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Automotive Sales & Service BDC Course​ - B05

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  1. LESSON 1: AUTOMOTIVE SALES & SERVICE BDC - BDM COURSE INTRODUCTION

    Automotive Sales & Service BDC - BDM Course Introduction
  2. LESSON 2: ESSENTIAL BDC AND BDM STEPS TO TAKE PROPER CARE OF AUTOMOTIVE SALES LEADS
    Essential BDC and BDM Steps To Take Proper Care Of Automotive Sales Leads
    7 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  3. LESSON 3 BDC: EVERYTHING A BDC REPRESENTATIVE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE REPAIR ORDERS
    Everything A BDC Representative Needs To Know About Automotive Service Repair Orders
    7 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  4. LESSON 4: FEATURES, BENEFITS, AND SELLING POINTS OF EACH SERVICE MAINTENANCE ITEM FOR BDC REPRESENTATIVES
    Features, Benefits, And Selling Points Of Each Service Maintenance Item For BDC Representatives
    8 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  5. LESSON 5: BREAKING DOWN FACTORY WARRANTY FOR BDC REPRESENTATIVES
    Breaking Down The New Car Factory Warranty For BDC Representatives
    10 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  6. LESSON 6: UNDERSTANDING AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE CUSTOMER AND PERSONALIZING THE SALES EXPERIENCE BDC REPRESENTATIVES
    Understanding Automotive Service Customer And Personalizing The Sales Experience BDC Representatives
    2 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  7. LESSON 7: GROWING A BDC REPRESENTATIVES SOFT SKILLS AND SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS
    Growing A BDC Representatives Soft Skills And Scheduling Appointments
    7 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  8. LESSON 8: HOW TO TACKLE CHALLENGES IN THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY AS AN AUTOMOTIVE BDC OR BDM
    How To Tackle Challenges In The Automotive Industry As An Automotive BDC Or BDM
    4 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  9. LESSON 9: MEASURING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT KPI'S & FORECASTING AS AN AUTOMOTIVE BDM
    Measuring Business Development KPI's & Forecasting Metrics As A Automotive BDM
    2 Topics
  10. LESSON 10: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SCRIPTS & TEMPLATES FOR AUTOMOTIVE BDC REPRESENTATIVES
    Business Development Scripts & Templates For Automotive BDC Representatives
    16 Topics
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CRM Customer Database Maintenance

It’s every BDC’s task to keep the customer database clean and free of duplicate customers. Depending on the size of the dealership or the number of staff.

Clean, complete, and accurate data is the key to keeping inbound, and outbound leads engaged with marketing personalization and marketing automation. Unfortunately, over time the CRM’s customer database becomes over-run with bad data. Bad data is a duplicate, outdated, incorrect, improperly collected, or just plain missing information in the CRM’s customer database. Insufficient data kills sales productivity, reduces marketing effectiveness, and turns off prospects.

A bad database leads to missed sales opportunities. Customers could be turned off your store when marketing campaigns target specific customer profiles and get key details about them wrong. An inaccurate CRM database can also reduce a BDC’s efficiency and waste valuable time on the wrong prospects.

Customers love it when businesses speak directly to them by offering a personalized experience. Research shows 76% of customers will only shop at a company with personalized communication.

 

Fixing Bad CRM Database

Eventually, the CRM’s database will become a mess. These are a few things to watch out for and tips on how to fix a bad database.

 

Duplicate Customers – Contacts with the same name, cell number, email, or home address.

To fix duplicate customers, merge the records need after confirming data.

 

Incorrect & Outdated Data – Database with wrong phone numbers, invalid email address, no longer works at a company.

To fix incorrect data, when customers call in, ask them to verify if the information you have is correct. Update or remove outdated information.

 

Improperly Formatted Data – Records with formatting errors, such as customer names are not correctly capitalized.

To fix the improperly formatted database, make the necessary adjustments and update the record.

 

Missing Data – Customer profiles missing important information. Contacts without first names, missing zip code, postal code, or phone numbers.

To fix the missing database, either look for possible duplicates or check with their salesperson or service advisor.

 

Deceased Customers – Email, texts, phone calls need to be deactivated for customers who have passed away. Often the surviving spouse informs the dealership when a marketing campaign is sent.

There are several different methods used to deactivate deceased customer’s records. Always ask the dealership their preferred method. Inform the salesperson as well so they can make a personal note.

 

Customer No longer Owns Vehicle – Customers will trade-in their vehicles at another dealership or sell them privately. They can often forget to inform the dealer; however, they call shortly after receiving a marketing campaign.

There are several different methods used to no longer own vehicle customers. Always ask the manager their preferred method. Inform the salesperson as well so they can make a personal note.

 

Email Maintenance – Invalid email addresses or contacts who have not opened emails for the past twelve months.

To fix invalid data, remove or fix the following invalid email address strings:

  • example.com (missing @ character)
  • a@b@c@example.com (only one @ is allowed)
  • a”b(c)d,e:f;g<h>i[jk]l@example.com (special characters are not allowed)
  • just”not”right@example.com (quoted strings are not supported)
  • this is”notallowed@example.com, and this still”notallowed@example.com (spaces, quotes, and backslashes are not allowed)

 

Duplicate CRM Customer Profile

Customers should only have one account in the CRM. Get into the habit of reviewing the “Duplicate Customer Profile” report daily. Ensure the customers on the report truly are duplicates created in error and then merge them until only one profile remains. Remember to use the “Merge” function, do not “Delete” them since you could potentially lose confidential information.

Compare existing customer records in the system and look for matching email addresses, phone numbers, and home address.

Keeping the customer database free of duplication profiles is a critical part of the BDC’s responsibility. Keeping on top of this task is relevant because it prevents the system from accidentally spamming a customer with multiple emails or texts. It reduces the chance of miscommunication between a team member and the customer when there is only one customer profile.

If the system did not flag you of a possible duplicate customer when you were entering their information, then take a minute to run a duplication customer check after adding a customer’s information into the CRM.

Inbound emails, calls, and texts from a new prospect may appear from within the CRM program. If they do, then the software may have the ability to automatically pull up the customer’s history information if they have made inquiries in the past at the store.

A new lead could appear in the CRM because they may have shopped at the store once before. They may have asked for a quote on a car but did not purchase it, or they could be an existing service customer but purchased their car elsewhere.

At the same time, a lead may not appear in the CRM as an existing client. The customer could suddenly switch email accounts or call from their work number. If this information does not exist in the CRM, it may fail to notify you of possible duplication.

Always search the system manually to prevent accidental duplication while inputting new customer information.

 

Match DMS To CRM Customer Profile

Check the CRM and DMS to see if they have shopped here before and aim to keep a neat and tidy database. Duplicate profile merging is performed weekly and requires a team member to review each customer flagged profile and verify whether two or more profiles did get duplicated or if they are not the same person and need to be unflagged as duplicate.

Older CRM systems cannot work backward from the DMS, meaning the CRM may never know that your customer purchased the car. So, you may need to match customers from the DMS sold records to the CRM customer profile.

There are a few possible reasons why sold records could not be matched up:

  1. Duplicate customer profiles in the system
  2. The buyer and co-buyer were switched around in the DMS
  3. Customer used their middle name instead of their first name
  4. Deal switched from customers name to business name

Without matching the data, sold deliveries will not be imported into CRM.

 

Inbound Leads From Pay-Per-Click Advertisement

The store could also be using a paying-per-click service to capture inbound leads, such as the one used on social media sites. Pay attention to the number of fake leads. If there is a rather large ratio of fake leads from any of these sources, please bring it to the manager’s attention. This type of advertisement cost’s the dealership money. They are generating bad leads that are a waste of money and a waste of your time.