Did you know that the average dealership retains less than 25% of their clients over the average buying cycle? The problem is, if you lose 20% of your clients in a year, you have to add 30% more new clients just to grow 10% in sales. This approach needs to be followed aggressively and consistently, to have effective retention and win back strategy for growth. Remember, it doesn’t matter how many awards your dealership has won for customer satisfaction. Every dealership has clients who decide to buy or service their vehicle elsewhere. It is imperative to stay on top of this problem, or your competitors will soon snag those customers permanently.

Why customers stop doing business with your dealership?

Every dealership has an attrition challenge – attrition is the number of customers who stop doing business with the dealership. Until you identify how many of your clients are no longer actively dealing with your service department or have stopped buying altogether, you can’t begin to improve on that figure.  Identifying the percentage and which clients no longer actively do business with you, is the first step to reducing your attrition rate.

Most people stop doing business with your dealership for the following reasons:

• They are dissatisfied.  Consumers don’t want to wait anymore at dealerships. Be it waiting for salespeople to attend to them, or paperwork to come through, they just don’t wish to waste time at dealerships. The problem is most unhappy customers will never say why they stopped buying or servicing from you – they just leave.
• The client’s situation has changed to the point they no longer can benefit from your dealership. They could have moved or their lifestyle has changed.
• They stop servicing temporarily because there could have been a time when it was more feasible to go to an independent shop or competing dealer. And they never got around to dealing with you again! Once a customer stops dealing with you, no matter how valuable the product or service, they tend to fall into a different buying pattern.

The good news is a chunk of all lost customers didn’t leave for an irreparable reason. You can instantly take action and get a good percentage of those people back. However, you can’t do it using the same old school marketing that hasn’t brought them back up to this point or did not retain them to begin with.

But remember this, when they do come back, they tend to come one of your best, most frequent and loyal customers. They can turn into one of the best sources of referrals. Here are some facts about “unhappy customers”:

• The average dealership will hear nothing from 96% of unhappy clients who had a bad experience.
• Unhappy clients tend to take about bad experiences to least 9 other people. 13% of those unhappy former clients will relate their stories to more than 20 people.
• For every complaint received, the average company has 26 clients with problems, six of which are “serious.”
• Of the clients who register a complaint, up to 70% will do business with your dealership again if their complaint is resolved. That figure goes up to 95% if the client feels the problem was resolved quickly.
• 68% of clients who stop doing business with you do so because of company indifference. They felt their needs weren’t being taken care of.

How to get back lost customers?

1. Ensure that customers “don’t waste time” in your dealership

Customers don’t want to visit keep visiting your dealership multiple times. Earlier, they did so, to check out vehicle makes and models, then scheduled appointments for test drives, completed paperwork, and finally collected the vehicle. But buying behavior and patterns have undergone a drastic change in the last couple of years.

It is time to make the car buying process hassle-free and smooth. Moving a major part of the car buying process online ensures that customers only have to come in during a certain part of the sales process. Modera Salesfront is the ideal CRM software you need to improve conversion rate, while automating processes.

You can monitor and respond to leads anytime, anywhere, while generating follow-up alerts at the same time. Offer customers a comprehensive inventory that is updated on a regular basis – operate price lists, standard and optional equipment, accessories, and technical data. You can even manage the test drive process expertly by updating cars in the fleet, allotting test drives for customers, securing test drive permits, collecting digital signatures, etc. This software lets you fine-tune the process of selling pre-owned cars as well.

When customers try to get in touch with you, they need to hear back quickly, so make use of the pre-configured chat solution. Ensure that customers don’t have to come in for clearing up some confusion that could have been easily resolved online.

2. Adopt a more customer-centric approach

Once you know that your dealership is losing customers, it is time to examine the reason. While there is a multitude of legitimate reasons, why a customer might leave such as relocation, changed automotive needs, etc. your self-evaluation should focus on your dealership’s overall relationship with the customer base.

For instance, do you connect with prospective car buyers online before they visit the dealership? Is the buying process simple and stress-free?  Does your dealership offer a vehicle maintenance plan with customized solutions that are attractive to customers? Enhance your customer experience and discerning car buyers will take notice. Here too, a robust CRM solution can be your savior.

3. Focus on “top lost customers”

When some segments of your dealership’s customer base are missing in action, it is time to sharpen your focus. Track long-term repurchase trends to determine your highest-grossing customers in the last few years. Modera Salesfront can be of great use, as it efficiently stores data, so you can access it, as and when required. It helps monitor buying behavior, so you can target prior car buyers for a customer retention campaign featuring exciting new product offerings, F&I upgrade options, timely service reminders, and other marketing materials. You can easily create personalized and eye-catching offers for customers – these offers can be emailed directly to customers from the CRM software.

4. Give customers an incentive to come back

If customers have strayed, don’t waste time blaming your staff. Instead, focus on a way to make them come back. Consider giving inactive customers a special discount – a lucrative deal goes a long way to entice people to buy.

You can send this campaign directly to inactive customers. Since you are segmenting your audience via a CRM software, you can personalize the message for this specific group. For example, send a promotion via text message or email that says – we haven’t seen you in a while. Do drop by for a special early bird offer or an extended warranty being offered for a limited period.

If you want customers to come back, make sure the promotion is worth their time. Personalize the campaign according to your target audience. Remember, you might not make as much money on the first return sale, but through marketing efforts you can hopefully turn inactive customers into repeat customers once again.

By getting in touch and communicating with the right targeted group, you can rest assured that a certain percentage will immediately start coming to your dealership once again. Regular communication is a must, so you can build a personal relationship. Don’t reach out to them only when you have to boost sales – keep in touch frequently, but refrain from bombarding them with texts and emails.

5. Change the way you do business

Another reason why customers want to spend less time in a dealership is because of the Covid-19 pandemic. They are apprehensive of spending too much time in closed spaces. In fact, the pandemic cause ecommerce industry to boom, as it became the only option to search, conduct research, and buy.

Your target market spends more time on websites and social networks. This is why it is essential that dealerships establish and enhance their presence there. A minimum investment of time and money in social networks can help you gain a larger market share. But you should also make the most of the information you already have about your customers (previous services, vehicle mileage, hours used in the case of equipment, etc.) to offer services they may not even know they need.

A dealer management system (DMS) is a must in this case. It comes with various service marketing features to offer scheduled or preventive services based on the mileage of your customers’ vehicles. You can even offer seasonal maintenance services before holidays. It is imperative that you take a look at your customer portfolio and use this information strategically. Offer these services before they migrate to your competition.

In fact, you can structure a complimentary maintenance plan as well. Remember, it has nothing to do with selling the first vehicle, but it matters when it comes to building relationships. It improves the chances of those first-timers becoming repeat customers. You may not be able to control your customers’ repurchase intentions, but you can certainly influence them. With a dealer-owned promotional maintenance plan, you can bring back customers to your dealership for service requirements.

6. Offer special advantages

For customers these days, it is all about benefits that save both time and money. To ask customers to call or visit the dealership to schedule a workshop appointment is to send them to the competition. It is time to take customer requirements into account, and act accordingly:

• Let customers’ book appointments from their home, office, or anywhere else. The scheduling feature of the CRM software comes in handy.
• If the customer who brought in their vehicle has to go elsewhere, offer alternate transportation in advance.
• The customer can’t come to the dealership for servicing their vehicle. So create a system to pick up, repair, and return the vehicle.
• Use the chat feature in your CRM to answer questions of customers. Provide customers with self-service access to their account information through a customer portal.
• When customers arrive at your dealership for service or repair work, offer a comprehensive vehicle inspection report, totally free of cost. You can use an electronic Vehicle Health Check system to help technicians identify more repair work and generate a report quickly. Provide customers with an informative, easy-to-understand and professionally presented vehicle inspection report. It allows them to better understand the recommended repair work

These strategies not only strengthen the relationship with your existing customers, but they are equally effective for attracting new ones.

7. Track and report sales metrics

If you can’t measure sales metrics, you can’t improve on sales tactics. An automotive CRM software helps the dealership to monitor service sales metrics. It keeps tabs on the number of vehicle inspections, dollars identified and sold per vehicle, sales and conversion rates. Make sure the reason for any loss in sales, is clearly identified. Having access to comprehensive real-time analytics gives you the key insights to increase staff performance, sales closure and profits.

You can use this data to train sales personnel on how to shorten car selling transaction time. They should be aware of this simple fact – don’t make customers wait when the sale has commenced. Customers should only be asked to come in, when a specific part of the buying process can’t be completed online. For instance, if a customer comes in for a test drive, they shouldn’t be made to wait. Or if they have come to pick up their vehicle, ensure the paperwork is in order, and the car is ready!

8. Create a “we fixed it” campaign online

Customers stop buying for a reason. To win customers back, you need to figure out why they left in the first place. As mentioned, a customer leaves most often because they were treated poorly or dissatisfied with the product or service. If you are unsure about what caused them to stop doing business, monitor review sites and social media closely. Consider asking customers to complete a survey for feedback. Try to spot common factors that caused customers to jump ship. Include questions like – did wait times make customers unhappy? Was the customer service lacking?

Once you identify the problem, work to correct it. Once corrected, spin it into a marketing campaign. When customers see that you have admitted to mistakes honestly, they are bound to appreciate it.

For example, maybe a customer didn’t feel important, appreciated, valued or acknowledged by your dealership. However, it is vital to emphasize that your team didn’t intentionally offend or dissatisfy that client. Let your marketing campaign talk about how wait times were too long, guide them how they can complete a major part of the car buying process online, etc.

9. Don’t forget about customers who have moved

If customers have stopped coming to your dealership because they have relocated, or their situation has changed so they no longer can benefit from what your dealership offers, don’t fret! You can still ask them for referrals. They obviously have a great deal of respect and goodwill for your dealership.

By merely contacting them and honestly expressing your concern about their well-being, you position yourself perfectly. If they tell you they no longer can use your product or service, say that is fine. Next, request them to recommend the dealership to friends, family members and associates who can benefit from what you do. Most of them will oblige your request.

10. Leverage expertise

Product quality has improved considerably across the board within the retail automotive industry. Now, it is more difficult than ever to utilize product offerings as a brand differentiator. Dealerships have to think outside the box and seek alternative sources to gain competitive advantage. 

Whether it is by offering a creative form of entertainment while customers wait or honor competitors’ coupons, make your dealership stand out from the crowd, enticing lost customers to reconsider. When you begin campaigns to retain customers and attract new ones, it is necessary to offer a proposal that competes with the offering of independent workshops – price and convenience. Focus on the benefits of being an official dealership; here are a few pointers:

• The OEM’s quality certification.
• Expertise of your technicians.
• Investment in training, speed, customer satisfaction campaigns, etc.

If you concentrate on these issues, it can tip the scales in your favor when the customer has to choose where to take their vehicle.

Don’t wait for customers to arrive at your dealership. Take the initiative, go find opportunities, and stay ahead of your competition. The more connected customers feel to your dealership, the more chances there are of them coming back. Many will start quickly buying and referring again because they never really wanted or intended to stop. So reward them for your lack of initiative in the past – do something special and preferential for them as a “welcome back” reward or gesture of appreciation. Use Modera Salesfront, as it is an incredible way to retain customers, because it reduces “wait time” and speed ups car selling transaction time. Moreover, it helps to customize offers and maintain regular communication with customers.

The post Make Your Dealership Great Again – How To Bring Back Customers? appeared first on Modera.

When it comes to buying cars, customers are now prioritizing convenience before everything else. Before they actually step into a dealership, they want to have all the necessary information about a vehicle on their fingertips. That is why a high quality automotive DMS (dealer management system) offering full functionality is a must, so you can offer the best of services and close sales successfully.

What is a DMS – Dealer Management System?

To put it in a nutshell, DMS allows a dealership to perform all daily functions in areas of sales, financial transactions, service operations and more, flawlessly from a centralized hub. The integration built into the software allows simplified information exchange between all the operational divisions of your dealership. It is a solution where everything is interconnected – be it the work of the sales department or the preferences of customers. Daily controls become smoother, especially when repetitive tasks are automated.

Benefits of implementing a high quality automotive DMS

1. All-in-one solution

Using a collection of products from multiple software vendors can turn into a nightmare scenario. Using a DMS means a single solution that eliminates these headaches. It makes it convenient for employees to cross-train as and when required. It is all the more helpful for smaller dealerships where headcount is at a premium.

One of the major benefits is that it lets you manage all functional areas of business with one solution, starting from sales to service and everything in between. It means data flows seamlessly from one functional area of the business to another, allowing for accurate and timely reporting for informed business decisions.

2. Improved customer service

The competition today is immensely tough. You aren’t just competing with other local dealerships, but also running the race with third-party websites and online car sellers. The latter category promise buyers the convenience of online shopping. As already mentioned, more customers are getting comfortable with the idea of buying cars online. Offering impeccable and personalized customer experience is a must to retain existing customers and get new ones. DMS can help you with this by tracking more lead data and making it available to your entire team. Dealerships now understand the importance of collecting lead data beyond basic information before getting in touch with buyers and establishing a connection.

3. Data and marketing

As mentioned, data is vital these days. Business owners and sales managers actively research their markets and have a good understanding of what customers want. Despite this, they may be missing key points that can significantly affect the bottom line. With that in mind, a DMS automatically generates massive amounts of data and displays it in easy-to-read reports. For instance, website analytics software can tell you how many people visit your website and request information. You can even know which pages are popular among them and for how long they view the pages. Using this data, the DMS helps you create campaigns, use social media, and track results. Data helps you better understand which marketing efforts work best, and if the message you put out there is getting a response.

4. Flexibility

A common misconception associated with DMS is that they are solely meant for big dealerships with multiple locations. However, any DMS can be tailored to suit your business requirements. Whether you have one dealership or 50, it can be scaled and customized accordingly. A high quality automotive DMS is easy to navigate, so you can work out a solution specific to your dealership’s needs.

A DMS comes with intuitive workflows and a modern, consistent screen interface. This feature makes it easier to learn and use. It allows employees to get up to speed faster and become more productive sooner. Having consistent screens throughout the system with same/similar tasks and buttons in the same location on every screen is one example of how an intuitive design can simplify the learning process.

Cloud-based solutions

It is no secret that cloud-based platforms are shaping the future for businesses of all sizes. Cloud-based architecture provided by a DMS lets you continue running your business even outside the dealership. Additional benefits include eliminating the problems of in-house servers and IT systems overload and the costs associated with them. It simplifies and streamlines the process of deploying system updates. It also cuts down lag time to access data, so you can pull reports and retrieve data in seconds.

Security

Remote working and transferring data outside the walls of the dealership has become the norm. That is why; dependence on security has increased too. When it comes to data security, cloud-based solutions built on industry-leading platforms, use secure encryption methods to protect data and prevent unauthorized access.

Disaster recovery is another aspect of security that needs to be considered. It is impossible to predict when and where outside influences like natural disasters, power outages, economic downturn, or health crisis may lead to downtime for your business. Regardless of its duration, downtime has a negative impact on your bottom line and reputation. DMS ensures quick data recovery for all kinds of emergency situations. It also allows off-premises data back-up that can be accessed by any internet-connected device.

Thanks to cutting edge technology, an automotive DMS offers a comprehensive solution to help car dealerships manage their entire business from a single hub. It ensures better marketing, customer service, communication, and inventory management, all of which have a positive impact on increasing vehicle sales and service requests. Efficiency is enhanced, as the DMS helps to cross-reference data for identifying trends, opportunities, and ways to reduce costs.

If you are looking for a dealer management system for your dealership(s) then take a look at Modera Importer (for dealer network management) and Modera Salesfront (Automotive specialized CRM) solutions.

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Cover image from Pexels

The post 6 Benefits of a High Quality Automotive Dealer Management System appeared first on Modera.

Things are slowly reopening, and as business picks up bit by bit, the automotive industry hopes to quickly adapt to the new normal. Adhering to Covid-19 protocols could be a challenge while conducting “business as usual”, so there are ways that need to be changed to upgrade your dealership to a new level.

On average there are different app-based solutions to all challenges dealers face, Those numerous solutions aim to give dealers more freedom and mobility.However, if you want to know how you could avoid downloading and familiarizing with multiple different apps, read until the end to hear our secret weapon to conquer all the key areas with just one.

1. Offer builder

Creating an offer is the most important part of car sales. Usually it is time-consuming and stressful, it involves lots of Excel files and different programs that need to be managed.

Creating offers can actually be easy, quick and mobile. Imagine a way you can increase your everyday offers by 4 times without pinning yourself down at your desk.
All the prices of cars, accessories and extras are included in the automotive CRM and everything is easily added. Once you have finished creating your order you can print it out or send it to the customer by email. 

2. Chat

Lots of customers are researching and even shopping for cars online now. They are eager to learn more about the potential purchase and the easiest thing to do is to use a chat. Lots of car dealerships are integrating Facebook Messenger, but this has some complications regarding customer not having account or not wanting to use one.

Why not collect customer data automatically from the chat to your CRM for future callbacks, test-drive bookings, offers and so on? You could chat with them and switch from chat to video call so that you can show them a real car in a real showroom instead of sending them stock photos of cars.

3. Document handling

Document handling in car sales hasn’t yet reached the 21st century. There are lots of dealerships who still sign all the contracts on paper and in some cases upload them to the CRM or cloud as pdf scans.

Instead of wasting time on useless paperwork, printing, scanning and chopping the sales process in pieces, opt for a digital and mobile approach. 

You’ll have the ability to use template-based digital offers that can be created, edited and prepared while you are having a test-drive or showing a car to the customer. If the customer really wants you can always print it out or send this to their email.

4. Lead handling

Any lead could turn into a lucrative sale, so salespeople need to constantly follow up. Reduce the time spent on finding and contacting leads. All you need are custom forms and tools that collect leads and bring them in front of you.
To make things even more effective, all the data is collected to your CRM and can be accessed by everyone who needs it at your dealership. 

5. Test-drive bookings

Managing test-drive bookings is one of the most important parts of car sales. Using Google Calendar is not an option here for that.

Imagine a tool that reduces time wasted on mundane paperwork, while giving you a complete overview of the stock for test drives, so you know which cars are available and which are not.

With a complete overview you can avoid mistakes, overbookings and errors that are prone for classical test-drive booking solutions. 

6. Notes

Salespeople need to constantly take notes. They have to stay on top of leads, so they jot down customer info, details about orders, points regarding customer preferences, or notes about a meeting. It’s quite usual to take notes on post-its, on random pieces of paper or some popular apps like Evernote.

The main problem with paper-based notes is that they go missing. If notes are taken in apps that are not synchronized with  the CRM, they’ll be forgotten and found days, weeks or even months later than needed.
Instead of wasting time using ten different solutions to take notes, consider using only one that is either synchronized with your CRM or already part of it. 

7. Trade-in management

Trade-in is an unavoidable part of car sales, which is usually time-consuming and oftentimes quite inaccurate. 

Solution is a trade-in tool that is specifically developed factoring in perspectives of salespeople, the sales manager, and even the appraiser and customer. You as a dealer can fill in required information in the app and take photos of the vehicle to document its condition and damage (if any). All this can be accomplished with the customer standing right next to the salesperson.

The entire process can be managed in your system later, with important paperwork. It has a built-in sales calculator so salespeople can look up average market value, damage repairs, depreciation, desired profit margin, and potential days until a sale.

Your one-stop-shop

If you’re looking to make use of all these solutions mentioned above, you could go ahead and download about seven or eight apps to get your dealership going. This would obviously mean having to learn how to use and manage all of the selected apps.

This is where we come in. Modera gives you one single solution to take care of all of the main issues and help your dealership and salespeople work more effectively. Check out Modera solutions to see, how you and your team can start saving valuable time. If you have any questions, reach out to us and we’ll be happy to help you out. 

The post How can apps help to upgrade your dealership? appeared first on Modera.

Looking to buy a new car and trade an old one?

Trading in your current vehicle at a dealership can be an excellent way to get the old vehicle off of your hands, while paying a nominal sum for the new one. However, the old car needs to be in reasonably good condition and meet certain requirements, for you to get a lump sum.

On the other hand, dealers too need to contribute in a certain way to guarantee a quick trade-in process.

What You as the customer should do?

Prep the car for a trade-in

This process doesn’t mean you are simply selling it to the dealership and hoping to get the best possible sales price. However, one of the upsides is you typically don’t need to get the vehicle repaired first. It is the dealer who takes care of the refurbishing.

Here’s what you should do:

• Gather all documents related to the vehicle. You need to show that you have kept up with preventative maintenance, provide receipts on tires, brakes, etc., offer proof that necessary repairs were performed in case the vehicle was in an accident, and show that you have paid off existing loans.
• Spruce up the car. Give it a nice look inside and outside. Un-pair smart devices from the vehicle’s Bluetooth connection, and wipe off calling history. Don’t forget to clear out your home address and any destinations from the navigation system.
• Know your car’s value – Before heading in to the dealership, make sure you know the approximate trade-in value of your vehicle. Otherwise you have no way of knowing if you have got a good deal or lowball estimate.
• Don’t skimp on parking tickets – While dealers might take care of certain fixes, it doesn’t mean they will do so for unpaid parking tickets. It could prevent the title from being transferred. In some areas, unpaid parking tickets are turned over to collection agencies, who send people to collect payment from whomever owned the vehicle at the time of the infraction.

What do appraisers look at?

These are the following aspects that appraisers consider during trade in processes – here goes:

• Vehicle age – The value of a car gradually declines with age as newer models come out.
• Mileage – Estimates are generally based on 10 to 12 thousand miles every year. The value takes a hit if it is more than that.
• Ownership – Models with only one owner have more value. The vehicle history report is checked to verify number of owners.
• Condition of vehicle – If your vehicle is in decent condition, it will be worth more as a resale. But if serious repairs have to be done, it impacts the offer, as the dealer will have to pay for it.
• Matching tires – If all tires match and have good tread life left on them, it can positively affect the total value.
• Mechanical issues – The vehicle needs to run smoothly. If the appraiser suspects a problem, then a chunk of value will be knocked off.
• Options and add-ons – If the vehicle has several factory options, it is much more valuable than a base model of the same car. Appraisers look at equipment that you have added, and increase or decrease according to what they find.

What You as the dealer can do:

When it comes to trading in a vehicle, the biggest issue is car owners wondering if they have got a fair price. This is where evaluation plays an integral role.

Modera’s trade-in tool is one of the best in the market, as it lets salespeople capture each and every detail of the vehicle. To put it in a nutshell, helps to guarantee a quick and transparent trade in process. Thus, you can get a quick market-based value estimate, after all the factors have been taken into consideration. Integration is seamless, as vehicle details can be captured by simply inputting the vehicle registration number.

Here is what you can expect:

1. Don’t worry about repairs

Capture the wear and tear of the vehicle, and select installed equipment from a pre-defined list, which helps to hasten the process. Click clear images of damages that could affect the trade-in value. It helps to keep the car appraisal process more accurate.

2. Taking photos

Photos should be taken of the entire car, which includes both interior and exterior. Take pictures, so you can come up with an offer. Use desktop backend for a full trade in car appraisal.

3. Price calculation

As mentioned, evaluating the vehicle properly is of the utmost importance. This feature helps to compute purchase price after factoring in market value, sales days, depreciation, and so on.

4. Process paperwork

No more waiting for days, in order to get the paperwork processed. There are predefined templates that can be sent via email, which includes purchase proposal, evaluation act, and purchase agreement. It helps to reduce the time wasted in processing paperwork.

5. Notifications and chatting

Want to confer with your team? Use the internal built-in chat feature to talk and collaborate anytime you want. You can customize automatic notifications that keep the team appraised about every stage of each trade in process. You can also get a complete overview of the team’s trade in process, measure your trade in volumes, and identify areas of improvement.

As a dealer, you have to guarantee a convenient trade in process, and Modera is one of the best ways to accomplish this purpose. This is a multi-platform trade in solution that can help salespeople sell cars fast and close each deal successfully.

As you have already taken enough time to read this article, why don’t you request a “Trade In” demo or start a free trial here.

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Cover image Pexels

The post How to Guarantee a Quick and Transparent Trade in Process? appeared first on Modera.

This time we’re taking a look at how implementing our car dealership CRM software enabled Auto-Impex to to make their salespeople work more efficiently, whilst improving their customer experience and upping their lead conversions and revenue.

It’s time to get your pen and paper, because you’ll want to take notes of this inspiring success story Auto-Impex has enjoyed since adding various Modera solutions to their sales processes.

Quick facts

• Who? Auto-Impex
• What? Car dealer and service provider
• Where? Slovakia
• Service? Sales of Fiat, Nissan, Abarth, GT-R and Iveco vehicles, parts, and accessories. Car repair and maintenance services.

Looking for a few repairs

As many car dealerships, Auto-Impex was struggling to ensure high-quality, time-efficient processes in the ever-changing fast-paced market. Taking care of a number of leads coming in from different channels while drafting accurate and detailed offers was proving to be a challenge, as there was a lack of consistent and synchronized data that would be accessible for all involved parties.

With leads coming in through various platforms and no specific way to evaluate them, there was a definite risk of losing out on valuable conversions, as salespeople were missing an easy and quick way to manage and respond to leads. On average, 8 to 11 offers were sent out on a weekly basis, which was not enough when compared to the amount of incoming leads. Even when those offers went out, there was a risk this offer wouldn’t be communicated to all salespeople and the customer might end up with mixed information regarding the price of the vehicle.

Another challenge Auto-Impex was facing was the ability to have an accurate real-time overview of the stock. The made things more difficult for the salespeople who were lacking a unison platform where they could find trustworthy information regarding the inventory.

It was clear some changes needed to happen at Auto-Impex in order to analyse the ongoing sales processes, receive an accurate overview of sales and service activities, point out and fix any bottlenecks in the system and thus increase the efficiency and revenue of the dealership.

An anticipated upgrade

Auto-Impex realized they needed a high-quality CRM system to be able to take care of the incoming leads, deal with them in a timely and structured manner, and get on top of the sales process to start improving it. They knew a one-size-fits-all kid of solution was not for them, since they were looking for a more car dealership oriented system.

After some deliberation, they decided to give Modera Software a go, as it was created specifically for the automotive industry. It seemed like a perfect match, because Modera offered solutions to cover all of their needs – manage leads, synchronize data, analyse the efficiency of salespeople and processes, as well as help draft offers with ease. Not only was the system a big upgrade for the salespeople and the dealership as a whole, it was guaranteed to create a more transparent and user-friendly customer experience as well.

Auto-Impex decided to implement the Modera Salesfront and Trade-In solutions to their dealership processes.

Multiplying offers and increasing revenue

According to Peter Hron, Managing Director at Auto-Impex, it didn’t take long to see the significant improvements implementing the Modera solutions brought about.

The salespeople were making the most of the functionalities of the new system. Thanks to the possibility to easily create template-based, professional looking offers while keeping a consistent brand voice throughout client communications, the Auto-Impex sales team was able to increase the number of offers from 8-11 offers per week to 40 offers. They were able to cut the time spent on drafting offers by 90%, making it easier and more convenient to respond to many more incoming leads and thus increasing conversions.

It didn’t take long to see the significant improvements implementing the Modera solutions brought about

Peter Hron

With predefined templates displaying ongoing offers and promotions, salespeople no longer needed to worry about adding that information to their offers. Meanwhile, customers were notified of these promotions on accessories, services, maintenance etc. which resulted in Auto-Impex increasing their average income from 4% up to 10% and upping the sales of accessories by 38%.

An important aspect for the company was the ability to not only lose incoming leads, but also be able to prioritize them by quality and deal with them in a timely manner. With the Salesfront product implementation the sales team was now able to access all leads from different channels on one platform and gained the ability to evaluate the leads by their quality. This made staying on top and responding to high-quality hot leads within a few hours much easier. Auto-Impax was able to multiply their lead conversion rate and create a more satisfying customer experience. On top of that, the ability to evaluate leads gave the dealership a more detailed understanding of how, where and to whom their advertising should be targeted for maximum outcome.

Guaranteed transparency and personalization

One of the main concerns for any dealership is creating a transparent and market-based pricing, while making sure the company is making a profit and salespeople are always aware of any offers made to the customers. With the help of Modera, Auto-Impex was able to set up fixed prices and margins on its stock, guaranteeing the desired profit on vehicles. This turned Auto-Impex to a one-price dealership, ensuring customers they can trust the price they’ve been given. Salespeople were no longer negotiating the price point, but actually selling the car on its values and functionalities.

This also helped take out the manual calculations, guesswork and unnecessary room for errors when it came to drafting offers. Templates provided the salespeople with detailed offers not only on the price of the vehicle, but gave them the chance to communicate the price of accessories, financing and warranty offers and extended service contracts to the customers.

On top of that, Modera platform enables adding real-life photos of cars to each vehicle. These images can then be published on all platforms, making it easy for customers to get a better sense of the car they’re interested in and help build the emotion around the purchase.

What really helped increase the efficiency at Auto-Impex, was the ability to have all information regarding the stock, sales pipelines, offers etc. in one place. There was no longer a need to manually create confusing Excel files leaving a ton of room for errors. Everyone involved with the process from the dealer side could easily access all the necessary information. Even booking and evaluating test drives is easily done online when using Modera products. This provides both the managers and salespeople the feedback on how a test drive went and what aspects of the entire sales process should to be improved on.

Once it’s actually time to close the sale, all the necessary documents are already there, ready to be sent to the customer.

No information lost in translation

As Auto-Impex also offers trade-in service to its customers, it was imperative they found a way to make sure they’re offers were always fair and transparent. With Modera they were able to integrate their systems with third party platforms ready to give honest evaluations for used cars and advise on the relevant prices on the market. This helped build customer trust, as they could be sure they always got a fair offer on their vehicles.

Another aspect that’s helped Auto-Impex build an effective system that both the customers and the salespeople an trust, is the synchronizing between platforms that’s enabled by Modera. Once a car is sold, it is automatically taken down from all sites that advertised said vehicle. This helps avoid any misinformed communication and salespeople can save time, as they know all the stock information available to them is always correct and up to date.

According to Peter Hron, Auto-Impex has truly enjoyed significant improvements on all fronts since implementing the Modera Software solutions. The sales team is working more efficiently, being able to send out more offers, while nurturing leads and increasing conversions. The sales process is a structured and automated system that takes away the unnecessary manual work and helps create a quick and trust-worthy customer experience. Auto-Impex has saved money on marketing as it is now more targeted and thus much more efficient.

Auto-Impex has truly enjoyed significant improvements on all fronts since implementing the Modera Software solutions

Peter Hron

Not only has the company enjoyed a much more reliable system, they’ve also been able to icrease their income and revenue and are making the most of all the opportunities Modera solutions have provided them with.

Services implemented in this car dealership CRM case study:

Would you like to enjoy the same kind of smooth and simple sales process? Check out another automotive CRM case study. Here are the elements of car dealership CRM Auto-Impex implemented.

• Modera Webfront
• Modera Salesfront

Contact us now to sign up for a free trial to implement car dealership CRM in your dealership or used car business for free.

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