ADP's - CM (Customer Management) program

[wbkski]

Knightsbridge Inc. out of Salt Lake City, Utah has an excellent customer management package that leaves ADP and R/R in the dust. It's in the process of being converted to an "online" managment system. They also have online management for CSI and in-house sales and service calls. Their web page is being updated, but you can check them out at www.knightsbrg.com.

[Kevin Kavanagh]

Chris,

Im not here to defend the ADP product set but if you tried for 4 years and then another 2 to get rid of it the product is not the same as it was even 2 years ago. All of the vendors have regular release updates that fix bugs and add enhancements. The last time I looked at CMS (over 1 year ago) it was significantly different than I last remembered.

MH, the real question here is what do you mean by CRM? If you go to the June 11 issue of Dealers Edge in the Archives youll see an article I wrote asking this question. CRM means many different things to many people. Lets talk about what youre really trying to do and then we can determine which of the many products might fit the bill for you.


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[David Cates]

Just like any other software product, or any process, program, procedure, etcADPs CSM product will work for you if there is a commitment to make it work. I dont work for ADP (I did for 12 years), and I have no loyalty to ADP. So dont confuse this post for an attempt to plug the product or company. Actually the post is not really even about CSM. It is more about products in general, and what makes a product work or not work in a dealership. It does not matter if the product is web-based, text-based, or paper-based for that matter. The point here is not which is better. I think you would find most agree web-based solutions are what we will see in the future. The point is, successful implementation of any product will only work if there is a real commitment within the organization to make it work.

For every Chris out there, I can find a dealership that successfully implemented CSM, Showroom Control, Pricing Guides, Special Orders, or some other peripheral product. They somehow made it work, and made it work successfully. Showroom Control, for example, was always the first product to come back out of the dealership. ADPs original Showroom Control was labor intensive and even lacked letter-writing capabilities (imagine that). In most cases there was no real commitment within the dealership to make it work. I always wondered why it was even purchased. But I also know dealerships that embraced the product for what it was, realized its limitations, and more importantly realized the value they could derive from the product if they were committed to making it work. These dealerships are still utilizing the product effectively today, even though some would consider the technology old and outdated.

There also has to be a commitment from the vendor. Some of these products like CSM, etc are made part of a deal only to try and differentiate oneself from the competition, without really taking into account whether the product is a real fit for the dealership. As much as I believe in product utilization and system maximization, If I am to be 100% honest with myself, I know I was probably guilty of that during my sales career with ADP. I know there were some dealerships that I had no business selling some of these products to. Getting the vendor to be committed is a challenge sometimes, especially on these types of products. Unless it happens quickly and the dealership is vocal, after a certain amount of time no one really gets hurt financially, etc.. (on the vendor side) when a product is de-installed. So unfortunately there is not always a real commitment from the sales rep to make sure these products are working, other than to keep from being screamed at. So sometimes it is necessary to push them a little harder to get additional training and retraining. It is not right that this has to be done, but that is just the way it is. It is to their benefit (if they are smart about it) to make it work and create reference points so maybe someone like Chris, who has had a bad experience, can be turned around.

In answer to the original question, ADPs CSM can have as much value as you really want it to. It cannot do a lot of things some of the web-based CRM solutions can and it is certainly not pretty, but it can be an effective tool when trying to stay in touch with existing customers and prospects, monitor customer satisfaction, employee productivity, and create additional revenue opportunities. As far as cost, it has been a few years, but I am guessing you would pay less for ADPs CSM product than most of the web-based CRM providers.


p.s. if I hear one more word about drivers license scanning Who cares! The technology is not difficult and is offered by several providers, with more on the way I am sure.

As always, just my opinion.


David Cates

[RickW]

David Cates'statement that there has to commitment to make a program work is exactly right. However, at the user end, flexibility, ease of use, results for work expended are what determines whether the program is worth the commitment. If the time spent produces the desired results, then you are getting what you pay for. If it doesn't, then as a user, you have to go looking. Cost effectiveness, point of diminishing returns, call it what you will. Time on the clock is expensive. No program is perfect. What works for some won't work for others. And "making do" with cumersome programs without getting all the desired results is getting to the point of unacceptability in this highly competive environment.

I have over nine years experience as an ADP user. I have friends that have as much time on R&R, and I know other people on some of the other systems. We are all aware of the strong and weak points of these systems. Where the problem comes in is the lack of responsiveness by these companies in addressing these needs and concerns. If enough people go to outside vendors to mitigate thier problems, maybe the primary vendors will come around.

You have to have the right tools to get the job done.

[David Cates]

Rick:

I agree with that 100%. Being a developer of third party solutions, you know I want people to go looking

The problem with the big vendors is that they are big ships and awful hard to turn.

David Cates

[TRH]

I have been researching crm/bdc products. The major thing that I have discovered is that every system has it's strengths and weaknesses. So I compiled a list of about 30 questions and sent them to the major vendors that I was looking at. The results were mainly answered by,,,our next version will do that, or we have been discussing that,etc. But it really boils down to,,get a system that works with your sales process seamlessly, let the people that will be using it demo it, make sure it will interact with the fixed operations and make sure people are trained properly and use it every day. The jury is still out on which one I am going to choose for our 4 stores..

[This message has been edited by TRH (edited 08-09-2001).]

[Dealer X]

By the way, you can't compare ADP CSM or CSM Professional to the latest ADP offering that was debuted at NADA this year.

Right Relationship 360 is the latest ADP product and it is true CRM including complaint management, showroom control, internet lead management, and data mining. They even incorporate process training from Traver Technologies into the offering.

I've had it for 2 months and so far we are very pleased

[wbkski]

Dealer X...at what cost?

ADP and Reynolds are incorporating new technologies in an attempt to justify their already horrific monthly fees. Somewhat of a "fox in sheep's clothing".

While I'm sure they work, they do so at a premium. I feel there are other more efficient and economical ways to produce the same, if not better, results.