CIMA Systems Blog

PLEASANTON, Calif. — CIMA Systems, a customer interactive management application serving as an automated business development center for dealerships, has appointed a new chief technology officer.

Named to the post is Christian McCarrick, who was previously vice president of technology at ParkingCarma.

In the new position, McCarrick is responsible for leading technology innovation, application development and working with various clients and CIMA alliances to ensure that CIMA’s system is fully integrated and utilized.

“Christian has an incredible background in technology innovation and development, and we are extremely pleased that he is joining our team,” stated Gary Nixon, president and chief executive officer of CIMA. “As CIMA continues to grow and form new partnerships with OEMs and dealers, Christian will be indispensable in helping to design new solutions and processes to address our clients’ business development needs.”

Prior to his time with ParkingCarma, McCarrick was vice president of technology at EscapeHomes.com and TotalMove.com.

Additionally, McCarrick has led a variety of technology teams, started and sold various start-ups and been honored with several technologically related awards, officials indicated.

For more information, visit www.cimasystems.net.

By Gary Nixon for Dealer Marketing Magazine

Embrace a dealership-wide marketing approach that meets your customers’ needs and allows you to reap the maximum profit from every part of your business.  

We all know the current market situation. A decline in consumer confidence, along with high fuel prices, and the worry that the weakened market could turn into a full blown recession has hit the automotive industry hard.

According to Reuters, auto sales dropped 12 percent in March alone and predictions are that they will continue to decline through the second quarter of this year. Experts counsel that a strong focus on promoting your parts and service business is the way to keep your profits up during this down time. I’d like to offer a different perspective to ensure you focus on your entire dealership.

Although individual promotions for parts and services, vehicles sales, or any other aspect of your dealership are an integral part of your marketing plan, sending communications that promote specific departments to the exclusion of others sets you up for a roller coaster ride. For example, a marketing promotion that only touts a $9.99 oil change may make your service business rise briefly, but it may soon go right back down again, leaving you in a constant state of peaks and valleys, scrambling to come up with even better promotions.

Instead, focus on promoting your entire dealership. This approach gives you room to highlight a particular department, for instance your service department, while still tying in all the services and products you offer that meet the full gamut of customer needs. Marketing your dealership as a whole sets you up for a steady stream of revenue, so your business remains strong even during the most difficult economic conditions.

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