Manufacturers and retail groups whose dealerships use a number of different dealer management systems (DMS) now have a way to collate information from across each system in one format.

Contact Tracker is a customer relationship management tool from Vital Software that integrates with every DMS with real-time reporting and next-day lead generation.

Already in use by IM Group across most of its 85 Subaru dealerships, Contact Tracker was originally developed in Australia where it is in use by almost 1,000 dealerships and approved by six manufacturers, including Renault, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Ford. It has four modules: prospecting, reporting, marketing and aftersales.

In addition to CRM, Vital can now slice in lead management data in any way to suit the dealership.

“If they want to talk to people with a size nine shoe size, we can give them that information,” said Vital Software director Roger Knight as an example of the degree to which Vital can drill down into the data.

“We can identify who they are and what they came in for – we can even identify how much they have paid on servicing over the past year.”

The system links to a call centre run by Golley Slater. It receives the initial leads, whether by phone, email or at events like a motor show and condenses them down to test drive bookings. Then it is passed onto the appropriate dealer to action. Post test drive, Golley Slater makes the follow-up call, which is repeated post sale.

“Dealers can receive hot leads within an hour of them coming in,” said Knight. “At motor shows, for example, leads don’t filter through for weeks – with us it can be within a day.”

IM Group has around 250 dealers (Subaru, Isuzu, Daihatsu) operating up to 30 different DMS. The company used to depend on dealers telling them what was happening; now they can integrate into every DMS for the consolidated view.

“They can recognise trends, see where the sales are increasing or falling and understand why,” said Knight.
Dealers can pull out data, for example finding all Impreza owners who bought their cars within the past 18 months. They can open individual records or do a mail merge for promotions.

“At least 60% of dealers couldn’t pull out this level of information,” he claimed. “Some of the IM dealers are also using our system for their other franchises.”

Contract Tracker prices start at £250 per user per year for up to five users or £2,700 a year for six or more users.