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In case you were wondering, Salesforce doesn't like us.

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#11
Well, maybe Salesforce DOES like us?

Marketing email (below) hit today announcing their partnership with Ford. DreamForce keynote, from Sept, here with some additional Ford specific details starts at 1:05:00
View: https://youtu.be/_eHwyiW-v4k


I'm waiting for the "you have to use Salesforce to be an EV dealer" email any day now LOL. What's that love triangle with eLead look like? Tonight on Bravo, FordDirect CRM (aka eLead), who uses Salesforce for B to B, caught Ford hanging out with Salesforce, who is offering a B to B and B to C solution for Ford dealers, who use FordDirect CRM for B to C...

Notice the language of "... Automotive Cloud, a new product built specifically for automakers, dealers, automotive finance groups, and their customers..." Check out the two links at the bottom of their email. Sounds like another player in the auto CRM space...

Email:

Hi Dan,

Recently Jim Farley presented at Salesforce's Dreamforce as Salesforce launched a product specific to the Automotive Industry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDVqTJWoFKU

The automotive industry is in the midst of a massive transformation as it rises to meet the demands of the digital age. Only 1% of automotive customers are fully satisfied with their car buying experience, and just a quarter of automakers and dealers believe their companies have adapted well to selling online. To build new revenue streams and fix the broken customer experience, the industry must tap into new opportunities created by new selling and servicing models, connected vehicles, subscriptions and partnerships, and the wealth of data these new offerings create.

Today, Salesforce announced Automotive Cloud, a new product built specifically for automakers, dealers, automotive finance groups, and their customers. Automotive Cloud helps deliver exceptional service and experiences with Driver 360 across every customer interaction, drives revenue through better lead conversion and collaboration, and leverages industry-specific automation, intelligence, and real-time analytics for increased productivity and cost savings.

Powered by Driver 360, Automotive Cloud delivers real-time personalization and insights across the entire customer and vehicle lifecycle
  • 93% of auto industry leaders agree first-party data will help substantially improve the customer experience overall – whether during the vehicle browsing, purchasing, financing, or post-purchase phase.
  • Driver 360 is one of 13 industry-specific solutions, like Client 360 for financial services, Patient 360 for healthcare, and Education 360 for learning, that leverages the full power of Customer 360 and delivers a single source of truth for the automotive industry.
  • Industry leaders like Toyota Financial Services and Astara are using Salesforce today to deliver exceptional customer experiences.
Below are several links with infor for the new product and its capabilities. Please take the time to understand the capabilities that we are rolling out and imagine how these new tools can impact Anderson Automotive Group going forward.

https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/salesforce-announces-automotive-cloud-driver360/
https://www.salesforce.com/products/automotive-cloud/overview/

Can I take 15 minutes of your time to walk you through the new product that Salesforce has launched and see if this will be a good fit for Anderson Automotive Group?

--
********
Account Executive, Manufacturing and Distribution | Salesforce
Mobile: **********
Manufacturing Solution Hub
 
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#12
Sooooo.... things are going great in adopting automotive sales technologies, and we want to bring the most complex of all CRMs to you to make it go even better.... riiiight :eyepoke:

For those of you who don't know SalesForce well, it is so complex that you'll need to hire an outside consultant on top of the fees you'd pay for the installation and monthly use of the software. I'd budget at least $50,000 for the consulting fees. Once you get it dialed, it is pretty good for massive organizations with many self-motivated, college-level-thinking employees who love reporting and working through integration kinks.

In an industry where the CRM is an elaborate paperwork-making device with sometimes relevant notifications about calling a customer, I'm not sold something as grandiose as SalesForce is worth a dealer's time and money.
 
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#13
Alex Snyder said:
Sooooo.... things are going great in adopting automotive sales technologies, and we want to bring the most complex of all CRMs to you to make it go even better.... riiiight :eyepoke:

For those of you who don't know SalesForce well, it is so complex that you'll need to hire an outside consultant on top of the fees you'd pay for the installation and monthly use of the software. I'd budget at least $50,000 for the consulting fees. Once you get it dialed, it is pretty good for massive organizations with many self-motivated, college-level-thinking employees who love reporting and working through integration kinks.

In an industry where the CRM is an elaborate paperwork-making device with sometimes relevant notifications about calling a customer, I'm not sold something as grandiose as SalesForce is worth a dealer's time and money.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you are correct. That is exactly why we didn't go that route in the prior years. The expected reality is there is no way the partnership with Ford doesn't result in a, "if you want to be an EV dealer you have to use this tool", scenario. Watching this AutomotiveCloud video had me nodding for the first 6 minutes and 21 seconds until they went into their overly complicated explanation of the architecture and revealed their complete lack of context for dealer retail. Click the View Video button
 
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#14
Just coming out of working for Elead/FD CRM (unfortunately I was part of the major layoffs last week) I would be amazed if the Ford stores I covered would be capable of learning a new CRM, let alone using it to SF's capabilities considering half of them struggled to use Elead (IMO a decent CRM).
 
#17
AutoAlex said:
Across all of CDK unfortunately.

By the way, I've worked with a few of your guys in the past, they've always been a pleasure to team up with to help a dealership.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the layoff. I was laid off from Cox Automotive in 2017 and it created the whole chapter of my life I'm enjoying now!

Glad to hear my crew was a please to work with. I'm going to share your post with them.
 
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