If you are already employing customer relationship management or CRM tools in your car dealership, you understand how important it is to have this type of system. Improving the customer experience is important in order to maintain relationships, upsell and provide new buying opportunities when they arise. A streamlined system that recognizes this, like the automotive CRM software created by Car Research XRM, is what you need to maintain your competitive edge in the industry.

You need to ask yourself about your automotive CRM software: is it user friendly to you and those in your operations that rely on it? Is the CRM system that you use comprehensive? What type of data does your CRM collect and how does the use of that data improve your bottom line and make your car dealership more profitable? Does your current car CRM system align with the customer continuum lifestyle? The answers to these questions are important ones for you to ask about your CRM software and can help you determine if it is time to seek a better solution for your car dealership.

Aligning CRM with the Customer Continuum Lifestyle  

Your customers are the most important aspect of your car dealership. Their importance is especially recognized when you consider the customer continuum lifestyle, which represents the different points of contact and opportunities available to you to sell. The 8 points of the continuum include customer awareness, research, comparison, selection of a vehicle, car purchase, their experience with the car, retention of the customer, customer loyalty and word of mouth to other potential customers. If your CRM software does not align with the 8 points of the continuum, you are missing opportunities to sell more cars and improve the profitability of your car dealership.

What You Should Expect from Your CRM Software  

Your current CRM software for your car dealership should create a synergy between the customers, your dealership and your staff. Data collected from your customers should be easy to decipher and turned into an opportunity to upsell and resell a customer. Your CRM should provide your customers with more than just email updates and occasional information on pricing specials. It should help you effectively manage the customer throughout the customer continuum lifestyle, employing inbound marketing strategies to engage and promote benefits and opportunities. The reporting function gives the intelligence needed for your sales people to create meaningful campaigns and your service technicians to schedule service appointments.

Based on what your CRM software should be doing and is doing, the question you need to ask is, are there better CRM solutions for my car dealership? The answer may be yes and a look at what Car Research XRM has to offer may help you decide to make the change needed to improve for a better CRM experience. Car Research XRM offers proprietary solutions, including an internet lead manager (ILM) for managing what customers see and react to in your online store, as well as coordinate the flow of information across the car dealership in order to improve the customer experience and position you on the road to success.