Every dealer knows that a CRM is vital to increase sales, organize and monitor the sales team, and ensure that sales processes are followed. A CRM designed for dealerships offers special features that make it even more powerful.
We constantly mention Peter Drucker’s phrase: “What gets measured gets managed.” Successful decisions at the dealership depend on a correct analysis of the current situation. There may be random decisions that fortuitously give positive results, but they are not the result of the most professional decision. For this reason it is important to have analysis tools in both your DMS and CRM.
One of the most popular reports in a CRM is the Sales Funnel. This report indicates the number of potential customers who went from one stage of the sales process to the next, allowing you to see how many opportunities are lost in each stage. In this way we can learn valuable information:
- Stages where a sale is more likely to fall apart
- Salespeople who close fewer sales than their peers, and at what stage do they lose them
- Highly effective stages that can be used to enhance the least effective ones
- Do we generate enough leads? Or are more leads generated than can be effectively managed?
With this information, decisions can be made to refine the sales process and train each salesperson.
However, modern CRMs must also provide tools to analyze the performance of marketing channels. In other words, being able to analyze the stage prior to the sales process, which is the generation of prospects. With this information we can see if:
- Each marketing effort is aimed at the right audience
- Opportunities are being generated with profiles appropriate to what the dealership offers
- How many people do we need to contact to achieve our prospecting objective
- Do we need to change marketing channels to generate more opportunities
- Are sales and marketing teams aligned
The advantages of a CRM are measurable and make a strong case to prove that a CRM is not a cost but an investment. A CRM lets you have an organized, professional sales team that has the tools to take advantage of every sales opportunity and increase the success rate in each contact.
