|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Is the
worst of the downturn
Once again it is nearly time to embark on the holiday
season. I hope you share my optimism that 2009 will bring
with it a return of consumer confidence, and a deeper
understanding by our political and business leaders that
there is no room in the future for the excesses of the past.
Auto-I.T. at the AADA Convention
Auto-I.T. recently attended the AADA convention on the Gold Coast where it showcased the latest enhancements to its Dealer Management Systems.
The highlight of Auto-I.T.'s exhibition was the latest technology Web based Dealer Management System products within PMDS™ utilising prototype unwired devices & interfacing into Telstra's Sensis White Pages® database. The unwired devices will provide the latest efficiencies in wireless mobility and the LIVE interface into Sensis White Pages® an "Industry First" tool to validate customer details and achieve an up-to-date client database.
One of the main themes at the convention was new ideas on
customer relationship management and the importance, in
these tough times, of marketing effectively to existing
clients. If you are would like more information about any of
these new technologies please speak to your account manager.
Thank You to all of our clients who came to visit us at our
stand!
Tough Times
Lead to Better Practices
We know that many dealerships are doing it tough and many want to get more from their marketing. We are here to help. Speak to your Account Manager and ask them how our marketing features can help your business.
For example, we have recently signed an ‘industry first’ agreement with Sensis to link our products to the Sensis White Pages® database. If you are going to market to your database it may as well use accurate and up-to-date information. We can also show you how to more effectively use our text messaging and email marketing campaign functions and services.
At the end of the day, if business isn't walking in the door and general advertising is not picking up new customers, then targeting clients that have already used your services and products is probably the way to go.
Auto-IT has and will continue to write all available Factory
Interfaces. Many of these interfaces can assist in making
your business more efficient and effective. Don't miss out
on giving your business a competitive edge! To find out more
about how these interfaces can benefit your business and how
to set these interfaces up please speak to your Account
Manager or Aaran Newman on
anewman@autoit.com.au
or 0418 253 368.
*For more information and pricing please contact your regional Account Manager.
In these tough times its more important than ever to market
effectively to your existing clients within your database! But what
if your database is invalid or out of date? Did you know that
approximately 17% of the population or 4 million people in Australia
change address on a yearly basis. Checking the validity of your
database is impossible without using an external list source and
what better source is there other than Sensis White Pages®?
Download CustomerCheck Brochure
CRM - Top 5
Tips for PMDS™
Users In the service department, retaining the loyalty and patronage of your new and used vehicle owners is a matter of highest priority. There is naturally a fall-off in the retention rate of your service customers as the years elapse, but some innovative marketing and follow-up can minimise the drop-off of profitable retail work.
Many motor dealers are utilising extended warranty products to build into the sale of a vehicle a degree of “obligation” on the customer to return to the selling dealer. The penalty for failing to have the vehicle serviced is the cancellation of the warranty plan or the denial of a claim. There is evidence that an extended warranty program does not achieve its objectives without a well executed follow-up strategy.
There is an often ignored category of service customer that should be receiving the highest level of follow-up and attention, that is your car park of transient owners (customers who did not buy the vehicle from you but have had scheduled servicing or warranty work done at your workshop).
If your dealership has a large proportion of ‘fleet’ sales, it follows on that many of those vehicle deliveries are to fleet management companies or businesses out of your local area. The chances of these vehicles returning to the selling dealer are remote. Conversely, your local community contains many new ‘drivers’ of your franchised vehicles. They will be attracted to your dealership for service, parts and accessories, seeking out your website and ultimately looking for some friendly service. In some cases, the customer may harbour some guilt about not being ‘able’ to buy the vehicle from you but are willing to approach your workshop.
1 - Overdue for service follow up campaign
How do you know that a vehicle is overdue for service? PMDS™ stores a next service date and next service mileage during the termination (close) of every repair order. If service schedules are correctly used, the calculation of this date/mileage is accurately estimated based on the average kilometres the vehicle travels per day and the distance to travel to the next service in the schedule. This date is printed on the customer invoice.
Most dealers send out a ‘next service reminder’ letter. How about those that ignore the letter and do not return? Setup an ‘overdue’ letter in the follow-up control for MailDirect, say 15 days after the next service date has passed. The letter could contain a reference to the first letter, maybe with some extra incentive or offer. Alternatively, the system generated ‘letter’ could be a phone script used to call the unresponsive customer(s) and record their answers. If the customer is not returning to your workshop, it is very important to record the reason and summarise the results for management review.
2 - SMS “Vehicle ready for pickup”
SMS technology has become popular as a messaging tool in service departments, particularly for the purpose of booking reminders. PMDS™ also has a very convenient “ready for pickup” SMS utility built into the RO termination function (in the ‘/W’ options box). Service Advisors can select this option while completing the invoice and type ‘E’ to edit the retrieved message text, then insert the politely worded invoice total on the end of the message.
3 - Get serious about the collection of email addresses
Everyone with an email address will be aware of marketing material arriving to their inbox. Retailers in particular will send colourful documents with special offers and printable vouchers to clients in their ‘club’, ‘account holders’ or just their customer database.
I have found that motor dealers are
simply not ready to attempt to use this marketing medium. Why not? · Sales people are not forced or motivated to ask buyers for their email addresses
·
Service departments are too rushed to ask for email addresses
How do the manufacturers deal with this? They survey buyers post-purchase and get the information from either posted or on-line surveys, the factory can promise to forward safety and recall information but they are also building an accurate marketing database.
4 - Utilise the NO MAIL flag
If a customer has requested to not be contacted for follow-up purposes, they have ‘opted out’ and a NO MAIL flag can be recorded against these customers (field 13 in c.card maintenance). Enter the letter “N” in this field. The MailDirect system will bypass these customers in the compilation of the daily mailing and follow up lists. Likewise the ‘privacy’ flag indicates that the client has requested that other parties (such as the factory) should not receive owner information. Do not use the ’privacy’ flag to indicate ‘no mail’, that is not the purpose of this field. Users of the report generator should ensure that any report formats prepared for the purpose of marketing letters or lists should use dictionaries to exclude no mail selections. The help desk can assist with this if required.
5 - Insert ACTION items into follow-up schedules to prompt follow-up calls for sold vehicles.
An ACTION item is a message to a logged on user, like an email, the message serves as a prompt to take some action as specified in the message, for example, a prompt to phone a new car owner 3 days after delivery. Of course, sales people are expected to perform these tasks but normally the dealer cannot check to see if it is happening, nor record the results of the conversation. The ACTION message requires a response in order to close the ACTION and make it disappear. Managers can use reports to check the responses recorded and see who is not making the required calls. The set-up to initiate ACTIONS is in the vehicle sale follow-up schedules.
This article was submitted by the Business Consulting Unit. The BCU is available to assist any Auto-I.T. customer in exploring options to improve their business by better utilisation of their Dealer Management System. Please speak with your Account Manager or Lucy Kelly in the Sydney office.
Tech Tips
Step 3:
Append the text “@2” at the end of the current text. There
must be a space between the IP address and “@2”. Do not
change your current IP address. In the image below, the
address “192.168.1.1” is for demonstration only.
When printing my Bank Reconciliation, I closed my bank
account by mistake (by entering ‘Y’ at the ‘Do you wish to
close Account No 202 for ACPRD 1403 (Y/N)’ prompt in the
‘Print Bank Reconciliation’ Answer:
To fix this,
and enable further postings to either of these accounts, you
need to do the following:
Auto-I.T. Australia Pty Ltd
|
