follow up system

follow up system

Postby mjacobs » Tue May 30, 2000 10:59 am

I don't know about you guys, but, my biggest problem seams to come with keeping track of all the leads that come in. How and when to trash an unresposive lead, and how to stay on top of the ones that require action.

I am using MSOutlook, but my main system is to print a hard copy of every lead to put in a notebook. Then, if contact is made(and far too frequently it is not) that lead goes to the front part of my book, designating futher action on my part is required.

Still, things seem to slip through the cracks. I have looked at some of the web based sytems and was not overly impressed.

Does anyone have a system that seems to work well? I am looking for all the help I can get. All feedback is appreciated.

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mjacobs
 

follow up system

Postby Dan » Tue May 30, 2000 1:48 pm

We are exactly in the same boat!!
We do a great job of communicating with clients via email, but end up printing hard copies to keep track of them all. Our thinking is that there must be software outthere that is more user friendly that MS Outlook, that allows information to be shared between people and departments...

Any suggestions would be great
Dan
 

follow up system

Postby rockysanders » Wed May 31, 2000 9:02 am

Good morning,
Check out www.salesenhancer.com
They are an online follow-up program that I found very user friendly.
rockysanders
 

follow up system

Postby Dan » Thu Jun 01, 2000 9:37 am

Wow, The software you mention sounds great. Nice preview on thier site and all....

But, I tried to get more information online and have not received any information back yet! Not responding to emails within 1 day is not acceptable in our business anymore, and it is certainly not acceptable for a company specializing in Online Software.

I'll have to keep looking.........

Dan
Dan
 

follow up system

Postby EFConn » Thu Jun 01, 2000 10:34 am

Another potential website and product which I have run across can be found at Dealerkid.com. Last I knew they had a web-based prospecting system that they offered for something like $250 per month with nothing up front. If you can get use out of it, I here it works quite well. I believe that they can even integrate with some ADP and R&R databases. Check them out when you get a chance.
EFConn
 

follow up system

Postby mjacobs » Thu Jun 01, 2000 11:59 am

What I was really hoping was that some of you would share what systems you have actually used and found to work well. Not have product reps try to hock their wares. I am hoping we can compare notes to make all of us have a smoother operation. And, make us all lots of money selling cars.

[This message has been edited by mjacobs (edited 06-01-2000).]

mjacobs
 

follow up system

Postby robs007 » Fri Jun 02, 2000 6:58 am

We have been using Salesenhancer (salesenhancer.com) since mid Feb. They have been going through some growing pains but overall I am happy with the product. It's easy to use and has many good features and the continue to improve it. It does still have it's flaw's, they can't seperate new from used requests, but that may not affect you. We have about 9 lead sources and with the exception of 2 they all go in pretty flawlessly. It can be used by multiple sales people and can be overseen by a manager. So you Internet or Sales manager can quickly see who isn't keeping up with there leads and follow ups. I see this system being used in the future for all our sales people. We currently are also using it for Off lease follow ups. At the present time you will have to load the none internet customers manually, but the tell me in the summer a ASCII upload interface is coming. They have multiple reports and the ability to do bulk mailing or to export the whole database to do as you like with it. It tracks all responding emails and attaches them to the customer file, it also puts duplicate requests together. There support was poor in the beginning but it has improved. The downside is you have to pay up front for a year, $1180.00 I believe, but don't quote me. They want you to buy one for every rooftop, but we purchased 1 and are using it for 6 stores. being web based it can be used almost anywhere, and managers can check up from home. I looked at some of the others and they were a lot more and didn't do as much.
robs007
 

follow up system

Postby griffincars » Wed Jun 07, 2000 1:41 pm

I have been using Microsoft Access to keep a Database of all Internet Leads from all sources: You can easily design one using design view in Access 97 or 2000. I made a form to input all the leads into. I have an icon on my desktop that says Internet Leads. I print off a hard copy of every lead from Autobytel, Autoweb, our own website, Autotrader and A local city site. I then immediately put this information into our database. I track customer name, address, phone numbers, Buying service used, year, make and model looking for, email address, and then have a comments section for what I did with that lead. If I gave it to a salesperson to handle, I write their name in the comment field. If I assign it to another one of our stores, I list the store name. That way at the end of the month, I can print reports on anything I want. I DO NOT use the drt system on Autobytel to email or to track leads. After I print them, I immediately mark them "dead deals" to get them out of the drt system. It is far to slow and cumbersome.

I hope this helped.
griffincars
 

follow up system

Postby DaveStrom » Wed Jun 07, 2000 2:42 pm

In my experience, Symantec's ACT!2000
Software is far superior to anything else
available. MUCH better than MS Outlook!
It is designed specifically as a sales
contact management and merchandising tool
and has FULL tracking, email, letter,
FAX, and word processing capabilities.
It will automatically keep track of all
your contacts with a Client, schedule and
remind you of future contacts, manage your
time, etc. It's capabilities are far too
extensive to mention here. I have developed
a version of this program designed
specifically for the retail automotive
industry with over 50 "custom" propecting,
follow through, and follow up communications
only a few mouse clicks away.

I'm looking for some beta testers. Anyone
interested?

Dave Strom
AMSVBch@aol.com

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[This message has been edited by DaveStrom (edited 06-07-2000).]

DaveStrom
 

follow up system

Postby Joe Pearson » Wed Jun 07, 2000 3:32 pm

I agree with Dave Strom. ACT! contact manager from Symantec works great. I use another program called WebGrabber to pull the names, addresses, etc. from the e-mails I receive from Autoweb, AutoTrader and our other lead generators. Once you set up a template for each lead service, WebGrabber will automatically retrieve the info you want and enter it in ACT!. Then you can easily plan your day, track the progress of your leads, follow up.... all sorts of things.
Joe Pearson
 

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