Chapter 2
Pre-deployment
What to know and what to do to successfully set up your CRM system
Successfully moving to a new CRM system will require work from multiple team members in the dealership, so the first step is to figure out what those departments are and how they need to work together.
PREPARE FOR THE DATA MIGRATION
Your new CRM system needs to be equipped with the right information about your dealership and your customers, so take the time to prepare your data. Dealers typically have two options with how to migrate and set up their data. You can either do it in-house or work with a technology partner (like your solution provider or vendor) to do it for you. Regardless of which route you take, you’ll need to prepare your customer database.
Before migrating your data, take the time to clean up your customer lists by:
- Deleting duplicate customer entries
- Deleting duplicate unit entries
- Removing inactive customers
- Removing inactive units
- Correcting any formatting, spelling, or data inaccuracies
Doing so will not only make the migration process much faster, but it will help you kick things off on the right foot with your new system. Starting fresh can pave the way for smooth and efficient operations going forward.
TRAIN YOUR TEAM
The next step is to train the users who will be using the new solution. If you’re doing things in-house, prepare education modules, determine who will conduct training, and how various individuals should be trained. Bear in mind that you may need to train people differently, depending on their roles.
Another option is to work with your software vendor to train your team for you. Have the solution provider train your in-store managers, and equip them with the knowledge to educate the rest of the team (i.e., sales associates, service team, merchandise managers, etc.).
TEST THE NEW SYSTEM
Testing the new system will provide valuable lessons about how it works, and also allow you to spot issues that need to be addressed prior to deployment. Some of the different ways to test the new system are:
In-house testing: This involves testing the new system in your dealership (but not with actual customers).
“Real world” testing: While transactions can be simulated in-house, it’s still best to test the system with actual customers and sales.
FAQs
Most frequent questions and answers
How can a powersports dealership CRM system help me run my dealership?
Take your customer relationships to the next level.
Your customers and their contact information sit at the heart of a dealership CRM as it’s key to building and maintaining your customer relationships. A motorcycle dealership performance CRM software tool gives you a single place for storing, viewing and recording every email and phone call between your team and your customers. The benefits mean that you can:
- See all your contact information in one place instead of sifting through multiple invoices or spreadsheets
- Track the history of all your communications with every customer
- Store emails, documents and files associated with each customer
- Manage tasks for customers by creating to-do lists and tracking your team’s progress
- Search your contact databases to retrieve the information you need instantly
- Share contact lists with co-workers to ensure that everyone on the team has current information
- Get to know your contacts by storing information about their social media accounts and adding customized tags and fields for additional data
- Use your contact lists to create email marketing campaigns easily
- Categorize contacts for more segmented marketing
- See all interactions with contacts at a glance
Is a dealership CRM system hard to use?
Traditional CRM systems were often tied to a DMS and required extensive training. Since Dealership CRM integrates with the apps you’re already using and because it’s built on the same technology it’s really simple to use. Dealership CRM features simple tools and easy-to-use interfaces to help your team become more efficient and productive every time they use it.
With prompts that show what action to take next, even if you’re not a technology expert, you can learn to use this system in minutes.
Can a dealership CRM system be used remotely?
Because Dealership CRM is entirely cloud-based which means you can use it on any device with an internet connection.
You can be confident that all your dealership’s data is stored safely in the cloud, meaning you and your team can work seamlessly together.
How does a dealership CRM system help my customer service manager?
Successful Powersports dealerships are increasingly using CRM tools to improve their customer service. For example a CRM tool can:
- Anticipate your customer’s needs based on historical information collected from customer interactions
- Shorten customer wait time by making all of the customer data available to your team
- Identify opportunities to win back customers at risk of churn
- Provide customized assistance to customers based on their sales data
- Improve service delivery by collecting feedback from customers and analyzing trends
How does a dealership CRM system help my sales manager?
You can give your sales team a pipeline to maximise their revenue. Using Dealership CRM you will be able to:
View all unit sales opportunities at a glance
Compare the performance of each individual sales representative in your dealership
Identify the sales activities that have the biggest impact on sales conversions in your dealership, so you can do more of them
Track key performance indicators to identify areas for improvement and optimize performance of your sales team
More accurately forecast future revenue
Set realistic dealership growth targets
Prioritize high-value customer opportunities
Identify where a prospect is in your sales cycle and what needs to be done next to move them along
Compare sales activity with revenue projections to see if more prospecting efforts are required to meet quotas
Identify your dealership’s top-performing sales reps and match them to your hottest sales opportunities
Track history of sales contacts, including notes, emails and attached documents
How does a dealership CRM system help my marketing manager?
When dealership marketing teams use CRM data, it performs many useful functions for the dealership:
- Allows your team to send targetted offers for specific parts and accessories to customers who have bought a specific make and model unit from you
- Enables your team to automatically send service reminders by text or email
- Segments your prospects and customers to help identify which groups are most likely to buy a certain product in the future
- Allows marketers to deliver personalized newsletters based on a customer’s individual data, improving conversion rates of marketing campaigns
- Analyze the success of marketing efforts to replicate high-performing campaigns and avoid repeating wasteful campaigns
How does a dealership CRM system help my service manager?
Using Dealership CRM can keep your service bays full and your technician proficiency high. A CRM tool can automate many of the tasks performed by your service manager. For example:
- Automatically send text and email appointment reminders customised with the customer’s unit make and model to eliminiate missed appointments
- Send annual roadworthy inspection reminders to keep your existing customers coming back every year
- Check-in customers and take photos of their unit when they arrive