VinSolutions and Dealer Track’s Arkona DMS Integrate

VinSolutions integrates with DealerTrack’s OpenTrack, a program providing seamless, secure connection to the DealerTrack Arkona dealer management system (DMS). The integration interfaces with customer, vehicle, F&I, general ledger, service and parts data, providing a secure, bi-directional connection between our mutual dealer clients and the DealerTrack DMS.

Overland Park, KS, June 11, 2009 – VinSolutions announced today they have completed their integration with DealerTrack’s Arkona DMS. Providing a seamless, secure connection for their mutual dealer customers enhances efficiency and productivity. “We are constantly looking for ways to supplement our offerings and make our clients’ lives easier,” said Doug Kinney, CEO of VinSolutions. “Allowing us to provide our mutual clients with secure, bi-directional access to their data sets in a cost-effective open platform does both.”

The OpenTrack program allows for secure data encryption and either batch or real-time data processing, and interfaces with customer, vehicle, F&I, general ledger, service and parts data. “With OpenTrack we are truly delivering on our promise to the marketplace that the DealerTrack DMS will be an open and cost-effective platform,” said Raj Sundaram, senior vice president of the Solutions and Services Group at DealerTrack. “This is a win-win for all parties.”

Dealers using DealerTrack’s DMS can access this feature by clicking on the “Push to DMS” button in VinSolutions’ desking module.

About VinSolutions (http://www.vinsolutions.com)

An industry-leading developer of Internet-based desking, automotive CRM software, and Internet lead management (ILM) software, VinSolutions provides 24/7 dealership sales and marketing information to their clients anywhere Internet access is available. In addition to CRM, ILM and Inventory control products, VinSolutions builds custom dealership Web sites, uploads inventory photos, offers their clients quality training and consulting services, as well as valuable customer support. VinSolutions is GM, Ford, Chrysler, Subaru and Audi certified and has working relationships, alliances and integrations with several automotive software service providers such as Kelley Blue Book, CarFax, AutoSoft, Inc., Autodata, RouteOne and DealerTrack.

About DealerTrack

DealerTrack’s high-value software solutions for the automotive retail industry enhance efficiency and profitability across every department in a dealership. DealerTrack’s Dealer Management System (DMS) delivers flexible and cost-efficient functionality to manage dealership data and operations. Its Inventory Management, Sales and F&I, and Compliance solutions help optimize dealership inventory, increase sales and protect against legal risks. DealerTrack operates a leading online automotive credit application network, which includes approximately 19,000 dealers and over 730 financing sources. For more information visit www.dealertrack.com.

Using "similar vehicles" to sell more cars

"Similar vehicles" is one of the best functions of a good CRM system. Here are a couple example of how you can use this excellent functionality.

Initial auto responders. Rarely do customers buy the car the inquired upon. So why not give them some more options right up front? More options to contact you and come to do your dealership?

Trying to do this manually would take forever and be nearly impossible. So it takes smart software to compare the year, make, model, bodystyle, price, mileage, engine, and all sorts of other factors to evaluate which vehicles are the closest matches.

In this example, the first vehicle is what they inquired upon, and the next 4 are similar vehicles. This same technology can be used to supply similar vehicles to a new car lead, or similar new cars on a pre-owned lead.

Unsold follow up - Weeks later the car they were interested is now gone. Why not send them some similar vehicles that you now have available?

Matt Watson
VinSolutions
Automotive CRM Software provider

VinSolutions Automotive Software Solutions

VinSolutions’ suite of products spans the scope of a dealership’s needs. Whether you own a single store, or command a multi-rooftop operation, MotoSnap is the perfect software solution. A proven trendsetter in on-demand Automotive CRM Software, Dealership ILM, Dealer Inventory Management Control and Custom Automotive Dealer Websites. VinSolutions’ development team continuously advances software technology through leading-edge innovations. Our fully integrated Business Development Center (BDC) and Dealership Desking modules round out our complement of dealership Internet software solutions.

VinSolutions not only offers world class Internet software, but we provide exceptional service products as well. Our Training and Consulting personnel are well-versed in automotive sales processes. Our design team creates fully integrated Dealer Web Sites intended to attract vehicle shoppers and convert them to vehicle buyers. Our automotive SEO experts will get help your website rank higher and generate more website traffic.

All VinSolutions software solutions are available with NO CONTRACT.

Google Notebook

Google Notebook seems pretty cool. I made one!

http://www.google.com/notebook/public/04514591006850580197/BDR12SgoQ9_resckj

Leveraging YouTube for Search Engine Exposure (Video SEO)

My last post was about a common myth about search engines: "Search Engines Love Video"

Search engines don't love video, they love popular websites. YouTube is one of the most popular websites there is and it has a very high Google Page Rank. So any content created on the site stands a good chance to rank well in the search engines. Simply putting a video on a webpage alone doesn't make google love it.

"Video SEO" is really using video to create content on YouTube. There are two main reasons every dealership in the country should use YouTube:

1. YouTube is the 2nd most popular search engine there is. It gets more searches daily than Yahoo, MSN, Ask and all others except for Google. So there are a lot of users searching for virtually anything. You need to get your products and your dealership in front of those millions of users. Luckily YouTube will let you do it FOR FREE.

2. Posting videos on YouTube has some intrinsic indirect SEO benefits. Listing videos on YouTube is not going to create more direct traffic to your website. What it will do is give you a chance to get good penetration in the search engines for long tail key phrases and other phrases that you post videos for. Search engines will drive traffic to your videos on YouTube which will then in turn drive more traffic to your dealership.


What kind of videos should you post on YouTube?

1. Videos about your dealership. Give your current and potential customers a glimpse of your showroom, service department, parts department, and more. Highlight your history, what separates you from your competition, and anything else that would be relevant about your dealership.

2. Your TV commercials. This is probably the easiest thing to do. Get a digital copy of your commercials from your ad agency and upload them to YouTube. You never know, they could be the next viral video sensation on the Internet!

3. Videos of your inventory. As you take photos of your vehicles and prepare them to sell online, add to that process by taking a quick video of your vehicles. If this process seems technically challenging, a product like VinCamera from VinSolutions can make it simple.

4. Anything else you can dream up! Interviews of your staff, video of the hot dogs you give away on busy saturday afternoons, video of your special Mustang club that gets together every month. Anything is possible!


Now of course you should also post all these videos on your website where they appropriately fit in.

You can also include all your videos on YouTube right on your website like so:

http://johnsonautoplaza.com/youtube.aspx
http://www.roosterbush.com/youtube.aspx
http://pontiacindy.com/youtube.aspx

Posting links on your website back to your YouTube videos will help cement to the search engines that the videos are important and will improve their performance in the search engines.

You can also use all this video content as part of your internet and BDC department. You can use your ILM/CRM system to email videos to your customers. For example, send an email to your sold customers with a video about your service department and their scheduled maintenance that needs to be performed. Anything is possible!


For more information visit http://www.vinsolutions.com/motosnap-videos.aspx

Matt Watson
CTO
VinSolutions

Defining Web 2.0 – Part 1: We're Talking Back

“Web 2.0” is a buzzword used all over the place these days. So what does it mean? Web 2.0 actually means a lot of different things and it means different things to different people. This is the first of a multi-part series attempting to define Web 2.0. Follow my blog at http://www.drivingsales.com/blog/mwatson/ for future posts.

Part 1 - “We're Talking Back”

One definition of Web 2.0 is the ability for everyday people to change the Internet.

A few years ago the Internet was mostly created by businesses for shopping, news, travel, research, forums and other important things. The Internet was largely a “read only” collection of information where everyday people had no input.

Today, a very large percentage of the content on the Internet was created by everyday people. Wikipedia, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and dozens of other websites are all based on content created by every day people. We now have the ability to create our own web pages (ex. MySpace & blogs) and make our mark on the Internet. You could say that Web 2.0 gave us our freedom of speech online.

So how did we get here? Well... it didn't happen over night.

In 1996 web communities like Geocities became common. They allowed users to create their own websites. By the end of 1997 Geocities had 1 million users and was the 5^th most popular website on the Internet. Geocities was eventually purchased by Yahoo and still lives on today as a simply way to create your own website, including a blog.

Blogs aren't really that new either. A web blog, as a concept of online commentary or online diaries started in 1993. Although the term “blog” didn't come around until 1999. However, blogging didn't become mainstream until 2004. I created my first blog in 2003... and it still exists today.

Web 2.0 can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. To me, one of the things it means is we have the ability to create the content of the Internet.

We're Talking Back.

Matt Watson
Chief Technical Officer
VinSolutions

Digital Documents - How do I email my delivery documents to a customer?

Anyone who uses an automotive CRM that prints on plain paper via a laser printer can probably already create digital documents today. Most people probably just don't know how to.

If you're using pre-printed forms, then you can't create digital docs from those of course. (As a side note, you might consider switching to forms printed via a laser printer to save yourself some money.)

So how do you use your current CRM to create "digital documents" you can email to a customer?

Easily! If you can print the form, you can create a digital copy. If your CRM exports the forms to a PDF to print, well then simply click the save button and email the files. If not, then you can install a utility like Adobe (not reader edition) or dopdf (there are other products like this) to print to a PDF that can then be saved and emailed.

So the key is... any document that can be printed on a laser printer can be printed to a PDF and emailed, even if it isn't a PDF (using programs like Adobe, MS Office, dopdf and others). Now of course that involves more steps than maybe just a "email to customer" button.

Of course there are some CRM vendors that have the nifty "email to customer" functionality built in. I have also seen some companies that tout "digital documents" as a product. To me it just seems like a basic ILM/CRM/Desking function, not really a product in itself... maybe I'm wrong on that point?

You could also use the email functionality to email the documents to someone within the dealership or to a 3rd party vendor. Like emailing a book out sheet to the bank, or a desk manager emailing a salesperson a purchase proposal.

Matt Watson

VinSolutions