Autobase/Dominion...thoughts?

[glh222]

Hi all-

New to the forum here. I have been searching through some old posts, but the threads seem to be a bit dated. We are contemplating a change from our current CRM, and I wanted to know if anyone out there is currently using Autobase/Dominion and could chime in with some thoughts.

We used Autobase several years ago, but I am told that since they were bought by Dominion they had some drastic changes made to the system. I always loved how user friendly it was, but I remember the software being somewhat archaic. Is it now webbased, still user friendly, good, bad, indifferent? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[kcar]

I really wanted to try out Autobase/Dom and maybe switch over but...
This really really annoyed me.

They won't send me any screenshots.
They won't send me a demo to play with.

I told them my specifics that I'm not interested in a sales pitch, I've read their brochures myself, etc. And was ready to actually try out their product, but they refused to let me even take a look without a meeting. That's pretty much a deal breaker for me if you have to hide your product like that, and need someone to scream about bunch of features to try to sell it. Also no bs. they are trying to watch out for competitors, I contacted you with a dealership e-mail, dealership phone #, etc. don't waste my time..

 

[ddavis]

I really wanted to try out Autobase/Dom and maybe switch over but...
This really really annoyed me.

They won't send me any screenshots.
They won't send me a demo to play with.

I told them my specifics that I'm not interested in a sales pitch, I've read their brochures myself, etc. And was ready to actually try out their product, but they refused to let me even take a look without a meeting. That's pretty much a deal breaker for me if you have to hide your product like that, and need someone to scream about bunch of features to try to sell it. Also no bs. they are trying to watch out for competitors, I contacted you with a dealership e-mail, dealership phone #, etc. don't waste my time..

Have you ever noticed that the customers that send you question after question, request additional pictures and documentation, never buy? They literally suck the life out of you.

There is the guy in the service line that wants you to diagnose the problem so they can fix it themselves.

Kcar, I don't know your background. I don't know if you are just a geek that has never sold cars. You won't even list your name on here. Those of us, that have sold cars, have had the guy show up with 10 minutes to spare.

If you won't give a vendor an adequate amount of time, to present their product, many are going to view it as a waste of their time.

 

[kcar]

I don't ask questions. The only question I ask is to send me a screen shot or a demo.. How am I wasting their time if I'm doing the demo by myself? I'm not.. If anything I'm the only one wasting time if it doesn't work out. Takes 2 seconds to send me some screenshots or a link to a demo. Or they can spend 2+ hours in a meeting (online or offline plus travel costs) trying to sell it to a customer, only to have it turn out that they don't like it after taking a look. I have given the vendor plenty of time for their product, I've read their brochures, seen their websites, etc. The fact that I contacted that vendor in the first place to try out their product is more than enough, there's other choices, clearly I picked that vendor for a reason. I don't need someone to try to "sell me". And the problem with that is most dealers need someone to sell them on everything; they rely on vendor to hypes things up so they can fall all over it.

 

[CliffC]

I don't ask questions...The fact that I contacted that vendor in the first place to try out their product is more than enough, there's other choices, clearly I picked that vendor for a reason...

Clearly you are doing them a favor and they just don't see that.

Go figure...

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I really wanted to try out Autobase/Dom and maybe switch over but...
This really really annoyed me.

They won't send me any screenshots.
They won't send me a demo to play with.

I told them my specifics that I'm not interested in a sales pitch, I've read their brochures myself, etc. And was ready to actually try out their product, but they refused to let me even take a look without a meeting. That's pretty much a deal breaker for me if you have to hide your product like that, and need someone to scream about bunch of features to try to sell it. Also no bs. they are trying to watch out for competitors, I contacted you with a dealership e-mail, dealership phone #, etc. don't waste my time..

Kcar, your comments and opinions are typically quite entertaining and usually good for a chuckle.

If I had a dealer contact me at HookLogic and requested nothing more than few screen shots and/or user:pass to my admin - there's a good chance I'd write that dealer off as a lost cause and move onto a client that would allow me the time and respect to show them my service/product the way it was intended to be.

Coming from years on the dealership level - never once did I not allow a chosen service to demo their product to myself and anyone else that was going to be using the service. As important as the product is by itself, so is the support and people behind the product. Access to the admin and a few screen shots will never allow you to help determine the service behind the product.

Back to the original question here

Autobase/Dominion...thoughts?Hi all-

New to the forum here. I have been searching through some old posts, but the threads seem to be a bit dated. We are contemplating a change from our current CRM, and I wanted to know if anyone out there is currently using Autobase/Dominion and could chime in with some thoughts.

We used Autobase several years ago, but I am told that since they were bought by Dominion they had some drastic changes made to the system. I always loved how user friendly it was, but I remember the software being somewhat archaic. Is it now webbased, still user friendly, good, bad, indifferent? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

I hope what you find isn't too dated. We have a lot of member and action here on the forums but the forums portion of DealerRefresh isn't but a little over 3 years old. But I guess in the age of technology (what we are more-less referring to), a lot can happen in 3 years.

As far as I know Dominion has yet to release their revamped web based Sales Center (AutoBase) CRM. But there might be a few dealers on it. I'll see if I can't get a few peeps from Dominion to chime in and help out with a few questions (with no sales pitching).

I would also encourage this thread that seems to be catching more and more steam - http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f6/does-good-crm-exist-2771.html

 

[glh222]

That would be great...just looking for some info, it doesnt really matter to me if they dont send screen shots. I can understand a company, especially a technoligical company, not wanting to simply send their proprietary info out without a proper demo- thats like sending a client on a test drive without ever showing them how to turn the car on...

Kcar, your comments and opinions are typically quite entertaining and usually good for a chuckle.

If I had a dealer contact me at HookLogic and requested nothing more than few screen shots and/or user:pass to my admin - there's a good chance I'd write that dealer off as a lost cause and move onto a client that would allow me the time and respect to show them my service/product the way it was intended to be.

Coming from years on the dealership level - never once did I not allow a chosen service to demo their product to myself and anyone else that was going to be using the service. As important as the product is by itself, so is the support and people behind the product. Access to the admin and a few screen shots will never allow you to help determine the service behind the product.

Back to the original question here

I hope what you find isn't too dated. We have a lot of member and action here on the forums but the forums portion of DealerRefresh isn't but a little over 3 years old. But I guess in the age of technology (what we are more-less referring to), a lot can happen in 3 years.

As far as I know Dominion has yet to release their revamped web based Sales Center (AutoBase) CRM. But there might be a few dealers on it. I'll see if I can't get a few peeps from Dominion to chime in and help out with a few questions (with no sales pitching).

I would also encourage this thread that seems to be catching more and more steam - http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f6/does-good-crm-exist-2771.html

 

[Gerald]

Autobase/Dominion is a well-functioning CRM/ILM with some limitations. What you may have heard about the drastic changes with Dominion may be blown out of proportion. Dominion has spent some big money to get AB into the 20th century as a web-based program which is why you won't be able to get a demo setup- it is server-based for the time being. As far as getting screen shots, the sales team has a process they follow from a consultative standpoint to ensure the program you purchase will do everything you need it to and let you know about the ability to add-on in the future. Their equity-mining program Deal Activator (or Equity Alerts with functioning with Autobase) is perhaps the strongest one on the market.