Being a Car Dealership Consumer

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of being a normal consumer. My partner's mother was looking to buy a new car.

The "Good News Mailer"

She had received a Good News mailer from the dealer who sold and has serviced her car from new, inviting her to an event. There was a link to make a booking to come in, which she duly did. I accompanied, less interested in the cars, and more interested in the processes. The dealer was not a customer of mine, so it's always useful to compare and contrast.

The receptionist confirmed we had an appointment to see the Sales Exec when we arrived and we waited a short time before he came to great us, we went to sit at his desk.

Step 1 - The CRM System

He started by collecting some information, and opened his CRM system to create an opportunity. He couldn't find us in the system so had to type in the details as a "New" customer - apparently the details would likely have been in the Service system but the CRM system was separate. The CRM system asked for the source of enquiry which he randomly selected from the list rather than responding that it was an online booking, made from the event mailing.

Step 2 - The Compliance System

We then went through the initial Compliance. This was on another system, and this required the customer details to be re-typed in (he had written them on a notepad) and then the basic compliance information gone through.

Meanwhile, my partner and her mother had been reviewing a car in the showroom, and had decided that this was the one that they wanted to potentially buy. In the meantime, the Sales Exec has been out to review our Part Exchange. An appraisal form was printed out for this purpose.

Step 3 - The Quotations System

We needed a quotation. So, yet another system was opened up on the computer - this was the brand supplied new vehicle configurator. To print a quotation out, our details had to be re-entered again!

Some further refinement later, it was decided that we would buy the car. The Sales Exec said he would ask a colleague to raise the sales order. This arrived a few minutes later, and was from the Brand supplied system. This will need entering back into the DMS later (I asked the Sales Exec😉 )

Step 4 - The DMS System

Finally, we needed to pay a deposit. This was in the DMS system, and required the Sales Exec to find the customer record (which was there as of course, we were an existing customer) and then post the receipt for the money taken.

Looking at all the systems in use (I won't name them), they were all up to date - probably installed in the past 5 years. However, none of them were integrated with the other. The Sales Executive had several windows open on his PC, and he entered the customer details several times in the process. Even then, the Sales Order wasn't entered into the DMS as part of the process - and this will be needed in order to prepare for invoicing, load up the Part exchange record and presumably order the car from the factory.

What could have been better ?

Taking the seat of a consumer and watching this in process, reinforced my mission to provide fully integrated processes. Had these all be integrated then the following advantages would have been there :-

The CRM system would already have had the details of the appointment in - automatically from the online booking. The enquiry source information would automatically have been correct.
Ideally, the CRM system would be part of the DMS or very well integrated, therefore the full customer details, their history and the history of their Part exchange would have been available to the Sales Exec.
The Compliance system would have been integrated into the process, transferring the customer details in, and retrieving the result back into the CRM.
The Sales Quotation and Sales Order would have been created in the DMS/CRM system and therefore not have needed entering again later.

The advantages of doing this would have been massive. The Sales Exec could have spent more time with us rather than tapping details into the computer - his entries would have been consistent and accurate. The reporting and subsequent analysis of lead generation would have been more accurate as well. Customer Satisfaction would have been higher.