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No... and yes.  But -- and here's the overall failure of the original promise: you can't justify NOT having a CRM as CRM is a needed communication piece.


At some point in the past... a dealer had to wrestle with the question:  do I REALLY need to put a telephone in my shop?  I mean.... who would call when they could drop-by, grab a coke for a nickel and have a nice chat?? 


Sooo... did the phone sell 15 more cars per month?  Maybe for the 1st few early adopters.   But does it sell cars today?  Would you take the phone out of your showroom today?  CRM is the same today.  You HAVE to keep track of all the digital communication somehow; you need some bucket for all this crap...


The failure was in the silly attempt to automate "process" while providing key insights... CRM's were going to reduce the need to advertise, make-up for poor management training practices, pinpoint wasted time & money, etc. 


GONG!


On the flip side, every tool does something well, and usually you can get out of a tool what you put into it.  You just need to be prepared to put a whooooole lot into it to get something out of it.  And that's why users suck too, LOL, hahahahaha ;) 


Moral of the story: there's no magic pill on either side of the fence...