CRM, ILM, Chat, Desking, Emails, Phone, SMS

A dealer asks for foundational knowledge about Google and resources to understand its effectiveness for their business. Two brief replies recommend checking out Matt Cutts (Google's former head of webspam) and the SEOmoz blog as learning resources. The thread lacks substantive discussion or clear conclusions about Google's role in automotive dealership operations.

A dealer (Pat Hayes from Marc Heitz Auto Family) reports difficulty obtaining a complete export of his customer database from Car-Research CRM as he switches to VinSolutions, claiming he's being redirected to manually extract data rather than receiving direct support. Multiple community members acknowledge that CRM vendors typically make data extraction difficult for departing clients, though one member connects the issue to a senior Car-Research contact who offers to help resolve it. The thread demonstrates how public community complaints can prompt vendor responsiveness and highlights a common pain point in CRM switching.

Patrick asks how to configure his autoresponder to properly extract customer data from incoming leads and send genuine automated replies rather than just form emails, specifically wanting to parse the customer's email address as the reply-to field and personalize greetings based on gender. After initially relying on Gmail, he learns from Alex Snyder that ADP CRM can handle ADF/XML formatted leads and provides these personalization features as a standard capability, eliminating the need for custom scripting.

A dealer reports receiving an unexpectedly high Spam Assassin score (5.2) on a simple text-only email template in iMagicLab and questions why, particularly regarding a DNS_FROM_OPENWHOIS RBL listing. Community members identify two likely causes: either the IML server's IP address is blacklisted, or the Spam Assassin software itself is outdated (possibly using an obsolete open-whois.org database from a cybersquatting situation since 2008-2009). The thread concludes positively when Tom Harsha from iMagicLab announces they've released a completely updated spam assessment tool with more detailed scoring information and real-time feedback.

# Summary Dealers discuss strategies for matching the record sales achieved during the 2009 Cash for Clunkers program, with Honda and Toyota dealers sharing incentives their manufacturers are offering (Honda's 0.9% financing, Toyota's post-recall conquest deals) and expressing cautious optimism about July-August 2010 performance. The thread derails midway into a debate about brand positioning and buyer preferences, with participants arguing over whether Honda or Toyota better serves the market and whether "real drivers" prefer European cars over domestic or Japanese models.

# Summary Dealers discuss effective CRM data mining strategies for targeting both sales and service opportunities, with emphasis on highly specific audience segmentation rather than broad campaigns. Key tactics include targeting past buyers of popular models from your wholesale list, focusing on equity customers filtered by vehicle make/model and purchase year, and reaching out to customers around their typical trade-in anniversary dates using multiple contact methods. The consensus insight is that success comes from narrow, surgical targeting combined with multi-channel outreach rather than one-size-fits-all marketing approaches.

# Summary A dealer asks for best practices on structuring post-90-day customer follow-up, specifically questioning whether to use email-only outreach or include phone calls for leads with minimal recent contact. The consensus response emphasizes that effective post-90-day follow-up should be an extension of disciplined earlier engagement—where salespeople establish mutually agreed-upon contact schedules during initial conversations and document them in the CRM—rather than implementing a separate random process after the 90-day mark.

# Summary A dealer seeking paperless document archiving solutions outside of major DMS providers receives recommendations for two third-party systems: DocStar (praised for easy integration, OCR capabilities, and barcode support) and Reynolds and Reynolds archiving (noted for reliable searchability of deals and repair orders after initial scanning). The thread indicates that dedicated archiving solutions can effectively reduce paper while remaining separate from proprietary DMS ecosystems.

A user asks for advice on building a new automotive inventory website for dealers, prompting experienced industry professionals to weigh in on the viability of the venture. The consensus is that while the market opportunity exists, launching a competitive dealer inventory platform requires massive investment, years of losses before profitability, a specialized team, and aggressive dealer acquisition strategy—making it one of the toughest e-commerce ventures, though not impossible with sufficient capital and commitment. One respondent suggests partnering with existing technology providers as a faster alternative to building from scratch.

# Summary Eley Duke initiates a discussion asking dealers to share their experiences with the quality of GM internet leads, separate from a concurrent conversation about response times. He references Chevy VP Alan Betty's letter suggesting GM may shift focus from response time bonuses to dealer close rates, and implies that GM itself would need significant quality improvements to make such a metric fair for dealers.

A specialty aftermarket parts and service business owner seeks a modern CRM solution that handles lead management, sales tracking, analytics, and product inventory—but finds existing repair shop software outdated and enterprise solutions too expensive. Respondents suggest several options including UDC's Service CRM, Dealer Tracks Accessories, and a Salesforce integration with custom bridges to existing management systems, with one vendor offering Salesforce customization at $30/user/month. The thread concludes that integrating Salesforce with a DMS (Dealer Management System) may be the most flexible and cost-effective approach, though specific pricing for custom development isn't fully detailed.

Regal_Car_Sales asks for reviews of AVV Web Control, an ILM (Internet Lead Management) tool, and receives consistently positive feedback from multiple experienced users across single and multi-store operations. Respondents praise its ease of use, straightforward reporting, affordability, and effectiveness at managing internet leads and floor traffic, though note it currently lacks desking and DMS integration features (planned for future release). The consensus suggests AVV is a solid, reliable standalone ILM product that offers good value, though some wish it had evolved more significantly over time.

Park Ave BMW in Maywood, NJ, a top-tier BMW dealership with a dedicated Internet Showroom department, is recruiting an Internet Sales Person (ISP) to handle leads and sales from initial contact through delivery. The role requires automotive sales experience and offers compensation including salary, commission, bonuses, 401K, vacation, and benefits. This is a straightforward job posting from an established dealer looking to expand their growing digital sales team.

# Summary Automotive dealers across multiple regions report that May started weak after strong performance in March and April, with various theories offered including competitor incentives and stock market concerns, though some dealers like Honda's CR-V experienced late-month surges. The conversation shifts to June struggles, with dealers noting unexpected slowdowns despite various promotional efforts and speculating about seasonal factors like vacations. The key insight is that sales volatility and month-to-month unpredictability appear widespread across dealers and brands, with no clear consensus on root causes beyond general market softness.

A dealer inquires about E-Autobusiness CRM, prompting mixed responses from users: one former customer discontinued service due to reporting discrepancies with GM requirements that created significant operational overhead, while another user praised the platform's ease of use and customization flexibility from their experience 1.5 years prior. The thread reveals E-Autobusiness as a lesser-known regional CRM provider with strengths in customization but potential weaknesses in third-party data integration and reporting accuracy for franchise dealers with compliance requirements.

# Summary A dealer reports that VinSolutions stops all automated processes (reminders, calls, tasks) when a customer is contacted via email or phone, causing lead loss. A VinSolutions representative responds that this frequent issue has been resolved through new features released to their beta site, allowing dealers to specify when processes stop and create custom workflows that automatically transition customers between different process chains.

A dealer coach praises Dealeron's exceptional customer service for quickly implementing a call recording download feature, sparking a broader discussion where other automotive professionals highlight vendors who consistently exceed expectations, including cars.com, Century Interactive, Auto Architech, HomeNet, and Dealer.com. The thread challenges the industry culture of only criticizing vendors by celebrating those who deliver responsive support and proactive solutions. The key insight is that stellar vendor performance—defined by accessible support staff, quick problem resolution, and willingness to build custom solutions—differentiates companies in a competitive market.

# Summary Dealers are struggling with competitors using Zag/USAA leads to undercut prices with lowball quotes that include hidden fees like bump stickers with undisclosed accessories and protection packages. The original poster seeks effective strategies for educating customers about these deceptive pricing tactics, while responders suggest using transparency tools like Edmunds links, video emails, and customer testimonials—though acknowledge the challenge that customers who drive 100+ miles to the competing dealer rarely return to the original dealership. The key insight is that differentiation through transparency and education can help, but geographic distance and customer psychology make it difficult to convert leads lost to lowball competitors back to your dealership.

# Summary A Chevrolet dealer seeks feedback on their lead metrics (536 annual leads, 30% lost rate) and receives critical input that their "lost" lead rate is actually closer to 50% and too high overall. The consensus from experienced dealers is that salespeople mark leads lost prematurely and abandon follow-up, when instead lost leads should be systematically re-prospected and managed through CRM workflows, with managers (not salespeople) controlling when leads are actually marked lost.

# Summary Dealers discuss InternetAutoguide.com's high Google rankings and whether it's worth listing inventory there, learning it's owned by Source Interlink Media (which also owns Automotive.com, MotorTrend, and similar sites) and appears to pull dealer inventory automatically with minimal lead generation value. The consensus conclusion is that while these aggregator sites rank well, they rarely produce quality leads and dealers are better served investing time in building their own websites, content, and brand rather than spreading inventory across numerous "free" third-party listing sites.

# Summary A dealer discusses Ford's effective product placement and sponsorship strategy on American Idol as an example of successful automotive advertising targeting a broad demographic, then asks fellow dealers to share which manufacturers they believe are executing the best marketing campaigns—particularly in light of strong sales growth (citing Subaru's 49% increase) that may be tied to marketing effectiveness rather than vehicle selection alone. The post is incomplete and doesn't reach a clear conclusion, but it positions marketing strategy as a potential driver of recent sales increases across the industry.

# Summary An internet director frustrated with DealerSocket seeks CRM recommendations prioritizing Mac compatibility and modern, user-friendly design. The thread generates substantive peer feedback and vendor responses, with VinSolutions and iMagicLab emerging as the top Mac-compatible alternatives, though the original poster raises valid criticisms about outdated UI design across the industry that goes largely unaddressed.