Kirk, I know I'm a little later here but that for joining in on the forums and NOT being afraid to post your questions...Looking at our stats everyday, there are always a ton of readers that do no participate and ask questions for the same fear.
We seem to have a lot of Dealer.com, iMagiclab and VIN Solutions users here on the forums.
Someone suggested that whoever you go with, be sure they offer a CRM and ILM in one solution. This is a MUST!! but I'm going to ad another piece to this that will help narrow down your search a little. My CRM/ILM needs to have Desking capabilities built into the solution as well. I want real time desking that seamlessly ties into the CRM.
Getting your Sales Manager staff to proactively use your CRM can be a struggle, However if you can get them bought into desking their deals using the same solution..this becomes a much easier task.
As someone else mentioned somewhere on the forums, EVERY CRM has it's issues and bugs. Take your time before making a decision, demo every product and when you decide, give it 100% effort and learn to use and maximize the tool.
I used elead CRM for a few years and overall was pleased with the product. It has ILM/CRM/Desking all in one. They also just added an inventory tool into the mix as well though I'm not familiar with it. The system/desking could be a little slow at times and they needed to do a better job with their email delivery.
Autobase - Rule #14 for this forum "You can't ask Jeff about AutoBase"
I have played around with DealerSocket and believe they need to be on your list of potential providers. They offer a strong CRM/ILM and Desking.
Car-Research is another up and comer. I have DEMO's this solutions a few times and each time was more impressed. From the DEMO they have a VERY strong email marketing piece CRM/ILM and even a strong service module.
HigherGear - I won't even go there.
If you are looking to just get your feet wet and go light with CRM with a focus on ILM you can always consider AVV Webcontrol. But then again a lot of the CRM providers offer their ILM a la cartel.
NOTE: Just because a CRM Demo's well does NOT mean it will work well. Take your time..call other dealer
s (more than a couple) that have a clue and get their honest feedback. Do your best to get a working DEMO so you can play around with it. Maybe even hire a consultant that has an understanding of your dealers process and can match up the right CRM for your dealer. Just don't take the decision lightly...nothing worse than being a year into using a CRM and then switching. 9 times out of 10 (no matter what the new provider tells you) getting your customer notes and accurate information from the previous CRM is a pain and some charge extra for this service).
I was searching the blog earlier for some relevant posts..it's funny when I stumble across some older posts...
http://www.dealerrefresh.com/why-i-hate-car-dealercrm-software/