Auto/Mate and CAR-Research XRM Announce Integration of DMS and CRM Solutions for Auto Dealers
ALBANY, N.Y. – March 18th, 2013 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems, the highest rated dealership management system (DMS) provider, announced today that it has fully integrated with CAR-Research XRM, a single-source CRM solution uniquely branded as; “XRM, Extreme CRM.” For auto dealers using either product, the integration expands the number of vendor choices, while dealers using both systems can benefit from real-time, bi-directional data delivery.
“Our Open/Mate platform makes it easy for vendors to integrate with our DMS at an extremely low cost,” said Mike Esposito, President and CEO of Auto/Mate. “This gives dealers more choices and flexibility when choosing vendors to work with, and allows vendors to keep overall system costs down.”
Prospect information entered into CAR-Research XRM’s CRM is instantly and securely updated in Auto/Mate’s DMS, while any changes made in the DMS, whether in service, parts or accounting, are immediately updated in the CRM. Real-time integration eliminates redundancies compared with data exchanges performed via batch deliveries. Bi-directional data delivery allows for better customer communications in sales and service, helping to build loyalty and revenue opportunities.
“The more vendors integrate with each other, the greater benefits, costs savings and efficiencies dealers can achieve,” said Patrick Kelly, President and COO of CAR-Research XRM. “We’re thrilled to provide our customers with another quality choice when it comes to dealership management system (DMS) vendors.”
CAR-Research XRM’s proven singular solution helps auto dealerships run more effectively and proficiently. It is a web-based, comprehensive CRM solution designed to increase revenue from sales and service, improve customer satisfaction index (CSI), service satisfaction index (SSI), and boost the dealership’s gross profit. A dealership can consolidate all its departments into a manageable solution that delivers value through proven processes at every stage of the customer life cycle.
Earlier this year, both Auto/Mate and CAR-Research XRM received “highest rated” dealer satisfaction awards, determined by the thousands of auto dealers who are part of the DrivingSales.com community. Auto/Mate received the “highest rated” award in the DMS category; while CAR-Research XRM received the highest dealer satisfaction ranking in the Call Management category and “Top Rated” awards in the CRM Sales Department and ILM Category.
About Auto/Mate
Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships. Its Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich dealership management software in use by more than 900 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate offers the best customer service in the industry; the company received top satisfaction rankings in NADA’s most recent DMS provider survey.
Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 300 years of combined experience working in auto dealerships – the foundation of its “designed by car people, for car people” slogan. For more information, visit www.automate.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoMateDMS and subscribe to our blog at http://blog.automate.com
For 18 years and counting, built by car people FOR car people, CAR-Research XRM is the most complete, seamlessly integrated CRM and Marketing Solution in the Industry: Inventory Management, Internet Lead Mgr, Showroom Control, Missed Opportunity Research Call Center, Desking with Push to DMS, BDC Software, Marketing Solution with Email-Texting-Live Calls, Complete Service BDC, DMS and Telephony Integration and more.
For more information visit: www.CARXRM.com or call 800-376-5918.
Changing Your DMS: Step 9
How much training on the new DMS system do your employees need? Mike Esposito, President & CEO of Auto/Mate, shares tips from his experience. To download the FREE ebook, visit www.automate.com
Changing Your DMS: Step 8
Once you've chosen your new DMS vendor, the next step is related to your data. The DMS vendor needs to have access to your current data and know exactly what needs to be transferred. Mike Esposito, President & CEO of Auto/Mate, gives some tips on how to prepare for the install. For more information, download our FREE ebook at www.automate.com
Impressions From NADA 2013
Mike Esposito shares his impressions from NADA 2013 and talks about what dealers were most interested in regarding Auto/Mate's DMS www.automate.com
Overwhelmed by Technology Choices at NADA? Here’s All You Need to Know.
We spoke with hundreds of dealers at the recent NADA Convention & Expo in Orlando. One of the recurring conversations at our booth was that many dealers are overwhelmed by all the technology available. From CRMs to reputation management to implementing new technologies in the service drive, how do you know where to begin? What’s most important? What’s really going to add to your bottom line and what’s going to be a waste of money?
I read a book many years ago that provided what is one of the best answers I’ve ever heard to these questions. In Jim Collins’ “Good to Great…Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t,” he outlines a simple rule for companies regarding technology.
Technology should not be purchased as a solution to something that doesn’t exist. Technology should only be purchased if it will help you improve a process that is already currently in place.
Take CRMs for example. Years ago salespeople used pen and paper as a CRM. They wrote down customers’ names and addresses and notes, they sent out follow up letters, they sent out vehicle purchase anniversary cards and they called customers. Today of course the tools are different; you can swipe a drivers’ license and send out a text or e-mail. But the point is, a CRM isn’t going to do that for you. If your salespeople aren’t currently following process, you could potentially waste thousands of dollars a month on a CRM that isn’t going to help you. Same with a brand new website guaranteed to double your leads: ask yourself how well are you converting your current leads?
Another big theme at NADA was technology in the service drive. There’s a huge demand from dealers for features like mobile solutions and auto dispatch that can improve efficiencies & boost profits. Yet many service departments are not following basic processes that will help customer retention. Here’s one example:
When was the last time you went to a dentist? The day before your appointment you probably received a phone call or e-mail reminder from the dentist. Then, when your cleaning was finished and you went to check out, the assistant said something like, “you’re due back in six months, would you like to schedule your appointment now?”
I would venture to guess that most service departments, despite being eager to implement new technologies, are not doing these two basic customer retention techniques on a consistent basis: appointment reminders and scheduling the next appointment before a customer leaves—yet these two techniques don’t require any technology at all!
So when you are considering which of the new technologies to purchase and implement in your dealership, ask yourself these questions: what are we currently doing? Why isn’t it effective? Is it a process problem, a people problem or a technology problem? If you are 100% certain that your processes are in place, your people are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, and a new technology will make it easier for them and improve results, then by all means, go ahead and buy.
How do you make decisions on whether to purchase new technologies? What was the most interesting or exciting new technology you saw at NADA?
Auto/Mate Receives “Highest Rated” DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Award
Ranked #1 in Dealer Satisfaction, Auto/Mate wins award in the Dealership Management System (DMS) Category
Orlando, FL – February 8th, 2013 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announcedtoday it has received the “Highest Rated” Dealership Management System (DMS) Award in the fourth annual DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards. The award was presented at a special event today in conjunction with the 2013 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention & Expo. Auto/Mate received the highest dealer satisfaction ranking in the DMS category, as determined by the thousands of auto dealers who are part of the DrivingSales.com community.
“At Auto/Mate we strive to provide the most user-friendly, comprehensive DMS system along with the best customer service in the industry, and we’re thrilled that our customers recognize our efforts and gave us a 100% recommended rating,” said Mike Esposito, President and CEO of Auto/Mate.
Auto/Mate’s Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) DMS is currently in use at more than 900 auto retailers nationwide. The system is designed “by car people, for car people,” is flexible to dealerships’ needs and is available in both web-based and in-house server solutions.
“We congratulate Auto/Mate on receiving the ‘Highest Rated’ DMS Award, an accolade we consider to be one of our industry’s highest because it comes directly from dealers,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “With so many hundreds of vendors offering a multitude of products and services, we are proud to help dealers access the vendor information that will help them be more profitable, while also providing the dealer community an opportunity to single out products/services like Auto/Mate who are leading the pack in innovation, performance, and customer service.”
The DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards measure dealer satisfaction with vendor products and services, and are based on cumulative ratings tallied and verified over the calendar year (January – December) at DrivingSales.com Vendor Ratings. DrivingSales.com Vendor Ratings is the industry’s only neutral, comprehensive vendor rating forum featuring real-time peer reviews and honest competitor comparisons, and provides dealerships with important information from actual customers who have hands-on experience using vendor products / solutions in their stores. Each rating is verified as coming from an actual dealership employee.
Full award results are available online at http://dealersatisfactionawards.com/. Award winners are showcased in the Q1 2013 issue of the DrivingSales Dealership Innovation Guide which, in addition to being distributed at the 2013 NADA Convention and Expo, is delivered to every new car dealership nationwide, as well as to the top 100 used car dealerships. For more information on the Dealership Innovation Guide, please visit: http://drivingsalesinnovationguide.com/.
About Auto/Mate
Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships. Its Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich dealership management software in use by more than 900 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate offers the best customer service in the industry; the company received top satisfaction rankings in NADA’s most recent DMS provider survey.
Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 300 years of combined experience working in auto dealerships – the foundation of its “designed by car people, for car people” slogan. For more information, visit www.automate.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoMateDMS and subscribe to our blog at http://blog.automate.com
About DrivingSales
Founded in 2008 and dedicated to the dealer community, DrivingSales is a business intelligence and performance improvement company that delivers unbiased*, profit-building information to make automobile dealers more successful through three distinct channels: DrivingSales Data, DrivingSales University and DrivingSales Media. DrivingSales Data houses the largest database of cross-vendor, dealership performance data in the North American auto industry and provides dealerships with the most statistically accurate performance benchmarks and metrics for their marketing and technology investments. DrivingSalesUniversity is a fully interactive online university that offers advanced profit-building strategies to automotive professionals through hundreds of classes taught by world-leading experts. DrivingSales Media connects dealers to peers and information through its global media assets, including DrivingSales.com, the world’s largest automotive social network; The DealershipInnovationGuide, an industry leading quarterly publication; DrivingSalesExecutiveSummit, the top automotive conference for progressive dealers, and DrivingSalesTV, Web TV covering everything car-dealer related. Approximately one in every three dealerships in the United States has a registered member in the DrivingSales community.
*Vendor Neutral Policy: Dedicated solely to making dealerships more profitable, while also providing benefit to automakers and the industry as a whole, DrivingSales adheres to a strict vendor neutral policy through each of its channels. This means the company only provides unbiased information, not ‘pay-to-play’ follow up services -- and never accepts payment in exchange for media coverage or lets potential advertisers dictate messaging or create bias in any of its channels.
Rowe Ford Service Department Transitions to Auto Dispatch with Auto/Mate’s DMS, Improving Tech Productivity & Warranty Submissions
ALBANY, N.Y. – February 5th, 2013 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announcedtoday that Rowe Ford in Westbrook, Maine has successfully transitioned to auto dispatching in its service department since switching to Auto/Mate’s dealership management system (DMS) in November of 2012. Since implementing auto dispatch, the service department has realized improved service tech productivity and a greater volume of warranty submissions.
Service Director Dave Auspland oversees the dealership’s fixed ops department, which includes a commercial shop, body shop, main service shop, a quick lane and a retail re-conditioning department. With 38 technicians and more than 3,500 Repair Orders (RO’s) per month, Auspland was eager to transition to a fully automated dispatching solution.
“Our previous legacy DMS provider had a hybrid solution that didn’t allow us to specialize like we can with Auto/Mate’s system, and it required heavy modification to make it work,” said Auspland.
One of the biggest drawbacks of the previous DMS dispatch system was that the service director and shop foreman didn’t have complete control over what their technicians could view. The techs could search for open ROs, assign themselves to jobs and view what other techs were working on.
Auto/Mate’s auto dispatch system allows skill codes to be assigned to each technician and the computer system assigns the techs to each job based on their skill codes, who’s available and when the car is promised. Techs no longer have the ability to assign themselves to jobs and can only see RO’s that include their skill sets.
Auto dispatching increases service department efficiency by freeing up a manager’s time that was previously spent figuring out who is available to work, balancing work loads and monitoring progress on the various jobs. For Rowe Ford, it has also improved warranty submissions and repair times. “For warranty submissions Ford requires certain jobs to be done by certified techs,” said Auspland. The auto dispatching system eliminates situations when techs assign themselves to work they are not qualified for, thus increasing the shop’s warranty reimbursements.
Auspland relies on the route sheet in Auto/Mate’s Service Front End System. The electronic route sheet displays the status of all jobs in one easy to understand, color-coded screen. “I can look at the whole store and see the status of all repairs, how many waiters we have, if we’re giving customers accurate promise times and living up to them, when a vehicle will be finished, and so much more,” said Auspland.
Though the transition to Auto/Mate’s auto dispatch system is relatively recent, Auspland can already see the benefits. “Writing an RO is twice as fast, putting a customer into the system is twice as fast,” he says. “It’s still early but I can see more potential and I would never go back to a hybrid solution.”
To see a demonstration of Auto/Mate’s Auto Dispatch solution, stop by Booth #333 at the NADA Convention & Expo in Orlando, FL from February 8th – 11th. Make an appointment at www.automate.com/nada or call 877-340-2677.
About Auto/Mate
Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships. Its Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich dealership management software in use by more than 900 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate offers the best customer service in the industry; the company received top satisfaction rankings in NADA’s most recent DMS provider survey.
Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 300 years of combined experience working in auto dealerships – the foundation of its “designed by car people, for car people” slogan. For more information, visit www.automate.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoMateDMS and subscribe to our blog at http://blog.automate.com
For more information, contact:
Holly Forsberg Mike Esposito
Carter West Public Relations Auto/Mate Dealership Systems
602-680-8960 518-371–4331
holly.forsberg@yahoo.com mesposito@automate.com
Auto/Mate Announces Mobile Solution for Service Departments, Improving Efficiencies & Profits in Dealerships’ Fixed Ops
ALBANY, N.Y. – February 4, 2013 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announced today it has launched a mobile service department solution for its auto dealership clients. Currently available for windows-based tablets, the mobile solution enables service advisors to view the DMS service module information and conduct the service write-up process “on the go.” Auto/Mate’s mobile solution for service departments is designed to improve customer relations and increase productivity, adding profits to the fixed ops bottom line.
“With the average age of vehicles on the road increasing, dealerships are becoming more focused on customer pay revenue,” said Mike Esposito, President and CEO of Auto/Mate. “Mobile solutions allow service advisors to spend more time interacting with customers during the greet and write-up process, building trust and paving the way for a better upsell process.”
With Auto/Mate’s mobile solution, service advisors can use a windows-based tablet to greet customers at their vehicle, view information such as vehicle history and easily convert appointments into RO’s. This creates more time for the service advisor to do a walk-around of the customer’s vehicle, improving efficiencies and customer satisfaction.
All data entered into the tablet are automatically updated in Auto/Mate’s DMS in real time, and any updates made in the DMS also appear instantly on the tablet.
For more information, visit Booth #333 at the NADA Convention & Expo in Orlando, FL from February 8th – 11th.
Make an appointment at www.automate.com/nada or call 877-340-2677.
About Auto/Mate
Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships. Its Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich dealership management software in use by more than 900 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate offers the best customer service in the industry; the company received top satisfaction rankings in NADA’s most recent DMS provider survey.
Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 300 years of combined experience working in auto dealerships – the foundation of its “designed by car people, for car people” slogan. For more information, visit www.automate.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoMateDMS and subscribe to our blog at http://blog.automate.com
Auto/Mate Announces Integration with 700Credit, Providing Auto Dealers With Complete Access to Credit Services
ALBANY, N.Y. – January 30, 2013 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announcedtoday that its AMPS Dealership Management System (DMS) is fully integrated with 700Credit, the automotive industry’s leading provider of consumer credit reporting and compliance products. Auto dealerships using AMPS now have complete, seamless access to 700Credit’s web-based credit reporting system and its numerous compliance and consumer information products.
“Having a fully integrated solution enables dealerships to instantly send and receive credit data, saving time and allowing them to service their customers more efficiently,” said Mike Esposito, President and CEO of Auto/Mate. “Additionally, access to 700Credit’s compliance solutions helps dealers to stay compliant with the growing number of regulations, and to avoid costly mistakes.”
700Credit offers a variety of credit reporting services including credit reports and FICO scores; compliance solutions including Adverse Action, OFAC terrorist screening, Score Disclosure, Fraud Detection and “RedFlag” identity theft program requirements.
“The integration with Auto/Mate’s DMS gives more than 900 dealerships complete, instant access to our credit reporting and compliance solutions,” said Ken Hill, Managing Director with 700Credit. “In today’s market the ability to save time and not have to worry about the legal ramifications of various regulations brings dealers’ peace of mind while increasing profitability.”
For more information, call Auto/Mate at 518-371-4331 or visit us at Booth #330 at NADA Convention & Expo in Orlando, FL.
About 700Credit
700Credit is the automotive industry's leading solution for credit reporting and compliance products and services. Products and services offered include credit reports, OFAC compliance, adverse action, fraud detection, score disclosure, online credit applications and more. 700Credit exists to provide its clients with the highest quality data in the most time efficient manner possible. For more information, visit: www.700credit.com.
About Auto/Mate
Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships. Its Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich dealership management software in use by more than 900 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate offers the best customer service in the industry; the company received top satisfaction rankings in NADA’s most recent DMS provider survey.
Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 300 years of combined experience working in auto dealerships – the foundation of its “designed by car people, for car people” slogan. For more information, visit www.automate.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoMateDMS and subscribe to our blog at http://blog.automate.com
Changing Your DMS: Step 7
It's time to choose your new DMS vendor! It may not be as exciting as buying a new 60" HDTV, but Mike Esposito tells you what you need to ask before you make the transition. Questions? Come visit us at booth #333 at NADA Convention & Expo. www.AutoMate.com
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