Dealers who expertly mine their software systems — from DMS and CRM to new digital retailing tools — are able to drive more revenues and provide a better customer experience. Why don’t more dealers make full use of these new tools?
Dealers know they are missing out every day on opportunities for more sales and service revenues.
Most just don’t really know how much or exactly where these opportunities are buried. But it’s in their data. Somewhere.
The explosive growth in dealership data that is worth mining is driven by the growing ways customers interact with them. New touch points flow in from a host of third-party online lead providers, leads from their OEM website and their own, test drives, dealership visits, contests, service visits, parts orders — even from community events. Eventually, all that data gets digitized and entered into one of a host of software systems they might be running.
Some of these systems integrate well and share data, others simply build their own little data empires, with specialized functionality that can only be unlocked by skilled users. But who has the time and expertise to do all of that — and in real-time so the leads can be appropriately and immediately responded to?
The search for simplicity
The good news is that many of their software providers recognize that dealerships are drowning in data, are eager to help. They recognize that to boost the return on investment for their software, (and the monthly fees dealers pay to use them) the dealership staff need to be accessing and exploiting more of the built-in functionality that provides insights and information they can act upon.
Integrated approach
Maury Marks, President and CEO of Quorum Information Technologies, a DMS provider, with headquarters in Calgary, Alta. says his company is well aware of the challenges.
Marks says Quorum’s integrated approach — having all the functionality as part of one system — makes it easier for dealers to have one clear view of what’s going on. “We make sure it’s all part of the integrated package and there’s never any re-keying data,” says Marks. He says dealers don’t have to pay more each time new features are added. “We are constantly adding new pieces.”
Over time, he says Quorum’s functionality has crossed from DMS into other areas like CRM that were often part of third-party software systems. As the lines between software tools blends, Quorum focuses on the functionality and the user experience, not its label. “It’s taken a while to figure that one out,” says Marks. “Now you are focused on utilization of that area of your software.”
The explosive growth in dealership data that is worth mining is driven by the growing ways customers interact with them.
One powerful tool Marks highlights as a good revenue booster is a digital walkaround and inspection tool linked to the Quorum DMS system. It tracks metrics like the percentage of walkarounds and vehicle inspections performed, quoting and closing percentages on service work needed on the customer’s’ vehicle, and other metrics. That information all gets entered into the system and any business generated from the inspections gets tracked all the way to the company’s general ledger — where its impact on the bottom line can be measured.
Capture lost service revenues
“That’s one I spend the most amount of time talking about with dealers because it gets the biggest returns from the stores,” says Marks. “If you don’t measure it, it’s not going to change — and you need to get the measurement in front of the right people.”
Marks says his company’s data shows that on average one third of the work quoted after an inspection gets done — but that means two-thirds of recommended service work is denied by customers. “How do we make sure that customers come back into our dealerships and get the work done?”
Being able to dive into the data and look at the “denied work” quotes, for example, lets a dealership develop targeted follow up marketing to help entice the customer to come back.
Digital retailing tools
Other companies, such as dealer platform provider DealerSocket, provide a host of tools, including its popular Revenue Radar equity mining tool that helps dealers mine for opportunities. “Tools like Revenue Radar are successful because they do a lot of the heavy lifting for the dealers,” says Sam Risek, DealerSocket’s Director of Sales / Business Development for Canada.
But even with the tools available, Risek says dealers don’t always make use of them. “It’s a constant struggle,” he says. “They have so much opportunity in their own databases.”
That’s why DealerSocket continues to invest in more technology that helps automate processes to make life simpler for dealers. “It comes down to how much opportunities you can automate for dealers,” says Risek. “Digital retail is the next evolution.”
Risek says the company has been piloting a new digital retail tool, Precise Price. It helps customers navigate their purchase online, saving time and providing much greater transparency.
It features an integrated, web-based platform that lets customers calculate the true price of a vehicle, including a trade-in and structure the terms of their deal online.
The CRM and desking is integrated so that customers continue their online purchase in the store through a “save and finish later” functionality that allows them to resume their search anytime, and from any device. This helps them avoid the “broken journey” when buyers show up at a dealership and have to start over again from scratch.
“One way to ensure dealers get maximum value from their software investment is to acquire the functionality they need, but also ensure the systems can communicate with other systems.”
Kevin Preston, Vice President, DMS Sales, PBS Systems
In a Precise Price pilot, Risek says 60 per cent of those who used the system to build and price a vehicle showed up for an appointment they booked. Of those, 40 per cent ended up purchasing the vehicle they built online. “These are some powerful numbers,” says Risek.
Risek says the company also offers a host of tools that reach out to customers to help provide prompts and reminders that helps generate business. The key to some of these new tools, says Risek, is customization. “Don’t treat everyone like they are the same opportunity.”
Play well with others
One way to ensure dealers get maximum value from their software investment is to acquire the functionality they need, but also ensure the systems can communicate with other systems. That’s one of the strong features of PBS Systems, says Kevin Preston Vice President, DMS Sales with the Calgary, Alta,-based DMS provider. “We do a great job of playing well with others,” says Preston.
He says the key is to build a system with the functionality dealers actually use. “We have a very modern platform,” says Preston. “Within one database we have DMS and CRM functionality around one database.”
He says dealers can get distracted by the offerings from many specialized third-party providers, but need to ask themselves about the tools their dealership and their staff will use regularly as part of their processes. “When you go down to NADA there are so many bright and shiny objects,” he says. “There’s too much choice.”
Preston says PBS works with dealers to help them map out their processes and ensure that however that customer enters their journey — through sales, service or parts and accessories — that they can automatically be introduced to other parts of the business. “Let’s map out what you want your business to be. We usually find simplicity rules over shiny objects,” he says. “I think that’s where the industry is losing sight of things. We are seeing a real simplification.”
As dealerships struggle to master their data, they would be wise to consult with their software providers to find out exactly how they can help, and what their product roadmap looks like in the near future to ensure they have the right mix.
