What Software Do Successful Car Dealerships Use?

Dealers have a lot to keep track of, including customers, employees, advertising, and more. How do you manage it all? Here is some of the most important software car dealerships use to sell more vehicles.

Below are the most crucial types of software dealers should consider utilizing.

1. DMS, or Dealership Management Software
2. CRM, or Customer Relationship Management Platform
3. Photography Programs
4. Digital Advertising Automation Software

1. DMS, or Dealership Management Software

First and foremost, every dealer should have some kind of Dealership Management Software or DMS. Built with auto dealers in mind, a DMS is a sales management tool that essentially consolidates many of your day-to-day business tasks in to one place. This includes things like tracking your deals, pulling credit reports, monitoring finances, and managing inventory and auto parts.

A platform like this saves time and money by performing multiple functions at once. There is a DMS on the market for every type of dealership, whether big or small. For example, CDK Drive is built for multi-location dealerships while vAuto Provision serves used car dealerships, and vAuto Conquest is for new car dealerships.

2. CRM, or Customer Relationship Management Platform

While a DMS manages a dealership's daily operations, a CRM keeps track of all of your leads, managing all activity for current and potential customers. With this type of tool, you can see each of your leads, what stage they are in, and where your advertising dollars are going.

CRMs can also be used to plan and track related tasks for your salespeople, like calls, emails, meetings, and more. Many CRMs will also integrate with your existing ad platforms, allowing you to target your leads more efficiently. A great example of this is DealerSocket, an automotive-focused CRM platform that manages the customer relationship from start to finish.

3. Photography Programs

Every dealership on the market needs a great website with great vehicle listing pages that show each model's year, price, location, and most important specifications. The best way to improve these pages is with great quality photos to go along with the information you provide. With so many vehicles on your lot, this can be time consuming and difficult to keep up with.

This is why many dealers invest in a professional photo taking and management system like Dealer Image Pro. These companies provide all the necessary resources and software to make sure your photos are always consistent and professional. If you want to take your pages a step further, you can also consider using 360-degree video. This way, consumers can see the entire exterior of each car as well as the interior without having to visit your lot.

4. Digital Advertising Automation Software

While DMS and CRM platforms are incredible tools for running the day-to-day operations of a dealership, they often leave out one critical area of your business strategy: marketing and advertising. Creating, optimizing, and running all your paid ads yourself can be expensive and time consuming.

For this reason, dealers should consider investing in marketing automation software that dynamically matches your live inventory with an active shopper who is interested in a vehicle of that type. This software can design, run, and optimize your ads in real time, so you are constantly serving the right ads to the right people, at the right time.

ZeroSum can fully manage and optimize your dealership's inventory-based paid advertising, so you know you are always making the most of your ad spend. ZeroSum’s MarketAI knows how much advertising it will take to move each vehicle, and it continuously updates your live inventory feed so you are never spending money on cars that have already sold. Book a demo today to see how it works.