CRM - March 2008 - (Page 22)

down to a range of just three to five days. Unfortunately, with so many leads coming in, it’s likely that dealers are “cherry-picking by default,” says Katherine Kress, vice president of practice development and management at leadscoring solution provider Urban Science. As a result, without the ability to differFacing fierce competition from imports and a weakening economy, entiate, dealers are missing the opportuthe automotive industry targets long-term customer satisfaction nity to address very qualified leads. By 1920s,” Fornell says. “When it comes to incorporating lead-scoring technology, he automotive industry is trying to shift gears—again— processing that data, analyzing it, and fig- dealers can handle “urgent,”“priority,” or and this time it’s counting on uring out what it means—I think [that’s] “standard” leads accordingly. While it’s important to get the sale, the having CRM at the wheel. where [the] big challenge is.” According to a study by Capgemini, automotive industry relies on nurturing Over the past few years, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and auto- 80 percent of automotive consumers use the post-sale relationship as well. For motive dealers have been stuck in heavy the Internet as their first stop in the shop- most car companies, a significant portion data traffic without an exit in sight. What ping experience, a change in the market- of revenue comes from maintenance, serthey must do now is put all that data to place. More than one-third of that group vice, and, potentially, future sales. To some extent, General Motors’ use, going beyond the initial sale to reported that they expect a response to engage in a lasting relationship with the their inquiry within four hours. Now, OnStar car-safety device can be viewed customer, a process that requires more with the majority of leads coming from as an important component in automotive CRM, says Dennis than just throwing in a free air freshener. online channels—whether Virag, president of AutoThe industry overall seems to be doing it’s from the OEM, the Eighty percent of motive Consulting Group. well with consumers, reaching a relatively dealer, or a third party’s automotive consumers high index score of 82 on the American site—many companies are use the Internet as their Typically, when customers have a problem, they bring Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) in faced with the challenge of their car in, and the transthe second quarter of 2007; but within responding to the influx. first stop in the action gets recorded. How“Most local dealers don’t shopping experience. the industry, American companies conever, the problem is rarely tinue to lag behind their foreign com- have the time to have a dedpetitors. According to Claes Fornell, icated person sitting at a computer wait- resolved in real time and the informafounder of the ACSI, the systems used by ing for online leads, so the phone call is tion often fails to be registered in order domestic carmakers to measure cus- what’s vital to them,” says Dan Obregon, to proactively address the issue and pretomer satisfaction “have been very prim- marketing communications manager vent future occurrences. OnStar can diitive compared to most other companies for click-to-call/click-to-chat provider agnose a car remotely and suggest a and certainly compared to Japanese and eStara, which attempts to bridge the gap course of action for the owner. In addition, customers want to be in between online and offline channels for European automotive companies.” Fornell points to two underlying fac- companies such as Radiator.com. Once the know—and technology is making tors: the industry’s reliance on short- faced with an average closing rate of this possible. Messages delivered directly term strategic thinking, and its primitive 2 percent to 3 percent, Radiator.com now to cellphones, status updates and history means of measuring and analyzing cus- reports conversion rates of 35 percent reports accessible on company Web sites, tomer satisfaction. In order to capture to 40 percent. Moreover, Obregon says, online payment methods, and email notisales, automotive companies are often sales cycles for customers going through fications are all ways to communicate tempted to launch promotions and pro- Web sites for Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge with the consumer. By staying on top of motional discounts. Unfortunately, such were reduced from a 30-to-45-day range the car’s condition, dealers and OEMs are able to bank on any future opportunities, deals cause customers to demand even DEALER MANAGEMENT and, in turn, earn customer satisfaction. more discounts and lower prices the next TOP SERVICES (DMS) “The searching is important. The buying time around; thus, dealers are stuck proReynolds and Reynolds is important. But the long-term relationviding a price that increasingly fails to VENDORS ADP ship really is the key,” Virag says. “How correlate with rising costs. To make matMANUFACTURERS (OEMs) you continuously monitor and commuters worse, while the automotive indusTOP ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT Oracle’s Siebel nicate and take care of your customer in try is relatively innovative in its means of SAP that long-term ownership period is really capturing consumer data, carmakers are VENDORS Microsoft one of the keys to success.” —Jessica Tsai “still using statistical analysis from the Sources: Automotive Consulting Group and J.D. Power and Associates MARKET FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE Detroit: Driven to Distraction T 2 3 22 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | MARCH 2008 www.destinationCRM.com http://Radiator.com http://Radiator.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - March 2008

CRM - March 2008 Contents Front Office Feedback Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Re-shoring Contact Centers NetSuite’s Sweet Ride Takes Another Turn SaaS X.0? destinationCRM Dashboard Retailers Dream Big Detroit: Driven to Distraction Required Reading The Markets Within the Masses In Search of... Selling CRM to Your Sales Force Quixtar’s Quick Fix Travelocity’s New Traveling Companion Chasing Down First-Call Resolution Governing Better Marketing Secret of My Success Re: Tooling Connect Pint of View

CRM - March 2008

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