A Dealer Management System (DMS) is software that dealers use to manage the various areas of their dealership such as sales, finance, spare parts, servicing and customer information.
Because traditional dealer management systems were not fully integrated, they often required a dealer to log in to various software systems to perform different dealership tasks. Most have been slow, difficult to learn and with limited capabilities. But modern cloud-based dealer management platforms provide new and more profitable ways to run a dealership.
How dealer management platforms are changing dealerships
The advent of cloud-based dealer management platforms allows dealers to access all areas of their business from the one platform, with each department integrated with the whole. The benefits of this are substantial and include:
- Time savings – many hours a week can be saved by the improvement in overall efficiency.
- Improved cash flow – knowing the status quo in every department means your cash flow never dries up due to unforeseen expenses.
- Greater organization – having all the information related to your dealership at your fingertips allows you to automate processes and predict potential problems.
- Better customer service – being able to provide more efficient and attentive service is the key to maintaining your valuable existing customer base.
- A superior cloud-based dealer management platform such as Blackpurl can streamline operations in every aspect of your dealership including;
- Sales – provides your sales team with the tools to access information and process orders without having to leave their customer’s side. Includes pre-built workflows that prompt a salesperson on the next step to take in a sale. They can also email invoices to their customers and send them SMS text messages from their tablets.
- Parts – offers real-time inventory control and the facility to be able to order needed parts quickly and easily. Your parts team can track every item in stock and set minimum and maximum inventory levels to prevent running out or having items sit on the shelf for too long. They can also identify suitable alternative parts, create automated discounts for loyal customers, track the profitability of every part and a host of other features.
- Service – includes features such as accurate quote-building tools and auto generated service reminders. Blackpurl’s service tools also include the ability to assign jobs to available service technicians using drag and drop scheduling, track time and productivity of service personnel and prompt technicians with correct procedures for each type of job. You can also capture and attach photos of the unit to your customer’s profile before commencing each job.
- Accounts – features real-time costing and integration with Xero and Quickbooks. Real time inventory costing means no more time consuming manual reconciliation. And seamless integration with the accounting software your team is familiar with means accounting practices that are accurate, efficient and compliant.
Why your dealer management platform needs to be mobile
The ability to work from anywhere on any device is the future of business. mobility brings:
- Improved productivity – getting employees out from behind the counter to where their customers are.
- Reduced costs – with employees able to work from anywhere, businesses are downsizing bricks and mortar infrastructure.
- Better customer service – personalized online communication with customers through email and social media develops better long term relationships.
- Better marketing – the wealth of customer data from online interactions can be turned into ways to increase sales and reach new markets.
- The ideal dealership platform is therefore not only cloud-based, but also fully mobile and that’s why Blackpurl’s solution to DMS is an app that allows you to run your entire business from the palm of your hand.
- Our solution allows you to control your dealership from anywhere on any device, make real-time decisions based on accurate data, communicate instantly with your customers, track inventory and orders in real-time and much more.
- Sales is one area of a dealership that can benefit greatly from such improved mobility. Your sales team will become more accessible to your customers, both online through email, text and video conferencing and on the showroom floor, with the ability to manage end to end transactions in the palm of their hand.
- Parts and Service are other departments where online mobility can improve productivity. For example, making your parts catalogue available online and offering click and collect or delivery options will free up your parts team from repetitive tasks. Likewise, texting photos of jobs to customers will speed up sign-offs on service work.
Learn how a dealership management platform will work for you
Be it RVs, motorcycles, trailers, marine or powersports, whatever type of dealership you run, Blackpurl enables you to run your dealership the way you’ve always wanted.
Interested in learning more about making the jump from pen and paper to DMS? Check out our blog article here.
Contact us today to find out more about running your business from the palm of your hands and see how a dealer management platform fits into your dealership here.
