In retail auto there is great effort in trying to tackle "Social Networks" and harness their power. This short blurb is written to introduce a new angle and I think an awesome approach to social networks. Learn more about our existing customers and their interactions with our dealership by following them from the inside.
Salesforce.com recently created an social network for their CRM product, Chatter. This network is limited to the users in the business. I am not a vendor but instead an end user, and thus see all other users I chose to follow within my business.
I am so excited by this concept of collaboration from with-in that I felt compelled to share our story with other users of this forum, both vendors and retail guys alike.
How it works...
We tell our CRM what data / customer info we want to follow (Sales leads, service RO's, Parts transactions, Used Car Recon...) and we are included in a live feed showing everything going on with that entity.
Lets say I want to know every time a certain customer has any interaction with our dealership, I can now follow them in real-time and know more about them. This is very powerful. If they come in to our service dept. I am alerted. If they special order an accessory, I am alerted. This social knowledge crosses all departments and all users.
Check out the screen shots below.
Salesforce.com recently created an social network for their CRM product, Chatter. This network is limited to the users in the business. I am not a vendor but instead an end user, and thus see all other users I chose to follow within my business.
I am so excited by this concept of collaboration from with-in that I felt compelled to share our story with other users of this forum, both vendors and retail guys alike.
How it works...
We tell our CRM what data / customer info we want to follow (Sales leads, service RO's, Parts transactions, Used Car Recon...) and we are included in a live feed showing everything going on with that entity.
Lets say I want to know every time a certain customer has any interaction with our dealership, I can now follow them in real-time and know more about them. This is very powerful. If they come in to our service dept. I am alerted. If they special order an accessory, I am alerted. This social knowledge crosses all departments and all users.
Check out the screen shots below.

