ADP web CRM Software - Who's using it?

[Jeff Kershner]

I need some help from my readers. Who is using or has used ADP web CRM and desking tool?

Fill myself and other readers in with the good and the bad.

• What features do you like and/or dislike?
  
• How would you rate their customer service?
  
• What ongoing issues have you had with ADP web CRM?
  
• How strong are the Internet Lead Management features?
  
• Would you recommend their CRM and Desking tool to other dealers?

Whatever information you would like to share would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance to anyone that has some information to share.

Share your comments.

 

[DogbertBH]

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.

 

[Joe Powell]

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?

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Joe, If i'm not mistaken..AVV Webcontrol has a feature like this. They will pull your DMS Sold MTD and match it up against any potential Internet leads you have been working. Don't quote me on this 100% but I recall it having this feature. I believe it was a "a la cart" option. Webcontrol is getting a little dated in their technology but it's still one of the best ILM and CRM's to choose from. I hear they are working on a whole new platform. Maybe it will be ready for NADA. I'll let you know!

Thanks for your input...

-Jeff

 

[Carlos Henry]

Evaluated ADP in use at mult-franchise family owned dealership that had been using it for over 12 months. Remember, despite the name (360 web suite) this is a server based CRM basically a renamed Right Relationship. This is not a web based CRM solution!

As mentioned above their data mining tool is second to none for their ADP DMS. You could pretty much cut up the data any way you chose; it was an outstanding campaign tool unmatched in the market--it was costly too on top of the $1100 CRM (48 month lease; servers on site) an additional $1200 for campaign module.

Now to the CRM--not JAVA based so no real time email and cannot see previous emails. Reporting module is extensive but flatly never works. You can run the same report over some past data period and come up with different information each time. Dos based interface is EXTREMELY hard to use and train; for example you might close a program with a small dot on one page, an "x" on another page, and completely differently in other parts of the program.

The program is completely unintuitive for users making it very hard to train. It just does not make sense what you have to do on each page; and what you learn in one part of the program might not translate to the next part of the program. Part of ADP's piecemeal approach to building Right Relationship.

Long term contract, very high startup fees and training day fees are a big detriment as well. There are much better and more user friendly programs in the market that does what ADP does much, much better at a much nicer price point. They dealership abandoned it for Icarmagic...

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Carlos,

Thanks for your comments and insight on the ADP CRM! Awesome!!

 

[Gilbert Chavez]

Carlos,

Please giv me a call when you get a chance. 719-575-7213.

Thanks,
Gilbert

 

[Anonymous Poster]

After reading some of the comments in this thread I don't believe many of the posters know what else is on the market. Granted, we are in a business that is still years behind the technology curve we are being catered to by programmers - not car people.

There are some truly great systems out there! Unfortunately, they don't have the advertising budgets some of these other systems have.

As an ADP dealer who plans to retain their DMS services, I wish to remain anonymous in this post. ADP CRM is counter-intuitive, and some of their other new products are just plain terrible. I feel that we made a major mistake in using most of their products excluding DMS. If you have a selling process in place, ADP CRM will frustrate your salesfloor and absolutely destroy the effectiveness of your Internet department. The system looks Greek when it is first opened, and requires way too many steps to complete any task. We figure we are able to communicate with less than half the customers we could handle before putting this CRM in because of all the required fields and steps. We have tweaked the system to require less, but you can't turn everything off. Not to mention their contract terms are ridiculous.

Would I recommend this system to another dealer? I sure would - my competitors! I would also recommend this to dealers who care about being wined and dined - ADP does an excellent job in this area! Their higher-ups are super friendly too. I hold no ill-will toward anyone in the company. I think they made a mistake in releasing their CRM tool, and simply need to admit that. Yeah, it will be a costly mistake but if they continue on this path it will ultimately cost them more.

Do I think ADP can fix this? Yes, but only if they rewrite things from the ground up.

 

[Anonymous (blog)]

I have been using the CRM as a daily tool on the sales floor for our follow up and sales process, and it can be fairly difficult to wrestle with. It's continually buggy and requires constant phone calls to ADP to settle things, or find a "work around" to the problem. *NOTE* A "work around" is ADP's way of having you find a long-winded, round-about approach to accomplish a supposedly simple task. It is NOT a solution by any means. As far as day to day activities, it is time consuming but somewhat manageable. So, in the end, most of the sales floor ends up indifferent after a month of dealing with it.

NOW to the Internet Lead Management (or lack thereof) for CRM. Our upper level has been pushing us to use it, and it has been an absolute nightmare! Nothing works properly so far and to assign a customer, you have to jump through 7 steps (which we shortened from 9). The steps involved do NOT make any sense and to find any information about an Internet Lead, you typically have to back track and go into a completely different area to pull information up. When a lead is viewed, it comes up in full HTML with the tags attached and you have to click something to remove them. For what? Why can't they be removed/not displayed automatically? I cannot assign emails that are sent in to the wrong department to the right department. The system as a whole is antiquated and archaic. It only sends black and white emails without graphics - may as well be a telegraph.

In the end, I would give my first born to not have to use the CRM as an ILM tool. I've seen and heard awesome things about AVV from a few Internet Manager seminars and it is on the top of my Christmas list.

ADP should stick to what they do best - NOTHING.

 

[Richard Keith Latman]

Jeff my opinion is obvious advertising for one product or another is harmful to the board. Anonymous postings that claim the have knowledge of anything is a waste of all of our time