost up" it'd be so much stronger to say, "your lease is almost up and I can likely get you out early and into a brand new Camry and keep your payments the same!"

However, it was hard enough to obtain buy in for our CRM. Separate from the CRM, I don't foresee effective utilization of programs like this because they don't provide synergy (there just another program that sales managers and sales people have to use), they aren't very user friendly, and from what I have seen offer little accountability through contact histories and call recording.

Bobby,
I agree that the buy in on CRM alone without adding additional workarounds to an already tech filled day is plenty. I just don't see it to be effective long term, I'm waiting for the tech to catch up.
On a side note Scott Bristol from the World Wide Web here at Acton had lots of great things to say about you after your CRM school together.

 

[andwrig]

We use Xtreme Service at our Honda and Acura stores. Two very big thumbs up. Product is great. Design is great. Support is fantastic. Biggest downside - only available at the current time to Acura, Honda, Toyota, Lexus and BMW dealers. They are trying not to grow too fast or add to much complexity that they can't support. They are really trying to deliver and not overpromise which is a queue that many companies, especially CRM and DMS companies, could learn from. Its very easy to use. Very reasonably priced and no contract. I think we are going to see a lot of growth in this segment in the coming months/years...

 

[bpreston]

Craig,

I guess Scott used to work for at my uncle's dealership briefly, so I'm sure he is just being nice!

Andy,

Pleasure meeting you at the Honda "Super" Grass Roots Meeting. Good to hear Xtream Service works for you, I just don't foresee the same success with this or any related products for that matter due for the aforementioned reasons. I definitely think you are right though that there is a ton of growth in this segment and I hope CRM companies jump on this to enhance their products.

 

[sbaric]

UDC's CRM system Momentum integrates with AutoAlert
Here is an article that discusses the integration, complete with Dealer testimonials

UDC Teams with AutoAlert to Drive Sales Within Dealerships

For more information on Momentum visit Automotive CRM Software | Momentum
or feel free to contact me.

Thank you,

Steve Baricevic
Regional Manager
Universal Dealer Consultants
973-767-8834
[email protected]

 

[john.quinn]

Just got up and running with Xtreme here a couple of months ago -- agree with andwrig - -two thumbs-up. But we do have a "Process Animal" running the experiment -- very focussed and disciplined, which makes all the difference. So far, so good.