Does a good CRM exist?

[john.quinn]

This thing isn't ready yet? This isn't a skyscraper. The gestation period for an elephant is only 22 months.

Who let the gorilla out of the cage again? Wheres' the zookeeper??

 

[kcar]

ADP CRM is very close to it. But they need to update big time.

- Fix your e-mail settings, we keep sending e-mails to customers that get sent to the spam box.
- Fix this to run on all browsers, not just IE.
- Develop an app that will run on iPhone + iPad, not just send me e-mail alerts.
- Fix the homescreen so I can see # of sales, %'s, etc, not just leads and e-mails.
- Fix the design, it's so oldschool looking.

There's like 100 other small things. All of which make me dislike them, it's love/hate.

 

[kcar]

Rob,

You're going to need to do some demos. I would invest lots of time making the right decision. Procuring a CRM is like getting married. Go to some of the shows this fall and meet the vendors.

What bugs me the most. Almost all of these companies won't send out live demos. I hate hate getting pitched sales info, just let me login in and mess around with it for awhile. Some won't even send screenshots of what their CRM looks like. I've never cared about features, new things, etc, just let me take a look for myself..

 

[Rob]

What bugs me the most. Almost all of these companies won't send out live demos. I hate hate getting pitched sales info, just let me login in and mess around with it for awhile. Some won't even send screenshots of what their CRM looks like. I've never cared about features, new things, etc, just let me take a look for myself..

Thank you. Give me an hour for a live demo to go off on my own, and I'll be able to make an educated decision. Fake customer data is easy enough to create.... I don't know why this isn't a common practice.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

That's precisely what I intend to avoid. I don't want to sign up with whoever puts on the best show. I want to sign up with whoever has the happiest customers.

I disagree. Somebody who doesn't know any better might tell you the CRM they are using is awesome because they have never seen or used a superior product. Anyone who is using a product for a length of time is going to be partial to that product. CRM is constantly adapting and improving. I have seen dealers make a switch to a more advanced CRM system and because of the lack of familiarity it becomes a painful process. No training or time to become familiar with a product can lead to one quickly abandoning their choice only to return to an inferior product.

The decision to change CRM systems is not one that should be taken lightly. You really need to do some due diligence before making that decision and that includes getting demos. Sure I would ask other dealers for their feedback. Just realize some are not as proficient as others when it comes to CRM.

When you get your demos, ask the CRM companies this question. "If I did not buy your product and I went to one of your competitors, which one would you recommend?" Ask five CRM companies that question and then take a hard look at the one that is mentioned frequently.

To answer your question about why they won't just give you access to self demo?

1. CRM is very confusing to navigate and they do not want you to become frustrated and easily dismiss the product. The more advanced products require training to use.
2. They don't want their competitors having easy access to their product achievements.

My final advice, establish a CRM purchase team that consist of a few salespeople and a couple of managers. Let them be part of the decision making process. You'll find you'll have greater employee acceptance when installing.

Alex Snyder wrote a great article on making a CRM purchase, I suggest you read it as well.

Good Luck!

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Rob,

There was once a day when people recommended this product. I would not take the advice of others without doing my own DD.

 

[ddavis]

Rob,

There was once a day when people recommended this product. I would not take the advice of others without doing my own DD.

Jerry, that's funny. Nancy Pelosi said about Obamacare, "We have to pass the bill so you can find out whats in it". You really don't want to purchase a CRM until you have more than a basic understanding of it.

 

[kcar]

Rob,

There was once a day when people recommended this product. I would not take the advice of others without doing my own DD.

Bahaha, "new ObamaCare program" lol wow. That's awesome!

 

[Kelly Wilson]

That's precisely what I intend to avoid. I don't want to sign up with whoever puts on the best show. I want to sign up with whoever has the happiest customers.

Rob, you may find the happiest and most irate customers using the same product. Remember to ask questions specific to your current vendors regarding integration. Also don't forget to verify the sales teams' answers - the DR community loves to speak up! I found many "yeah we do that"s were really "yeah, no one does that"s.

 

[Salesman84]

I used webcontrol avv for two years at my previous store, right before the 2010-11 update and after. We learned to use it well enough I suppose, but it was just too easy to drop a customer and forget about them on accident. Unless a customer initiated action by replying to a mass mailer, once they fell back a page or two, they were pretty much never to be touched again unless they got a mass mailer and replied. Which worked actually. Whoever replied, got attention. While they were on your first page or two, you gave them a lot of attention, which made sense since they were fresh.

But if a customer told me "Hey, I'm out of town, but I'll be dropping by in 3 weeks for a test drive, and then buying at the end of that month, so keep in touch!" that was a monumental task in AVV Webcontrol in my opinion. I just couldnt get their calender system to work right, and when it did, the popup reminder system wouldnt work well if you had 10-20 events a day you wanted triggered.

Now I just started using dealersockets crm for only a week, and I love it. Its faster loading. And while Im slightly annoyed I need to click once or twice extra to see something on a customers profile that I used to see without any clicks in AVV, its still worth it. The fact that I can set reminders to email the customer Sunday night when hes about to return from his trip, and set a reminder to call him monday morning after he had a chance to look at that email, all at the same time, makes my reminders and notes much more logical because Im setting them up at the time its fresh in my mind and thats what Ive determined it a good plan of attack.

In AVV I would have put that customer in my working folder, or hot folder, and reviewed his info often to remind myself what the plan was. Most likely, I would miss the exact ideal day because I didnt parse my working folder at that exact day/time in order to see it again and do it.

However, its probably better to be dedicated and use a POOR CRM to its full potential, than to have a GREAT CRM and barely use it. The floor guys in my new store put the basic customer info into dealersocket to 'protect their customer rights for 72 hours' but then go about contacting him on the corporate outlook email because they think its easier. I think its insanity.