Internet Lead Manager (ILM) Tools, where are they?

[randy (blog)]

I've used the following and rate them accordingly on a 1-10:

Imagiclabs = 2
EleadCRM = 7
Higher Gear = 6
DealerSocket = 5

I have looked at both Reynolds Contact Management but dont trust the CEO, Brockman. Hes the Hitler of Contracts what WhatI've heard.

Have spent the last 3 days evaluating and talking with dealers at NADA, No one has got CRM right yet for reason I cant understand.

ADP's CRM appears to have the edge from what I see.

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Wow Randy! I have had quite the opposite experience; especially with your favorite contender.

 

[Joe Pistell]

Randy,
You don't leave any personal ID on your post, so, you leave me to conclude that you work for ADP and have simply created an advertisement ala Web 2.0 (nest your product within the outline of a peer review).

If I am wrong, c'mon and finish the job, show thy self! The 'net is all about transparency, so get to trans-parencing already!

CRM Review Starved
Joe

 

[Joey Stivick]

Hey Pisstell, we need your blood type, HIV screen, SSN, phone number, DOB, mothers maiden name, Grand Ma's report card from the fifth grade, for "Transparency" reasons. Who died and made you the Dealerrefrsh police?

Let people comment with out you jumping in their grill claiming that they have a hidden agenda.

People blog to give their opinion, not their DNA.

Joseph "Joey" Stivick, Jr

[email protected]

 

[Reuben Muinos]

I have used a number of CRM and ILM tools over the years. I have seen just about every CRM mentioned on here. I have found Dealer Socket to be the best solution for our organization. Their capabilities are fantastic.

We have over 200 business rules and campaigns running automatically every day . . .touching almost every department in our dealer group. Works great for us!

Reuben Muinos

 

[Bill Congdon]

Does anyone have experience with Arkona's CRM, specifically with the Contact Activity Scheduler? Arkona's website has no details on building activity schedules.

We currently use Reynolds CM. The interface is clunky and the reports are limited, but the phone support is very good, IMO. I also use the VinSolutions inventory tool for organizing and sending out our used inventory. It's a great tool, and the folks at VinSolutions are always helpful.

Bill Congdon
Atzenhoffer Chevrolet Cadillac Mitsubishi Mazda

 

[Joshua Fichter]

My dealership has been with DealerSocket for the past 3 1/2 years and prior to that we were with Salespoint.

Our Internet department has been named eDealer of the Year for both 2007 and 2008 by Ford Motor Company and Ford Direct. We use DealerSocket for a complete CRM (We had ADP Right Relationship for CRM prior), but obviously DealerSocket’s functionality for Internet leads allowed us to sell more Ford sourced leads than any other Ford dealer in the nation.

I don't agree with the earlier assessment of DealerSocket at all. As simple as the fact that if a call is left open and a new call "To Do" is scheduled the past due call will be updated "incomplete" automatically and only the new call will exist in the employee's dashboard. Duplicate calls are avoided because of this process.

Additionally, you need to look at the support staff for a CRM or ILM tool. DealerSocket's support staff is extremely helpful. They will resolve the issues you have and if you have suggestions about changes they open a ticket and once a week review them for future enhancements. I just looked and there were 37 enhancements or new features released in 2008 alone. DealerSocket is interested in meeting their customer's needs as they change or develop.

Face it; no software program will ever do everything the way each individual user wants it to happen. You need to find a software tool that best meets your needs as a department or dealership. We went with DealerSocket because they provided a software tool that met the needs of our dealership and the results speak for themselves. In addition to our Internet success our dealership has been ranked 4th in Ford retail sales in the Nation for 2007 and 2008? At the end of the day it is about People and Processes and having a software tool that can support those two.

 

[Tiny Malone]

Well I see many good friends here, and this is one subject which I am passionate about.

First, when we get into issues of CRM/ILM and then take into consideration cost, I am reminded of what one of my mentors said about leads...there is no such thing as a $20 lead. Ain't that right Ralph? A cheap system TYPICALLY begets cheap results…not always, but most of the time. Deeper issues here, I know.

And the same is true about CRM/ILM. I've used nearly every system spoken of here. As most of you know, I have been in the internet side of this business since it’s inception, and we all know there are many CRM/ILM “magic bullets” that have fallen by the wayside. In my dealer group, we’ve used many of them in a sort of disjointed manor. I study CRM/ILM, the interface, what each system is capable of, and which are most likely to have staying power. If it is cheap...but no one uses it...what good is that? Further, and here is the real issue; Which system allows my employees, across a three state region, to best communicate with our client base AND see the bigger picture, thus enhancing the ability to make deals in both sales and fixed operations. What about reporting/remote reporting? Who is going to provide effecting on site and online training, thus enhancing the viability of the tool? And most of all...who is going to take care of you when the chips are down, there is a problem, and it is Friday night at 5:00pm and most other companies are quitting for the day...and so now your weekend is shot due to a CRM/ILM problem.

At this juncture, and after a few years of direct involvement with several of the companies listed here, I can only say that DealerSocket has become, in my opinion, the only truly viable company with witch I would conduct business...and entrust my business with. Very few problems! And, when I have had a problem, they actually put a guy on an airplane to my store to fix the problem. DealerSocket is the only tool that I have seen effectively demonstrate internal business synergies which have created business for my teams, and it is the most effective at helping my employees communicate with our client base. Further, with some of the new product packaging they have right now, it is competitive purely on a dollars and cents level with most of the other less capable systems out there. I guess what I am saying is that DealerSocket seems to be the one that is packed with value and is backed by an honorable and financially viable company. Does it have 18 million different ways of looking at Client Data? Sure! That does not mean you have to use them all, however. It just means that they have considered all of the options and needs, and provided them.

 

[Alex Jefferson]

Wow...this is interesting. The system (Dealersocket) that did not jump out to me seems to be getting the most "plugs" on this thread. I still haven't heard anyone say anything positive about ADP CRM tool which is interesting. Here are somethings I am looking for a CRM/ILM to be able to do.

1. Webbased and work in browsers other than just I.E.
2. Techonology to send out simultaneous blast notifications to salespeople phones when a new email lead comes in and have it setup on a first come first serve bases for who ever claims the lead.
3. Technology to notify salespeople phone when a customer opens any email received from the salesperson.
Spam assassain rankings for email templates.
4. Simple and easy to use without tons of pop-up screens that confuse non computer savy salespeople.
5. Accurate Reporting and the ability to customize reports
6. Schedule specific times automated emails go out instead of the server randomly sending them out on the day
7. Have automated activities on schedules pause when customer sends response. ex. customer responds on Tuesday night and automated email goes on on Wed morning before we have had a chance to manually respond.
8. Ability to stop duplicate autoresponses when customer submit leads back to back.
7. Automatically assign lead to next available salesperson after so much time of non reponse.
8. Good criteria for determining duplicates...(HUGE PROBLEM with Reynolds Contact Management) The system only looks if email address matches up when a new lead comes in. If it's a new email address then a new Client is created!
9. Mobile CRM...Response ability and tracking through mobile device.
10. Store car in system client is interested in and email salesperson automatically when that EXACT vehicle comes in. e.x. I'm looking for a 2005 BLACK Honda Accord with TAN LEATHER interior, under 50,000 miles and 17 inch wheels. (Most systems I see can only do make, model and year.

There are tons of other things but for the post I focused mostly on the internet lead handling capabilities of a system.

Let me know what you guys/gals think. Who is out there that can do all this that is not a "fly-by-night" company.

Thanks.
Alex J.

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

The only tool that can handle most of what you're looking for is iMagicLab:

1. Yep - works better in Firefox (IMO)
2. Yep - you can do whatever you want on notifications and can set timers for who should get what lead depending on their response time
3. Yep - you can set this however you want
4. Haven't seen much that is simpler
5. Currently, this isn't 100%. They have made a commitment to fix it, but I can't give IML reporting a perfect score yet.
6. Nope - this is based off of how long after a lead came in or when you hit send on an email broadcast. That would be a nice feature. I've been asking for a "newsletter"/"scheduled email" piece that could take care of this - just don't have an ETA on when that will be added.
7. Yep - this is based on how you set things up.
8. Yep - it puts the duplicate lead into the original record instead of creating a duplicate
7a. Yep - see response number 2
8a. Yep - you can set this up in a number of ways
9. Yep - mobile.dealercrm.com
10. Yep - this was a feature request I've been asking for and they just added it!

I can tell you iMagicLab tackles your list better than any other system out there. eLeads might be second, but DealerSocket can't based on what I last saw from them. AutoBase, Reynolds, ADP...not even close about 6 months ago. A lot could have changed in the last 6 months though.