Car dealers: when DMS software becomes the engine of your business
As an automotive dealer or distribution group, are you looking to find out what a DMS can do for you ? Starting with what DMS actually stands for?
Dealer Management System(DMS) stands for Dealer Management System. This specialized software offers many advantages for your automotive distribution business, and is fast becoming a must-have to support your growth.
But what exactly are its advantages? And how do you choose the tool that's right for you and will become the best ally for your VO/VN sales?
Read on to find out more! 🚘
What is a software DMS?
Definition
A DMS or Dealer Management System software is a specialized management system for car dealerships: the sale of new vehicles (VN) and used vehicles (VO), a repair or maintenance workshop, spare parts trading.
As such, it can be likened to a specialized ERP for the automotive distribution industry. It meets their needs, such as :
- sales management
- inventory management
- financing operations,
- administrative aspects, etc.
But also online marketing and reporting for the more advanced, to manage their entire business.
Who is it for?
Almost any type and size of business can benefit from a dealer management system, whether it's a franchisee, an independent dealer, a leasing company or a finance company.
It can also be used as automotive garage software.
Investing in a DMS is an essential step towards digitizing and streamlining your management processes, and ensuring the long-term development of your car dealership.
Key features
This integrated management software package offers the following functionalities:
- Fleet management: manage your VN and VO purchases and sales, manage your stocks and storage locations, generate administrative and commercial documents, identify your vehicles, optimize your trade-ins, etc. ;
- Sales management: you organize all the sales management aspects of your business, from planning customer appointments to purchase orders, and you monitor and analyze your sales indicators, etc. ;
- Accounting management: directly from the tool or via connections to other accounting software, you can manage your accounting simply, without complex calculations;
- Financing operations management;
- Task management: to help all your staff work more efficiently;
- Keeping your automobile police book in electronic format, etc.
Software bricks fit together, because all operations are interdependent and need to be managed in correspondence.
What are the advantages of an automotive DMS?
Allows you to supervise and optimize your entire dealership activity:
- visibility and traceability: facilitates the management and tracking of your activities and inventories (vehicles, spare parts, etc.), thanks to a collaborative tool updated in real time, accessible wherever you are;
- centralized information: all your data is on a single interface , including your customer and supplier databases (invaluable when considering resale!);
- time and productivity savings: thanks to automation features, you can speed up many processes (sales, invoicing, task planning), and close deals more quickly;
- optimize resources : reporting gives you an overview of the results of your various activities and the productivity of your teams, with a view to improving them;
- brand image enhancement: offer better customer service, a unique digital experience, etc.
How to choose your DMS software?
What about free automotive DMS software?
If you're looking for a DMS to manage your business, there are some free solutions out there, but there are a few trade-offs to be expected:
- the functionalities offered are often very limited,
- additional options or services may have to be paid for,
- data security is not always transparent,
- support is not always included, etc.
Ask yourself whether such a tool is likely to meet your needs, or whether you should change in the near future in view of your company's growth.
You should also be aware that most publishers offer a demo or one-month free trial. Don't hesitate to take advantage of this opportunity to use the tool in context and see if it meets your expectations!
3 tips for choosing the best software
Here's our advice to help you make the right choice:
- Identify your needs: what specific issues do you need to take into account when choosing the best automotive DMS? Which existing tools already meet some of your needs? Do you need all-in-one software or a DMS with APIs to connect your data to your other IT tools (CRM, marketing automation, CMS, business intelligence tools, etc.)?
- Check the level of security: the software must be able to protect your data against external threats (malware, phishing attacks, etc.). Make sure your data is confidential and will not be used for commercial purposes.
- Ask about the other services provided: for example, technical support, assistance and help with installation, but also all the training programs and documentation made available are a real asset. They enable you to concentrate on your core business and develop your added value.
💡 It goes without saying that the functionalities offered are essential to consider. In addition to the basic functionalities, which ones will be essential to your business? Some can really help you accelerate your growth!
Some software packages are veritable augmented DMSs. Such is the case with Spider VO, a full web and responsive management platform dedicated to car dealers and used vehicle distributors. A DMS, automotive CRM, lead manager and CMS rolled into one, it offers you the following benefits:
- a CRM tool to organize and manage customer relations and marketing automation (e-mail templates, etc.) ;
- a Lead Manager tool to retrieve email addresses of prospects from all your acquisition channels to maximize all sales opportunities;
- turnkey tools to create a professional automotive website and strengthen your web presence.
To manage and develop your car and VN business, you now have all the keys you need to choose the best DMS software for your specific needs.
So get equipped, and move up a gear!
Article translated from French