As savvy dealers do, Brandon Walker was looking for ways to save on operational spend. One such area of opportunity he uncovered was to switch CRM providers. While the price was seemingly right, Brandon and his team at Walt Massey Chevy Buick GMC Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram found that all CRMs are, in fact, not created equal. After three months with a different provider, the group reactivated their CRM product suite with DealerSocket, crediting its unique offering as the reason for the decision.
“We were trying to cut costs. We thought we were going to save money by going with the cheaper guy. We already knew this company from a DMS standpoint and, thought ‘hey, a CRM is just a CRM’. Quickly, we realized it was not.”
Brandon Walker, General Manager
Walt Massey Chevy Buick GMC Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
The unforeseen expense of switching
CRMs play many crucial functions inside a dealership. In basic form, they are responsible for providing access to data and insights that help drive activity, performance, and sales. In Brandon’s experience, DealerSocket’s robust and reliable reporting tools are part of what differentiates it from other solutions. “It's hard to make decisions off guesses. You know, in this business now, the profit margins are shrinking so much, you actually have to have real data in front of you,” says Brandon. “With the other provider, we couldn’t really get a firm grasp of where our numbers were. We were making decisions off-the-cuff versus being able to look at the numbers and being able to drill down and figure out where the problem was and how to resolve it.”
“One thing that DealerSocket helps promote is accountability…from the salespeople to finance to BDC and sales management, there's a level of accountability.”
Brandon Walker, General Manager
Walt Massey Chevy Buick GMC Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
As he recounts his experience with different CRM providers, Brandon identifies accountability as a critical success factor. “One thing that DealerSocket helps promote is accountability…from the salespeople to finance to BDC and sales management, there's a level of accountability.” Brandon and his management team use DealerSocket’s Checkout functionality, a process by which sales managers set activity expectations and give each associate a rating based on where they fell against that expectation at the end of each day.
“The Daily Checkout gets the salespeople and sales manager on the same page. Each day. Going over what that one salesperson has in front of them, what they've got lined up for the next day, and how they perform throughout the day,” says Brandon.
For Brandon, creating a culture of accountability extends to everyone that is supporting the Walt Massey group. DealerSocket’s unique insights reporting helps him in promoting that culture. “The Internet ROI reporting is a very important tool for us because it shows what vendors we’re actually getting proven results out of and which ones that we’re not. You know, that gives us an idea of what we want to spend next month on with advertising, what third-party vendors we want to use, and DealerSocket helps make that possible.”
“It's a good way for us not only to see where the customer is at in the buying process – you know, in reminding them where they're at from an equity standpoint - but it also gives us a chance to reconnect with the customer."
Brandon Walker, General Manager
Walt Massey Chevy Buick GMC Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
Back in full swing
After reactivating their DealerSocket CRM suite, Walt Massey Automotive Group regained focus on a collective sales and customer retention strategy. “I think whenever we made the change over to our DMS provider’s CRM tool, there was a change in some of our numbers, a decrease in business. But it seemed like everybody wasn't on the same page. When we made the change back to DealerSocket, we were able to get back on the same page. Left hand knew what the right hand was doing,” says Brandon.
The group uses the CRM’s built-in data mining tool, RevenueRadar®, to drive customer retention. “It's a good way for us not only to see where the customer is at in the buying process – you know, in reminding them where they're at from an equity standpoint - but it also gives us a chance to reconnect with the customer. Currently, we're doing about 15 to 20 sales from RevenueRadar in a good month, so definitely looking for those incremental sales,” says Brandon. “We're really territorial. Once we get a customer, we want to take care of them not only now, not only for one purchase, but later on we want them to be a part of the Walt Massey family and continue to market to them and sell to them down the road.”
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