How well do you know your sales and service customers? Not just the customers who have purchased a car in the last month, or the ones who get their cars serviced on a regular basis, but all of your customers?

Considering your dealership has thousands of contacts in its DMS, it’s highly unlikely —and unrealistic—that you know your customers…

The Coronavirus is disrupting businesses across the globe and its full impact is yet to be seen. Dealers have been contacting us to see if we have any advice as far as what can be done in their service departments to limit any risk both to employees and customers.

The following are a few simple suggestions that can help…

With all the worry and concern out there regarding the Coronavirus and the impact it will have on public health and business, this is a great time to talk about video communication. It has always been the perfect tool for connecting with consumers without having to be fact-to-face.  

To be really effective your video communication platform…

Service retention rates in dealerships have been steadily declining over the last three years, according to Affinitiv’s recent Automotive Loyalty Trends study, which analyzed data from more than 1,000 auto dealerships.

In domestic brand dealerships, service retention rates have dropped from 61.2% to 60.2%. At import brand dealerships,…

The problem of how to increase recall completion rates has been a thorn in the side of both manufacturers and dealers for quite some time. Despite numerous attempts from several sources, a majority of consumers fail to pay attention to any notification because they discard the mailers, discount the severity of the recall or simply don’t have the time needed…

What are your marketing goals in 2020? One of the biggest pain points for dealers is deciding where to spend their marketing dollars to get the results they want. Many dealers feel like their marketing strategies don’t perform as well as they used to, which, when combined with declining sales profitability, puts extra pressure on marketers to up their…

Video has historically played a major role in car dealerships; from training with VHS tapes, to video messaging, text and Live Video Calling. As 2019 draws to a close and we approach 2020, it is clear that when it comes to consumer…

Dealers tell us some pretty outrageous stories about their DMS provider when we’re onsite installing Auto/Mate. Hold times up to 40 minutes, thousands upon thousands spent in integration fees annually and even their DMS threatening to pull the plug once they learn the dealer plans to leave. When was the last time you actually felt positive about the “partnership” between your dealership and your DMS?

We’ve taken what we’ve learned from dealers and compiled this data into the…

As of Q4 2019, RV wholesale shipments were down nearly 17 percent year-over-year, according to RV Road Signs. The good news is that this decline is expected to ease up and gradually diminish to a decline of 3.9 percent by the end of 2020, thanks to low inflation and an expanding economy.

You can still post strong revenue and meet sales goals…

OR how about dominating digital marketing? OR using social media to fill your…

Grapevine, Texas, February 3, 2020 -- DealerBuilt, an enterprise Dealer Management System (DMS) provider for…

Long Beach, CA —January 31, 2020 — myKaarma, the leading communications and payments software provider for automotive dealer service departments, today announced the launch of Service Cart. The mobile repair recommendation tool is designed to improve customer transparency and convenience by enabling instant approval and feedback from the customer. This results in higher retention, shorter authorization times, a significant…

Most auto dealerships do some, if not all of their service marketing with their manufacturer owner retention programs (ORPs). The purpose of ORPs is stated in the name: to build customer loyalty. But how well do these programs deliver on that promise?

The results from ORPs are all over the board. Some dealerships effectively use ORPs to…

Repeat buyers account for an increasing share of new vehicle sales and now represent 31% of all new vehicles purchased at a dealership, compared to 29% a few years ago. This trend is good news for dealers due to the lower cost of retaining vs. acquiring customers.

Unfortunately, this trend is expected to decline due to a lack of improvement in…

Grapevine, Texas, January 21, 2020 -- DealerBuilt, an enterprise Dealer Management System (DMS) for automobile dealers nationwide, today announced that its accounting module is now integrated with cPayPlus. This…

Consumers are notoriously difficult to reach when it comes to safety, needed repairs and attending to recalls. OEM and dealer methods include everything from phone calls, to text messages and direct mail. However, far too frequently, these notifications end up in the trash and are ignored.

Perhaps there is a new way to communicate with these…

Join us March 23, 2020 for the first edition of BDC…

Grapevine, Texas, January 7, 2019 -- DealerBuilt, an enterprise Dealer Management System (DMS) for automobile…

Technology companies often focus on their products and leave service levels far behind. They rely on shiny objects and whiz-bang features to sell products. Companies that lead with technology often forget that the result of a customer interaction isn’t the technology – it’s how the customer feels using the technology. At fusionZONE, we strive to be…

Cash buyers are an important but often overlooked segment of customers who pose a significant risk to auto dealers and manufacturers if left unmanaged. In the first half of 2019, customers who purchased vehicles with cash accounted for 24% of all new vehicle sales. For some luxury brands, cash buyers are even more important since they can represent close to…