Digitization has triggered a lot of changes in almost every aspect of our everyday life. With all these technologies evolving practically with the speed of light, we cannot already imagine our life without computers, smartphones, or the Internet. Needless to mention that all the things mentioned above have influenced the way we buy and sell things. Gone is the time when the customers were going directly to a shop to buy the thing they need. Nowadays, customers become more and more likely to explore the information about the products and make purchases online. The more important and pricey the purchase is, the longer is the process of weighing up the options and surfing the Internet in search of the most suitable solutions.
The car-buying behavior was not an exception and has dramatically altered as well. Buyers are no longer solely relying on the information provided by the salesperson in a showroom. They browse through a bunch of various websites looking for reviews, watching videos that compare various options, and asking friends for advice. What all this means is that the customer journey starts long before they actually enter the car showroom today. Under such circumstances, in order to sell more, car dealers have to start engaging with customers well in advance of the purchase itself.
But how to start building relationships with customers before the purchase?
Automotive CRM software is the solution that will help you to get ahead of the competitors and start selling more. The system will not only automate and streamline industry-specific business processes but also make interactions with customers, dealers, and manufacturers more effective and meaningful. Let’s dive deeper and see what benefits the automotive CRM platform offers.
1. CRM improves lead generation with automation tools
Automotive CRM allows you to capture potential buyers from all the possible channels. It turns your website visitors, social media followers and advertisement clicks into actual lead records within the system. Moreover, the software can further assign them among your sales consultants and automate the creation of follow-up calls and meetings, which reduces the cases of missed leads and as a result missed potential sales.
2. CRM allows providing a personalized sales experience for each customer
CRM systems allow creating individual experiences for your customers. The platform stores not only the history of all communication and interactions with a customer but also tons of useful data about their preferences (the desired brand, color, and characteristics of a vehicle). This information substantially speeds up the process of car selection and puts a customer into the heart of the sales process.
3. CRM simplifies and speeds up test-drive scheduling
Automotive CRM streamlines the test-drive requesting. No matter whether a customer leaves a request on your website or on the portal within your CRM instance, the request will be logged in the system. Then, the customer will receive an auto-reply email with the time and date of the test ride, and this request will be automatically assigned to your sales team.
4. CRM helps to track and optimize marketing performance
The CRM platform arms your marketing team with the data that allows engaging with current and potential customers more effectively. It provides an opportunity to segment your target audience according to their interests, age groups, location, buying preferences, etc. in order to create and send personalized marketing campaigns with individual offers.
5. CRM helps to better understand your business
The software allows you to gain powerful insights into the efficacy of your sales and marketing campaigns. The built-in advanced reporting tools generate accurate revenue forecasts, measure the performance of sales teams, and show the market trends. Such detailed analytics clearly demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of your business and helps to improve sales and marketing strategies.
To sum it all up, automotive CRM software can be compared with the high-quality fuel that accelerates your business performance allowing your company to attain the maximum speed on your highway to success. If you are a car dealer that still relies on the “good old ways to sell”, it’s time to rethink your business strategy and gain a competitive advantage by adopting automotive CRM for your company.