Sorry I missed the earlier post!
Brian, there doesn't seem to be one single player that has it all down. I learned that these dealer CRMs are far more complex than what's seen at the surface. Is it OEM compatible? DMS compatible? that's step one. Years ago, Dealer.com had a cool CRM developing, but it got eaten up in takeovers. I think the biggest problem in this space is that the pool is shrinking, the fully compliant vendors are getting buried in business and playing catch up.
Elead seems to have the ingredients to cover the bases, they all have their weaknesses.
If you're switching, insist on help from the new company before the transition. Having a clean data file is critical.
Doing it again,
1- I'd ask for a system to be up and running as much as possible before making the final switch. Shake it out before going live. Fixing the leaks after the ship has sailed is stressful at best. CRM changes are not easy.
2- Does the new vendor have everything you need? Does it do what your individual store needs? Is there room for expansion?
3- Performance...What is the delivery rate for their emails? Uptime? Blacklisting? When ELead went down last year, it was rough going. It wasn't them, it was one of their clients, but we were all down.
4- Support... in-store support, set up help, training etc. Turnaround time for issues to be fixed etc.
5- Everyone on board from the owner down. If your management is not holding folks accountable, entering data and working the tools daily, it won't fix your problems. At the end of the day, a so-so CRM that gets used is better than a high-end CRM that isn't used to it's potential.
