5 Reasons Why Auto Dealerships Need CRM Software

A dedicated automotive CRM provides dealerships with a system to manage leads, uncover new customers, and boost customer loyalty. It’s also helpful in streamlining outgoing communications and managing incoming inquiries.

It allows you to track lead sources to double down on working marketing channels. It can also help you optimize your staff.

Improved Customer Service

Using auto dealership CRM software allows businesses to provide a better customer service experience. It does this by centralizing important information about a client, like demographics, purchase history, and previous messages, and making it accessible to all employees in a business. This helps employees answer questions and respond to requests quickly and efficiently, often leading to a positive customer experience.

Moreover, CRM software often comes with tools that help to automate responses, support requests, and more. This helps to ensure that all communication with a customer or prospect is consistent, which plays a significant role in building loyalty and satisfaction. CRM also makes it easy for a company to send a customer survey or email and schedule a follow-up call.

Finally, a CRM system can track all communications with a specific contact and generate reports for sales forecasting, territory segmentation, campaign design, incentive compensation modeling, and more. This data can then be used to improve customer relationships, increase sales, build brand loyalty, and grow a business.

In addition to improving customer service, a CRM system can save time by offering pre-made templates for emails, letters, documents, proposals, and more. This allows a company to quickly respond to common inquiries with little to no effort, which can be helpful for busy teams. Furthermore, a CRM system can also be used to track and organize all essential documents in one place so that they are readily available.

Increased Sales

The automotive industry can only catch up in sales if dealerships use the latest technology to automate and organize their marketing, lead management, and customer service processes. Using CRM software makes communicating with customers and prospects easier, which helps build quality relationships that result in sales.

The CRM platform also records all customer interactions so dealerships can track and analyze them for future use. For example, some CRM tools for car dealers provide call and text management features that let sales representatives automatically respond to email and SMS inquiries with a pre-set message, and some even record and archive calls so managers can monitor agent performance.

Auto dealers also need a CRM that can quickly transfer leads from the platform to their dealer management system (DMS), which is used for desking, accounting, inventory management, and more.

Other specialized features for automotive CRMs include tools for credit checks, document management, and estimating trade-in values. This can help sales representatives, and managers close more deals because customers know the dealership is committed to making the transaction as easy as possible. The faster a dealership can answer a prospect’s question, the better their chances of winning the business. That’s why having a CRM with autoresponder capabilities is so helpful for automotive businesses.

Increased Productivity

Car buyers today are more likely to start their journey online and prefer shopping remotely. With this shift, dealerships must be ready to deliver a smooth customer experience (CX) and convert leads into sales. The good news is that CRM software can help them do it quickly.

Car dealerships can use CRMs to improve their marketing, manage leads and automate their sales processes, thus increasing productivity. Aside from these, CRMs can make it easier for salespeople to follow up on potential customers. With intelligent call routing and texting tools, they can connect with customers on time and generate twice as many leads.

Auto dealers can use different programs but should choose one with all the necessary features. Look for one that offers a full suite of customer management features such as voice and text messaging management, contact and scheduling options, analytics, and more. Also, check if it has a built-in email program that lets users collaborate on emails and set up automated replies.

ELEAD, for example, is a famous automotive CRM known for its dynamic dealership management solutions, including separating new and used inventory, integrated service scheduling, and communication tracking. It also has a powerful AI that can provide valuable insights and help dealers streamline operations. Other features include:

• A robust inventory management system.
• An easy-to-use dashboard.
• Seamless integrations with other business apps.

Greater Insight into Customers

A car is a significant purchase that affects a customer’s lifestyle for years. As a result, customers want to be sure they are making the right decision. Auto dealership CRMs help make this decision more accessible by providing valuable insights into each customer’s behavior, including their car shopping habits and communication preferences.

Salespeople can also benefit from a CRM’s centralized lead management tools like call, email, and text messaging. This allows them to track all customer interactions, even over multiple days or weeks. This information can then improve customer relationships and increase customer lifetime value.

Additionally, automotive CRM software can help dealers identify the best-performing marketing channels by tracking where leads come from. This can help managers optimize their marketing budget and spend each dollar wisely.

Lastly, an automotive CRM can keep dealership-customer communications TCPA compliant. This is important because violating TCPA can lead to heavy fines and costly litigation. Fortunately, automotive CRMs are equipped with features that can help prevent TCPA violations at no additional cost to the dealership. This includes document library software that can capture driver’s licenses and other documents and centralize them in the client record. It also includes data appends that can update the contact information in the lead record and prevent duplicate records.