Automotive CRM enables your dealership to maintain a strong connection with buyers throughout the sales process. It allows you to manage customer inquiries from multiple channels, such as websites, blogs, and emails, with marketing automation for a personalized experience.
An auto dealer CRM can also help you track and distribute leads based on performance. For example, if one sales associate is better at closing truck sales, you can easily assign those leads to them.
Automate Email/Text Campaigns
Much work goes into the automotive sales process, from capturing leads to nurturing them down the funnel. A CRM can automate these tasks so a rep can spend more time on sales and customer service.
CRMs have email integrations, making them easy to import and unify with other comms channels. They also have email marketing tools that let a dealership send customized emails to prospects and customers. A fantastic automotive CRM will have a drag-and-drop automation builder so dealers can create and automate email and SMS campaigns.
Auto buyers are more demanding than most consumers regarding their CX. They are purchasing an excellent long-term investment that reflects their status and lifestyle. CRMs that offer automotive industry solutions help dealerships forge loyal relationships with buyers. CRM for the automobile industry helps marketers market their showrooms and capture leads.
Automate Service and Repair Scheduling
Whether it’s an oil change or something more serious like replacing a transmission, an auto repair shop needs a way to manage its customers and keep them informed. Dedicated automotive CRM offers the tools to sort, schedule and analyze customer service appointments. Some options integrate with existing auto repair software to automate maintenance alerts and thank-you messages.
Having an automotive CRM also means responding quickly to customer inquiries and concerns. Car dealerships must be able to offer quick, personalized customer support and help turn prospects into repeat buyers. An automotive CRM will help forge this connection with customers through email, phone, social media, and more.
Look for an auto repair CRM with task management capabilities and workflow automation to eliminate low-value tasks from your team’s workload. This lets you focus on high-value activities like meeting with potential customers and closing sales. For example, an automotive CRM with a universal inbox will automatically organize questions and concerns from different customer service channels so you never miss an opportunity to make a sale.
Automate Service Requests
Auto CRM software can automate and optimize many different types of customer interactions. This tool can help dealerships organize and prioritize data points, from appointment reminders to service satisfaction surveys, to better reach their sales goals.
Choosing the right automotive CRM for your business can be a big decision. Understand your specific needs and select a system compatible with your dealership’s hardware and software. Choosing a platform with a simple user interface is essential, which can increase employee adoption and reduce training costs.
Auto sales CRM tools can automatically set goals for dealership sales associates based on their performance and the overall sales goal for the dealership. This can help boost team morale and encourage employees to work harder. It can also help dealerships set more effective upselling and cross-selling tactics. For example, if a particular car model is converting well with extended warranties, the dealership can instruct its salespeople to push that option. Similarly, if a specific model is popular with customers who purchase performance tires, the dealership can remind customers about this upselling opportunity.
Automate Service Inspections
Streamline customer service with auto CRM that offers digital vehicle inspections for all your technicians to access and send to clients. This saves time and improves the customer experience by providing images of any issues your techs identify during their inspections.
The best automotive CRM systems also give you a better sense of who your sales associates are and how well they’re performing compared to their goals. This allows you to distribute suitable leads to the right sales associate, which can increase your dealership’s overall conversion rate.
With an automotive CRM system, you can prioritize leads based on your lead source and other information like income level, demographics, or vehicle preference. This makes it easy to find the “golden” tips and place them at the top of your priority list.
When choosing an automotive CRM, it’s essential to have all of your stakeholders involved in setting the criteria for what you need out of a solution. Then, compare different vendors to ensure you get the most bang for your buck.
Automate Service Repair Orders
Streamlining the process of sorting, scheduling, and tracking auto repair work orders is critical to maximizing profits and achieving customer satisfaction. Automotive CRM helps automate this process by sending recommended service reminders via email or text, facilitating feedback through surveys and personal reviews, and enabling follow-up actions such as rescheduling declined services.
Getting repeat business from existing customers is more cost-effective than converting new leads. Automotive CRM can help by quickly identifying existing customers and using automation tools to target specific communications that drive more sales. For example, if your dealership’s data shows that a particular models upsell for an extended warranty has a high conversion rate, you can instruct your sales team to offer this to more of those customers.
In addition, automotive CRMs can be integrated with auto repair shop management systems and provide cloud-based connectivity to OEM parts catalogs to eliminate the delays in workflow caused by different software platforms that prevent inter-departmental communication. The result is a more streamlined and efficient way for dealerships, auto repair shops, and independent mechanics to communicate and execute the entire lifecycle of the car ownership experience.
