The automotive industry is one of the most competitive business sectors. If you want your auto business or car dealership to thrive in 2024, you need an all-encompassing automotive CRM (customer relationship management) system. Auto CRM software offers features tailored to independent dealerships and franchises. These systems also work well for OEMs.
In addition to inventory management, CRM systems can help you with lead management, store customer data, and enhance the entire customer experience. It can improve workflows via integration with third-party applications. Moreover, this groundbreaking technology comes at a cost that fits your budget and is scalable to grow with your business needs.
What’s An Automotive CRM?
So, what exactly is an automotive CRM? Automotive CRMs are digital platforms designed for car owners. These software solutions maintain car customer profiles, track interactions, and analyze consumer behavior. A CRM for car dealers helps an auto dealer manage leads, sales, and service bookings on one platform. These systems allow an in-depth overview of car dealers’ success and can provide improvement suggestions.
Top 10 Automotive CRM Systems
Discovering the most effective CRM tools for your auto business can seem like finding a needle in a digital haystack. But do not worry—we have done the hard work for you. We combed countless software solutions and found 10 of the best CRM tools designed to elevate auto businesses like yours. Below, we have highlighted what makes these tools special and why we at Podium recommend them for the auto industry.
1. HubSpot CRM
HubSpot CRM is an all-in-one platform with a full suite of marketing, sales, customer service, and contact management tools. It comes with free tools for live chat, team email, bots, and a universal inbox. With these features, your auto business can deliver consistent and personalized messages regardless of a customer’s interaction point.
HubSpot automatically collects leads, syncing them with the built-in HubSpot Contacts. This fantastic feature allows you to reach out to prospects down the line, even if they do not close the deal the first time.
We recommend HubSpot CRM for your auto business because it is designed to scale with your needs. It is a great tool that starts with free service and expands to offer more sophisticated options as your business grows. However, remember that the contracts are not flexible.
2. Podium Inbox
When it comes to online reputation and customer interactions, Podium Inbox is a game-changer. This tool allows you to manage and respond to every message from a single inbox, no matter where it comes from—Google, Facebook, text message, you name it—it is all there.
For auto businesses, this is invaluable. Podium Inbox makes it easy to ensure all your customer messages get timely replies and that no opportunity passes by unnoticed. This means responding to leads within five minutes or less. And, because you are connecting to leads and customers faster, you are making the best possible impression. Plus, having everything in one place saves time and streamlines communication. You will get more done in less time and build your customer base in one go.
3. Salesforce
Salesforce is one of the most robust and customizable CRM systems available today. It offers contact management, opportunity management, customizable reports and dashboards, mobile access and interface, and email integration.
For auto businesses, Salesforce is a great choice due to its scalability. Small businesses can utilize its basic solutions, while larger-scale operations can tap into advanced tools for a more comprehensive CRM solution. This dealership CRM also comes with an AI bot called Einstein, which answers questions about business performance. The platform easily integrates with Slack and provides AI-powered recommendations about site design.
The only con associated with this system is that the pricing tiers are not always transparent.
4. Zoho CRM
A product of Zoho’s extensive suite of software solutions, Zoho CRM provides features including lead and contact management, sales pipeline management, and purchase control. It is accessible wherever you are, making it a great mobile solution.
Zoho dictates the flow of new leads to your sales team. This means new customers get directed to experienced sales agents, and existing customers can connect with the agent they worked with before. The Zoho auto dealership CRM also offers a feature called Scoring Rules. This tool notifies you whether it is worth pursuing a lead or whether the lead is dead.
We recommend Zoho CRM for auto businesses because it specializes in catering to small to mid-sized businesses. It offers an excellent balance between functionality and cost-effectiveness for businesses in the auto industry. However, these features will not benefit your auto dealership overnight because this system includes a steep learning curve. This means your sales agents will take a couple of weeks to learn and get used to how it works.
5. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is an amalgamation of email marketing, sales automation, and CRM tools designed to help your business grow. Its sales automation features free your team to focus on important tasks by automating manual follow-up tasks. You can use this system to send marketing emails to around 250,000 contacts per month. You can even run SMS campaigns, and when you use the free trial option, you do not have to enter credit card details.
We particularly favor ActiveCampaign for the auto industry. Its automation of routine tasks enables your sales team to focus on fostering strong, meaningful customer relationships. However, bear in mind that the free trial comes with a 100-contact and 100-email limit. Its entry-level plan does not offer many integrations, and the platform does not have a stock image library.
6. Streak
Streak is a CRM built directly into your Gmail. With options to categorize emails, track customer progress, and add tasks, Streak helps keep everything organized without needing a separate platform. It even helps auto businesses with customer onboarding, making it one of the best dealership CRMs for lead follow-ups and personalized email blasts.
Streak’s core value lies in its convenience. For auto businesses that are heavily email-dependent, having CRM characteristics within your email can help improve efficiency. Since most dealers already use Gmail, they do not have to switch tabs or open different software. Streak is ready and waiting within the Gmail inbox.
It is worth noting that there have been some hiccups with Streak’s customer service responses to technical issues. And the color coding feature for emails seems to lack a bit of streamlining.
7. Agile CRM
Agile CRM is an all-in-one CRM with sales, marketing automation, and service features. With Agile CRM, your auto business can stock customer interactions, deals, tasks, and notes in a centralized system. This car dealership CRM offers a powerful dashboard with an all-in-one features solution. It processes heavy data with ease without losing speed.
Agile CRM’s comprehensive features ensure that every part of your customer journey is well-covered. This means less scrambling for your team and a smoother customer experience. Please note that there have been complaints about subscription fees not being refunded after cancellation. There have also been complaints about landing page technical difficulties that lead to a loss in advertising.
8. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM designed to streamline your sales process and get leads converted to customers faster. It gives you full visibility into your sales pipeline and assists you in managing deals from one place.
We recommend Pipedrive for its sales-focused structure. If your auto business maintains an aggressive sales approach, this could be the CRM for you. To that end, Pipedrive has a ‘Deal Rotting’ tool that lets you know when a deal has stalled for too long. This allows you to follow up with leads and convert more sales. Just keep in mind that all of Pipedrive’s features are centered on CRM and do not offer extras like project management tools or multiple views.
9. Insightly
Insightly is a CRM aimed at growing businesses. Its CRM functionalities expand with features for marketing, project management, and business intelligence. This cloud-based CRM helps teams collaborate and includes a mass emailing function on lower-tier plans. The tool is accessible on the web and mobile, and the system automates all workflows, email communication, and tasks on top tiers.
Insightly is perfect for growing auto businesses that need more than just CRM. Its extended capabilities make it a worthwhile investment for comprehensive business operation needs. However, the free plan does not offer a lot of storage, and the built-in dialer and call routing the system offers are only available as a paid add-on.
10. Podium Webchat
With Podium Webchat, you can turn website visitors into customers by answering questions quickly and enabling smooth scheduling. It integrates seamlessly with your website, maintains your branding, and sends all chats straight to a streamlined inbox. Podium Webchat transforms your website into a conversation starter!
We highly endorse Podium Webchat for auto businesses. It enables immediate follow-up, a critical feature in quickly converting online leads into vehicle sales. You can generate up to 11x more inbound leads, and the texting feature allows you to keep talking to prospects after they leave your website. This way, Podium helps you collect quality and quantity leads to grow your auto business.
5 Benefits of Using Automotive CRM
There are several benefits to using automotive CRM in your dealership. These include the following:
Responding to New Leads Fast
If you respond to a new lead within an hour, you are seven times more likely to convert them. Dealership CRMs often come with auto-reply features, allowing you to respond to inquiries instantly and increasing the chance of a sale.
Organizing Your Team
An automotive CRM will help you organize your team members according to sales and performance. You can generate reports on forecasting, quotas, targets, performance, and more.
Organizing Leads
Moreover, you can use a CRM to organize leads from different sources, including website forms, advertising, and walk-ins. You can store them on one platform and save each contact’s conversation history. This allows you to see which channels produce the most leads and conversions.
Staying Compliant
CRMs make it easy to add opt-out features to communications, so your dealership will always comply with the TCPA law.
Optimizing Budget Spend
You can also track your budget spending using a CRM. The CRM will track the highest- and lowest-performing channels (marketing), showing you when and where to make necessary changes.
5 Key Features of an Automotive CRM
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If you want to invest in a CRM for your auto business, look for the following features:
Instant Onboarding
Ideally, you want minimal disruption to your business when introducing a new system. Choose a CRM that is easy to learn and easy to use. It should have a modern interface your sales team wants to work on.
Integration Options With DMS
Choose a system that integrates with your existing DMS (dealer management system). This means your integrated tool should be able to track customer conversions and process and generate reports while also dealing with accounting and inventory management.
Phone and Text Message Options
Ensure that the platform can facilitate phone calls and text messages. It should also route calls to the right salesperson and have the option to automate messages. A good CRM will have built-in templates for common messages and storage for phone call recordings.
Automation
You should be able to automate email replies on the system to save time and improve response turnaround times.
Mobile Accessibility
Also, the CRM should work smoothly on any device, especially mobile devices. Mobile accessibility is crucial for sales agents on the road and those who work from home.
Automotive CRM FAQs
Are automotive CRMs different from regular CRM?
You can use a general CRM in your auto business, but an automotive CRM is tailored to auto dealership needs. This makes it the better option for auto business owners.
Can I integrate a CRM with existing software?
Most automotive CRMs have integration options. So, whether you choose Dealersocket, Elead, Podium, or another CRM, you should be able to integrate the system with your existing software.
Are CRMs secure?
Most CRMs prioritize data security and implement several measures to protect customer and business information.
How long does it take to implement an automotive CRM?
It depends on the type of CRM and the size of a dealership, but generally speaking, it should not take longer than a month to get used to a new CRM.
Does a new automotive CRM mean additional staff training?
Some CRMs are more user-friendly than others, but all systems typically require some training. Depending on how complex the CRM is, training may take between a week and two months to complete.
Get Started
Choosing a CRM tool for your auto business is about finding software that fulfills your distinct needs. Remember, the right CRM tool can make a difference in how efficiently you retain and attract customers. Podium offers tools designed to resolve many of the challenges faced by local businesses, ranging from managing your online reputation to improving communication. Give Podium a try!
