7 Time-Saving Tools Every Dealership Should Be Using
Get more done in less time with these seven time-saving dealership tools every dealership needs. See how these simple solutions can boost your team’s productivity.
Time is money, and if dealership tools aren’t saving your team time, they are losing money hand over fist. Dealership operations must be streamlined to be efficient and stay competitive. Time-saving tools can boost productivity, enhance the customer experience, optimize employee performance, and keep your business ahead.
We have outlined seven essential tools every dealership should consider to save time and money – and win business!
1. An Equity Mining Tool
Equity mining platforms consolidate customer data, including purchase history, loan terms, and service records, giving sales teams quick access to a customer’s full profile in one location. These platforms also analyze data to identify customers with positive equity in their vehicles or nearing the end of a lease or financing term. They bring those high-quality sales prospects to the surface – allowing for faster, more effective decision-making based on data insights.
Prioritizing leads and sending automated follow-up messages to customers based on their equity status and sales potential ensures timely communication without requiring salespeople to manage reminders, reducing the need for manual scheduling.
Equity mining data also helps dealerships anticipate demand for specific vehicles based on customer upgrade potential. This minimizes time spent on manual forecasting and ensures that high-demand vehicles are in stock and ready for customers.
2. Proactive AI Assistants
AI assistants act as helpers that streamline operations and enhance the customer experience. By instantly answering routine questions, chatbots ensure quicker responses, save staff and customers time, and improve overall satisfaction.
They can handle common customer inquiries around the clock, reducing the volume of calls and emails that sales teams need to handle. Automated follow-up messages via email, SMS, or chat can be sent at optimal times, keeping customers engaged and freeing up sales staff to focus on prospects further along in the buying process.
AI assistants have the potential to automatically schedule and confirm appointments based on customer preferences and team availability, eliminating back-and-forth communication and reducing scheduling conflicts. Reminders and follow-ups are also automated, reducing no-shows and ensuring the team is fully prepared for each appointment, saving time and energy.
3. Workflows and Task Assignments
Dealership workflow software that triggers follow-up actions reducing the need for manual tracking and follow-up, can significantly enhance efficiency and save time across departments.
Workflow software enables seamless handoffs between departments, automatically notifying the next person or team when they are needed. This reduces the time spent coordinating between departments and minimizes errors or delays.
Real-time task tracking and reporting features allow managers to monitor process status, helping them quickly spot and address bottlenecks. This eliminates the time spent manually tracking task progress or gathering status updates, keeping the team productive and responsive to customer needs.
AI for dealerships, infused with automated workflows, also prevents tasks from duplicating or overlooked, minimizing the time spent correcting errors or clarifying responsibilities.
4. Dealership Marketing Software
Through targeted campaigns, dealership marketing software can segment customers based on their purchase history, demographics, service needs, etc., enhancing the dealership’s ability to attract, engage, and retain customers while saving time and increasing efficiency.
Dealership marketing tools allow campaigns to run across multiple channels—including email, social media, SMS, and digital ads—under a single platform, which saves time and simplifies campaign management.
It also provides in-depth analytics on campaign performance, offering valuable insights that guide marketing strategy. This automation saves staff time by allowing dealerships to quickly adapt their marketing tactics based on what’s working and what’s not.
5. Service Lead Management
By streamlining appointments, automating communications, and integrating key data, service lead management software saves time across the dealership’s service department.
be where your customers are -the service drive
CUSTOMER ENTERS THE SERVICE DRIVE
ALL CUSTOMER DATA IS COMPILED
ALERTS YOUR TEAM WITH RELEVANT INFO
SALES PRESENTS A CUSTOMIZED OFFER
It allows customers to book appointments online, reducing the need for calls and emails. This enables service advisors to assist in-person customers. It also saves time by sending reminders, confirmations, follow-ups, targeted promotions, and recall notices to existing customers due for maintenance.
Real-time task tracking and reporting features allow managers to monitor process status, helping them quickly spot and address bottlenecks. This eliminates the time spent manually tracking task progress or gathering status updates, keeping the team productive and responsive to customer needs.
It also enables the service and sales departments to share customer data, allowing sales teams to identify potential upgrades or trade-in opportunities. This saves time for both teams without duplicating efforts.
6. Reputation Management Software
Dealership reputation management monitors online reviews and allows dealerships to respond promptly and professionally. This saves them time while enhancing their online reputation and customer trust.
It tracks reviews across major platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook and consolidates them into a single dashboard, eliminating the need to check multiple sites manually. This saves time while allowing the dealership to respond to reviews quickly and in real-time.
Reputation management platforms often include response templates for both positive and negative reviews. These templates allow staff to quickly craft professional, consistent replies, saving employees time and adding a personalized touch.
Step 1: Survey automatically sent post-appointment.
Step 2: Customer responds to a one-click survey via email or text.
Step 3: Positive reviews go public; negative reviews go to a private site with team notifications.
Step 4: Access customer review history from the deal sheet.
It can automate requesting reviews from satisfied customers after service appointments or vehicle purchases. This automation encourages more positive reviews and reduces the time spent manually contacting customers, improving the dealership’s online presence.
7. Geolocation Software for Dealerships
Geolocation helps target potential customers based on their physical location, enhancing marketing and outreach efforts. It can automatically identify customers within specific geographic areas and reach out with service reminders, recall notices, or special promotions. Dealerships can also run highly targeted ads to potential customers within a specific radius who are more likely to visit the dealership. This precise targeting minimizes time spent on broad or ineffective campaigns.
Geolocation tools can also help dealerships determine prime locations for community events by tracking the effectiveness of localized marketing campaigns and showing which areas generate the most leads. This allows dealerships to adjust their strategies based on location data and reduces time spent analyzing broader campaigns.
A time-saving dealership will incorporate dealership tools to simplify lead management, streamline communication, and provide valuable insights to close deals faster. Advanced automotive CRM software can help your sales team track leads, manage follow-ups, and provide personalized service by centralizing customer data. This makes it quick and easy for sales, service, and support teams to access the data they need to perform the actions that get them closer to closing a deal faster.
