Top 5 Benefits of Auto Dealership CRM Software

A customer buying a car has numerous doubts and queries that must be addressed promptly. Auto dealership CRM software ensures that the answers to these questions quickly reach customers. This enables the dealership to convert these leads into buyers. It also provides the dealership with detailed information on where the leads came from and helps improve marketing strategies.

Better Customer Service

Auto dealership CRM software lets salespeople record each interaction with prospects. This includes emails, calls, and texts. In addition, the system may allow customers to provide their contact information in a form automatically stored as a lead. This saves time for the dealership and improves efficiency. Additionally, the system may help a dealership follow up with a prospect by automating specific tasks, like sending out follow-up emails or scheduling test drives. It also provides tools for analyzing customer data and gaining insights into buyer behavior.

Choosing an auto dealership CRM solution that specializes in the industry is ideal. This will eliminate the risk of the system having unnecessary or redundant features that can complicate and confuse sales processes. It will also ensure the system complies with industry regulations, including TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act). In addition, the system should provide a range of online services for automotive dealerships, like inventory management, lead generation, and more.

Increased Sales

Car dealership CRM programs provide tools to manage sales and customer service in a way specific to auto sales. For instance, automotive CRMs may include tools for managing trade-ins and calculating financing and leasing options. They can also support a daily standardized work plan and provide analytics that connects your marketing strategies to ROI. Dealerships get their leads from multiple sources—website forms, third-party lead providers, OEMs, online ads, and even good old-fashioned walk-ins.

An automotive CRM allows dealers to store and track their leads in a central database and see where each one came from. This allows them to identify the best sources for generating future leads. Using automotive CRM, you can create lists of potential customers based on their income level, demographics, or vehicle preferences. This lets you better serve them by sending them customized emails or text messages with relevant offers. You can even use an automotive CRM to automate these messages or send them only to the most qualified leads. This is a great way to increase your chances of getting a sale and reduce the number of time-consuming follow-up phone calls.

Enhanced Inventory Management

Using the information gathered by auto dealership CRM software, salespeople can make informed decisions about the vehicles on their lot. This helps them offer better deals to customers and increase sales opportunities. The software also helps them monitor the status of each vehicle in the lot and makes it easier to track customer demand and market trends. Dealerships get leads from website forms, third-party lead providers, OEMs, online and offline marketing, and old-fashioned walk-ins. Automotive CRM allows them to store and track all these leads in one central database and identify which channels produce the most results.

The software helps them segment and distribute leads based on the type of vehicle a buyer is interested in and other pre-decided parameters. In addition, they can use the software to create and manage lease agreements, which require different paperwork than regular car sales. This helps them improve their overall efficiency and reduce costs. Many auto dealerships have other tools for inventory management, accounting, and marketing—and the best automotive CRM will integrate seamlessly with these systems to ensure no data silos.

Streamlined Processes

Veteran auto salespeople will tell you of simpler times when full-page ads in the newspaper and a pad of sticky notes were their most excellent tools. Today, the most successful dealerships embrace technology and automation to rework how they manage customers and sell cars. Auto dealer CRM software can help streamline and automate processes at the dealership to make them more efficient. For instance, a centralized lead capture system helps avoid data siloes by capturing leads from your website, social media, advertisements, and offline channels. This data automatically distributed among your sales consultants based on buyer interests, location, and several pre-decided parameters.

Additionally, an excellent auto CRM will have tools that help managers have more streamlined control over the showroom floor by tracking activities and productivity. These include a quoting tool that helps employees quickly provide customers with quotes. Some also have call-routing tools that automatically route incoming leads to the appropriate team member. These features can increase a salesperson’s efficiency and effectiveness and help them close more deals. The best automotive CRM systems also offer high scalability, meaning they can grow with your business without constant software updates and data migrations.

Enhanced Reporting

Many car dealerships utilize software tools for a variety of business functions. Auto dealer CRM software adapts those tools to the specific needs of a vehicle sales business. A centralized CRM in automotive creates opportunities for personalized customer relationships and more efficient operations. This enables dealers to increase automobile sales and secure more loyal customers. Unlike old-fashioned management techniques that rely on sticky notes and desk calendars, automotive CRM systems automate lead follow-up and reporting.

They also facilitate communication with OEMs, suppliers, and manufacturers. Whether you are managing a single dealership that doesn’t have service centers or an entire franchise, an auto dealer CRM can help you make more informed management decisions. Look for a system that offers data syncing with other software tools used by your dealership, such as inventory management, accounting, and marketing tools. Some CRMs have a dedicated document library where you can scan driver’s licenses and other documentation. These documents are then centrally stored in the lead record, helping reduce security risks and simplifying customer follow-up processes. Lastly, some systems provide advanced analytics capabilities that enable you to see how your dealership is performing in real-time.