VinSolutions: CRM for Auto Dealerships, Made by Experts

Before you use an automotive CRM, you want assurances.

Above all else, you want to be sure about the people who designed the software. Do they actually know the automotive industry?

With VinSolutions Connect CRM, the answer is definitely yes. 

Take their Vice President of Operations and Site Leader, Tracy Noonan Fred. She’s been in the automotive tech industry for 25 years (she previously worked for XTime).  

Or their Vice President of Sales, Chase Abbott. The Kansas City native spent 7 years working in oversight roles for an automotive group. 

In their own words, the platform enables dealers to “deliver the shopping experience customers expect.”

Connect CRM is built to boost customer relationships. To help dealerships stay competitive at a time when profit margins aren’t massive. To help sell to consumers who are more savvy and knowledgeable than ever. 

Connect CRM

At its core, Connect CRM is about contact management. It provides a single view of the customer. Information across touchpoints is collated into one accessible record.

The idea is to make each and every connection count. Once you’ve built a robust contact database, you can deliver better customer experience. With better experience, you’ll win more customer loyalty.

The platform lets you track and close more deals. Automate follow-up activities. And unify your team’s communications on a single collaboration platform.

Connect CRM links to your inventory lead management (ILM) tool. This lets you send inventory photos and details to customers automatically. 

It also two-way syncs with VinSolutions Connect Desking. 

So you’ll be able to use up-to-date customer records from CRM with your desking tools. 

Access trade-in details, vehicles of interest, and follow-up history. 

Then generate pricing options. And present targeted rebates and special offers to convert more.

If you’re looking for a business boost, you can contact the vendor to get a dedicated Performance Manager. These are auto tech experts with relevant, practical experience in the industry. 

They know how to challenge your team to reach ambitious, yet feasible sales targets. And they’re familiar with using Connect CRM for better performance management.

And yes, the platform is OEM certified. In other words, it’s compliant with automotive manufacturer guidelines. All major manufacturers have certified VinSolutions as a lead handler. 

VinSolutions is also certified by CDK, Reynolds & Reynolds, and other major players in automotive tech. 

It also comes loaded with a powerful artificial intelligence tool. It’s called Connect Automotive Intelligence. 

As the platform builds up data, it gets better at predicting customer behavior. This helps you to provide attentive, individualized customer experience. 

One case study is Mohawk Honda in Upstate NY. The century-old dealership was facing the “good problem” of rapid business growth. As sales grew, it was becoming harder to personalize service.

The solution? Use Connect CRM’s artificial intelligence capabilities to boost customer experience. 

AI helped steer conversations to customer interests. And let agents reach out at the right time with best practice messaging.

The CRM integrates with many, many other third-party dealer tools. This is definitely one of its key strengths. 

For example, you can track leads with the Dealer.com integration. View user activity from first website visit to vehicle sold. Know what else they’ve been looking for, and have more enlightened interactions going forward. 

Or take the CRM’s vAuto Provisions integration. This boosts your ability to better match inventory to customers.

Dealerships

Car shoppers often use the internet to browse selections. Actually, they spend about 60% of their browsing-and-buying time online. 

At the same time, an industry study has found that 90% of customers favor a personalized buying experience. 

What this means is that dealership success is dependent on online strategy. Dealer software solutions have become indispensable. 

Fortunately, VinSolutions Connect CRM integrates with a range of dealership systems.

Integration with Dealertrack DMS syncs contact data and improves all aspects of deal-making.

Combine Autotrader and DMS information to automatically update vehicle ownership information. This will help you avoid sending offers that aren’t relevant.  

VinSolutions Connect CRM also integrates bi-directionally with Autosoft FLEX DMS. 

Marketing Automation

Connect CRM can power marketing too. It connects to VinSolutions products like Connect Campaigns, TargetPro and TargetPro+. 

For example, CRM integration with TargetPro allows you to do equity mining. Find out who might be amenable to a buy-back, or lower monthly payment offers. 

Find new marketing opportunities with customer segmentation. Sort customers by APR, vehicle lease terms, and more. Then personalize your email marketing campaign based on customer profile. 

Put your detailed CRM contact records to work with Connect Campaigns. Set up automated drip campaigns with personalized content based on triggers. Target sub-segments of cash buyers, finance buyers, and lessors. 

Sales Manager 

Connect CRM provides some major benefits for sales managers.

The biggest one is cleaning up data. The app helps get rid of duplicate and out-of-date entries. And it helps you avoid accruing contact information that’s simply inaccurate.

Once you’ve ditched the dirty data, your selling will get smarter. The entire sales cycle will benefit.

Then there’s the platform’s ability to monitor website traffic. This is important, because half of all automotive shoppers look at a dealer’s website before visiting in person.

The VinLens tool built into Connect CRM can track browsing data from individual users. Create a data trail for each customer. Then engage with personalized, profitable sales tactics.

The CRM’s Document Library lets you capture important documents and store them securely. Like consent forms and driver’s licenses. Attach them to contact records for easy access.

Avoid sending loyal customers duplicate communications. Decrease your marketing volume, and concentrate your sales intelligently on high value customers.

Use your CRM with Connect Market Pricing to price competitively. And to appraise vehicles intelligently.

Reporting & Analytics

Connect CRM lets you view detailed metrics at a glance. Generate customizable sales lead reports. And create custom data visualizations. 

Use sentiment analysis to understand customer behavior and intent. Evaluate the engagement strength of a given sales lead. Uncover buying signals from website users.

Connect CRM can be plugged into Connect Automotive Intelligence. This will allow you to automate data analysis for more conversions. 

For example, you can receive notifications when someone is “ready to buy.” Sales agents can then reach out right away to close.

Then there’s the possibility of piping in third-party industry data.

VinSolutions CRM offers data integrations with the Cox Automotive network. This network receives information from about 75% of all vehicle transactions in North America. Needless to say, this opens up many new comparative data insights. 

Website: vinsolutions.com