follow up system

[rclapp]

I've used ACT 2000, Outlook and WebControl. None of them are perfect, but WebControl is close. There are a few things I like about ACT that are not in WebControl, but you can live with out them. I'm not tring to sell WebControl, I'm just happy with the results. They are constantly updating the product and coming out with new tools to use. The bottom line is we are still using WebControl. The couple of things I don't like about it is, 1- you can not add or edit the spell checker and 2- when you clear a daily meeting, call, or to-do, it does not ask you to schedule another one. There phone number is 800-872-0125 x-36.

Randy
rclapp@cabledahmer.com

[This message has been edited by rclapp (edited 09-13-2000).]

[BBingham]

rclapp,

Spell check is a very basic feature. As is rich text, passing along attachements and graphics. If you are not using a tool that can provide you these things, you may want to look elsewhere.

The internet is a medium to work with. You should not sacrifice features that will help you maintain a level of professionalism that your clients and prospects will recognize and appreciate.



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Bruce Bingham
bbingham@thirdcoastmedia.com
www.thirdcoastmedia.com

[Results]

WOW - Pretty hot topic. This is for mjacobs.
If I understand your problem all you want to do is keep track of your leads in an easy-sane manner and not loose any that might turn solid later. Is that right?
I have read everybodies replies and they all have a lot of good systems and ideas.
At some stores I suggest ActIII, some stores I have put them on old data bases like First Choice.
When I was selling on the Internet I think I tried a lot of them.
Have you thought of mind mapping, no really! Sit down with a paper, map out the flow, and generate a hard copy data base or computer data base that fits how your (please note your) customer follow up actually works for you.
If you would like to talk about it more Please feel free to contact me.

Now this is to everyone else. I think all of you are on track. It will never be one right system.

I remember once that I had the perfect system for follow up. I went to a different dealership and it would not fit. To this day I don't know why. I brought up my problem at a OEM training meeting and this guy handed me a notebook that had all the perfect steps in it to follow up. It didn't work!


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Results
Mike Stinson
www.results@rintuit.com

[swindler]

Thumbs up to Mike Stinson. Your remarks are right on target. The key to everything that we do is having the right process. I use Maximizer for my customer management database. Like Goldmine, Act and all the others... it does the job! However, like Mike Stinson has stated, you need to do some "mind mapping" to develop a process that works for you.

When I first got into the auto retailing business 5-1/2 years ago, I went out and purchased every form of contact management software available. I wrote down what types of customer information would be vital to me and tested each software package to see which one would be most effective to accomplish the follow-up system I had written. I walked into the dealership everyday with a laptop computer and portable printer and began to track each "up" until they were sold by me or someone else.

It's the same with the Internet. Create a process that works for you and your dealership. It takes time. As stated at many conferences, by many vendors and Internet consultants, there are many different ways of doing what we do effectively. But, you have to find the one that works for you.

I also use Microsoft Office 2000 Professional. All of the forms that visitors to our web site submit are imported to nice neat forms within Microsoft Access. From here I can send data to Microsoft Excel and do graphs and charts. I can do mass mailings with Microsoft Word or Microsoft Outlook. As you can see, you can develop your own process and tailor it to your specific needs and requirements.

I would also recommend going to the AROW V conference in Orlando. I have attended each previous conference and have always left with much more than I came with. You can exchange your views and insights as well as get a lot of answers to the questions you may have about developing your own process.

Hope to see you all there. Good luck to all.


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Dean Swindler
Internet Manager
The Rowe Dealerships

[machado]

OK you guys got me.

I also agree with Mike, You need to find what works for you. We have blended several product together to cut down on the amount of work that the ISMs have to do.

Here are a few things to consider:

Personally, I like web-based products that allow several members of my staff to work at the office or from home or on the road (away at training or a trade show). It also allows you to follow up on what they are doing in the office on the road or at home.

Web Control is the mother product to several re-sellers on the market but if you go Straight to AVV at www.avv.com (ask for Lance) you will get the best price.

In all of our stores we use Web Control to track our day to day business. It allows me to run several detailed reports so we can determine a monthly ROI on each lead aggregator and my own web pages. As well as making sure who is and is not following up.
The GMs and myself have manager access the only difference is that we have a Delete Button the ISMs and ISSs do not.

One other feature is that you can allow them DMS access so that you can also measure your Internet Influenced sales as well. This access will also allow you to see just how much money each deal made without having to collect date from 5 different places.

However, we still print all of our inbound leads, Eudora checks mail every 6-8 minuets and then it sends out the AutoResponce then prints the PR. We then send out 3 to 5 letters that guide the customer through the process if they reply or other letter if they do not.

We use Web Control to remind us when to send the follow up letters and make the follow up calls. It also allows us to schedule our day and so that we can confirm things for each other. You can also spot trends and you can use this tool to DOCUMENT when and why you loose deals to the competition.

Eudora also allows us to create address books that are grouped by a recipient list and segregated by model line for NEW or product type for USED. That way we can continue to send out bulk email when there is an incentive change or if we receive a unit like what they are looking for. By using the BCC or Blind Carbon Copy we can send hundreds of email in just a few minuets. Imagine, if your store was hit by hail you could contact thousands of people by email with just a few keystrokes. It cost nothing!!!


You paid for those leads there is no reason to throw them in the trash. 30% of our Internet sales volume comes from the leads that we continue to stay in contact with 6 to 10 weeks after the initial contact. Think back to when you were a green pee
Follow up sells but now instead of spending all day leaving messages on answering machines for a 2% return you can email hundreds of people at a time for a 8% return
DO THE MATH!.

I like Web Control for one other reason they are a web hosting and design company whose roots are in the car business. They have all the other tools to make your job less stressful. We develop a lot of our own content and they plug it into our pages so our sites look different than other stores. So since they were already dialing into our box it seemed like a natural fit. The folks at AVV will make it easy for you to post pictures on your sight and gladly push that data anywhere you want. That way you only manage your inventory once and you will have total control of how it looks and where it goes.

There are a few other real good products that are about to launch or are fairly new that offers much the same functionality but it was designed for a BDC or CRS not specifically for I-net so they cost a few bucks:

Traver Technology www.travertech.com

Automotive Directions

Sandi Jerome Consulting 360.452.1857
Auto web has a fairly good system too:

Sales Enhancer www.autoweb.com

I hope this helps.

PS:

To address the comment made by ecfrew if a prospect contacts you by email and offers you their email address and profile you have a right to not only host that information on a web server but you can market to that address for as long as that it is valid. This is not Spam. However, if the customer ask you to please remove them from your mailing list you should. I do agree however you should have a statement of confidentiality from anyone that you exchange data with. Conversely, if you take data off DMS and put it on a web server there is pending legislation that would require dealerships to notify your prospects that their profile is on the Internet. This could wind up being costly and painful.

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Greg Machado
E-Commerce Director &
Independant Consultant
www.gMACgroup.com
machado@gmacgroup.com
210.710.8456

[This message has been edited by machado (edited 09-25-2000).]

[PAULHAWK2]

With out sounding like I am plugging one system over another, I have reviewed many lead tracking systems including the ones mentioned here, for the company I work for and the best to date by a wide margin is AVV's webcontrol. We review applications based on ease of use, cost, and overall performance, IE: (in this case) Data management, mining, mail merge capabilities etc. Coupled with customer service and response times when problems arise or users change.
Lead tracking as you all know is a very important tool, not only for organizing your work, but tracking all traffic sold and unsold through their buying life cycle, thereby reducing the overall cost to the store in lead production.
Process is the key as many of you have pointed out correctly, without process, lead management, lead production and fancy web sites are a drain on the advertising budget and a waste of money, resulting in lay-down sales at best. With that said however, all of these factors point to short sighted planning focused on front-line sales only. What is needed is to structure a business plan encompassing the whole store, built on your current over all philosophy (better known as branding)
If you want real answers from people who have sold cars on the net, and help sell cars every day, please check out what Bryan Hitt (guest expert) has to say.
Happy selling!


[This message has been edited by PAULHAWK2 (edited 09-27-2000).]

[This message has been edited by PAULHAWK2 (edited 09-27-2000).]