DealerSocket Reports Significant Growth in Automotive CRM

By Susan J. Campbell

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

DealerSocket, a provider of customer relationship management (CRM) solutions for the automotive industry, is experiencing significant growth. The company was named Best Overall Company in this year’s International Business Awards and the 37th fastest growing company in the U.S. by Deloitte (News - Alert) & Touche.



Now, DealerSocket announced that more than 90 dealerships in the past 90 days have either replaced their existing CRM solution with DealerSocket CRM or have chosen to implement the solution as a first foray into CRM.

 

"We are thrilled that our cost-effective and easy to implement CRM solution is enabling dealerships to quickly address and overcome the many challenges they are facing as a result of the current economic climate," said Jonathan Ord, DealerSocket Co-Founder and CEO, in a Tuesday statement.

 

Ord continued: "Every day, more and more dealers are discovering that utilizing their CRM can greatly reduce their dealership's operating costs, and at the same time, help them quickly increase revenue and ROI by using resources they already have in place. This powerful tool not only ensures that their dealership will survive, but also will continue to thrive and grow during these difficult and changing times."

This growth spurt is not the first for DealerSocket as the company has experienced quarter over quarter growth in both company size and client base since its founding in 2001. The challenge is the turmoil in the housing and financial sectors as it has heavily impacting the retail automotive industry.

As dealers have been struggling to recession-proof their businesses, they have been turning to DealerSocket CRM. The majority of the more than 90 implementations have been replacing existing CRM solutions that the dealer has either outgrown or has found to be ineffective, difficult to use and lacking in functionality.

One dealer making the switch is Charlie Swenson, General Manager of Walser Toyota. Swenson had previously served as general manager of Walser Chrysler Jeep Dodge and volunteered to be test pilot and main driver for Walser’s CRM program.

 

Swenson elected to make the decision to switch from what he called an "ineffective" CRM solution to DealerSocket CRM, although it meant paying for both solutions concurrently for a period of time.

"Navigating through our old CRM was extremely difficult, and their options for accountability tools had too many loopholes to make it effective," Swenson explained, in the Tuesday statement. "When I saw the DealerSocket demo, I was immediately struck by the ease-of use, powerful feature set and high level of accountability the solution offered compared to our old system, and although I was locked into a contract with another CRM provider, I decided it would be well worth it to make the change."

A large number of dealers are reaching out to DealerSocket, including those that are implementing a CRM solution for the first time. A critical factor that is being cited time and again is the accountability or lack thereof in the overall success of their business.

"Our Toyota dealership alone has 1,500 customer inquiries or walk-ins per month. That's 18,000 potential buyers per year who give us all of their information and trust us with that information because they're interested in purchasing a vehicle," said Swenson. “Of that number, 11,000-12,000 don't buy. The question is where do they go? DealerSocket gives me the tool to answer that question and more importantly gives me the ability to get them back to the store."

Customer relationship management has become an important tool for businesses as they are scrambling to capture the consumer dollar in an economy that has taken a significant downturn. While price will be a driving factor, companies must search for ways to appeal to their customer beyond the pocketbook and robust CRM solutions can do just that.

DealerSocket has proven its worth in the automotive CRM area. By focusing on delivering solutions that cater to the specific needs of the dealership, the company can set its own demand and dominate the market.  

Recently, DealerSocket surpassed 25,000 system users, with more than 500 automotive dealerships throughout the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia now leveraging the company's comprehensive CRM solution. Those that made the switch can now optimize and manage marketing activities, sales processes, customer satisfaction and retention, and service department operations.