For dealerships and busy customers, new software is a blast
27 Jul
| Thursday used to be the slowest day of the week at Marty Cancila Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep in Florissant, Mo.But the store has gained “huge traction” in the service department on Thursdays, says Jason Dorton, the dealership’s fixed-operations director. The surge in business is due to the e-mail blasts he sends to customers every Wednesday morning, using software from CIMA Systems, he says.CIMA, for Customer Interactive Management Application, is a customer contact system that works within a dealership management system. The software automatically pulls vehicle, parts and customer data from the dealership system and uses the information to send marketing and advertising messages to customers by e-mail, text and phone.
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| Faster phonesDorton sees the system as an easy way to reach a lot of customers.”We can only call so many people with four or five people on the phones,” he says. CIMA can dial the dealership’s entire database of 30,000 people in about a day’s time, he says.
Dorton isn’t the only one taking notice of CIMA Systems. Former Chrysler Corp. Chairman Lee Iacocca invested in CIMA after seeing a product demonstration. He joined its advisory board in 2006 and promotes it in advertisements. “Iacocca will play a key role in providing guidance for future CIMA product offerings,” the company said in a news release.
CIMA started operations in 2003. Gary Nixon, CEO and co-founder of the Pleasanton, Calif., company, is a former senior vice president of ADP Dealer Services, a top providers of dealership management systems. Dealers pay a monthly flat fee for the CIMA system. The system lets dealers offer customers the option of scheduling service appointments over the phone or on the Web through a link in an e-mail. CIMA schedules the appointment and sends the customer a reminder the day before. The software can automatically send reminders to customers whose vehicles, according to the dealership management system, are due for service. Customers can choose to get a phone call, text message or e-mail. |
| Paring postageCOO Gary Fentiman of the Phil Long Dealerships in Colorado Springs, Colo., used to contact service customers mainly through direct mail. But today’s customers prefer to choose how they are contacted.”We have about 200,000 active customers, and we’re able to follow all their service needs — through service reminders, recall notices, service specials, sales specials — in a fashion that’s the least intrusive and most informative,” Fentiman says.
His 13 dealerships “probably save about $8,000 to $10,000 a month” by using less postage, Fentiman says. For dealer principal Lynn Smith of Lynn Smith Chevrolet in Burleson, Texas, CIMA’s e-mail blasts were an easy way to tell customers that his store was still in business after General Motors filed for bankruptcy and announced dealership cuts. He says: “I think it helped us keep in touch with our customers, to reassure them that we’re going to be here.” SOURCE: Jennifer Vuong |
Tags: Automotive News, CIMA, Lee Iacocca, Marty Cancila Dodge Chrysler Jeep, Phil Long Dealer Group
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