Speaking at this week’s Motor Trader Summit, Karl Davis, managing director of Coachworks Consulting, said some dealers are losing vehicle sales and aftersales work by not fully utilising IT systems they already have in their facilities. “Digital utilisation in the dealer sector requires a major shake-up if an acceptable return on the digital investment is ever going to be achieved. “In a tight market some dealers are unnecessarily losing sales because they do not have simple processes to capture sufficient customer data in the first place or keep it updated and this is hitting their profitability. Davis said he frequently found that under-performing dealers do not have accurate showroom logs of customer enquiries whether they’re online, telephone or physical. “It’s outrageous that dealers are investing large sums in sophisticated dealer management systems (DMS) and software, which have significant ongoing costs, but are failing to use these tools to generate sales. “Keeping accurate customer records up to date requires no skill whatsoever but it does require management discipline and processes,” he said. Davis cited recent research by 360 CRM which found 80% conversion rates were being achieved by dealers capturing and maintaining 90% or more of key customer data; compared with just 20% for those who had less than 70% of the relevant customer data. “We are seeing too much reliance on guesswork in the sales process, often because staff have not been properly trained to use digital tools and remain ignorant of how they can help them in their work…. [Read full story]
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