A successful CRM implementation will produce a tremendous return on investment, if it is done properly. Unfortunately, many dealers research, implement, and utilize CRMs in such a way that actually limits their success. In this article, we'll examine the top ten most fundamental DOs and DON'Ts to achieving CRM success.

1. DON'T: Use your CRM as a "big brother"
   DO: Offer your staff something in return for using a CRM

   Your sales staff is the gas in the engine of your CRM. If they are to invest time and effort into building a database with profitable customer information, ensure their buy-in by giving them a return on their investment. They should save time by having worksheets, appraisals, credit apps, and we owes automatically and professionally laser-printed. They should be able to move through the sales process faster and with greater ease. It should provide a simple, but powerful first-pencil tool, credit bureau processing, inventory look-up, and appraisal management with Blackbook lookup. They should enjoy automatic follow up, as if each had his own personal secretary who printed daily letters, sent daily emails, and strategically built a plan of business 365 days a year. It should offer real-time integration with your DMS, internet leads, and phone leads. Finally, it should be packaged with a look and feel of something we used manually. If they view CRM as a tool to success, rather than a board to be beaten with, you'll finish with a stronger sales month.

2. DON'T: Approach your database apathetically
   DO: Attack your database on a daily basis

   A CRM will absolutely succeed if the dealer principal, GM, sales manager, and sales associate each ask, "How can I use CRM to make some money today?" Managers should easily create targeted advertising campaigns. They should engage in a daily review of the floor traffic as well as those deals that may have been lost. Sales associates should log in every day to find a planner full of opportunities from selling prospects to gathering referrals and closing renewal business. Any CRM worth its salt will produce results every day.

3. DON'T: Start with an empty database
   DO: Start with a "loaded gun"

   Your CRM provider should be able to efficiently pull every DMS record possible, for both sales and service. If their name and number has been recorded somewhere at some point, that customer should end up in your CRM. These records should be scrubbed against the National Change of Address (NCOA) database to ensure that your data is accurate and not costing you money in the long run. Furthermore, each record should be tied to a current sales employee with an appropriate plan for future followup. Start with nothing, and you'll find yourself at the beginning of a very steep climb. Start with a loaded gun, and you'll be shooting for success.

4. DON'T: Invest in a CRM that totes features over process
   DO: Invest in a CRM that uses processes to build value into every customer record

   Make sure your CRM is feature-rich, but more importantly, make sure those features work within the framework of the sales process - possibly the greatest failure of most CRMs. Your staff should be able to take an up and move it through the sales process as easily as they did before the CRM was introduced. Real-time web-based services (such as reverse lookup technology and compliance with the Do Not Call Registry) should enhance customer records. Besides basic contact info, the customer record should show all prospect history, all sales history (including gross profit), all service history, all aftersale history, a complete customer profile, all credit information, complaint management (to keep track of their beefs), all email history, and the DMS customer number (to create real-time data synchronization). Finally, the process should conclude with a complete analysis of all data through interactive reporting.

5. DON'T: Use your CRM as an electronic filing cabinet
   DO: Seek the immediate benefits of a real-time environment

   Too few dealers reap the benefits of the real-time environment in which people, process, and data are managed. At any given time, your managers should be able to see which customers (and sales associates) are in the dealership. At a glance they should be able to see today's ups, outstanding prospect and owner calls, tomorrow's appointments, and sold units, both for today and the month. Furthermore, managers should be able to tell who is responsible for the numbers (who is doing their job and who isn't). First-pencil figures should be seen at the tower the moment they are created. The second a deal is "lost," they should be prompted to follow up with a call to save the deal. Now put this kind of power into the hands of your BDC, and you'll see your call center, sales team, and service team work together in ways you never could outside of a real-time environment.

6. DON'T: Give the sales associate the final word on managing his pipeline
   DO: Implement a specific process for pipeline management

   Few actually follow a process that expects the customer to buy at their store. Every customer record has value. Each prospect should be driven to closure, and every owner should be driven to renewal. Every barrier to the sale should trigger a safety net that prompts a manager to save the deal. When managed in a dynamic and interactive process, many dealerships see big bucks saved in even short amounts of time. If your sales associate has the final word on which customers he will sell, you're losing money. No one should ever slip through the cracks.

7. DON'T: Sell without a plan.
   DO: Execute a strategic plan of business every day.

   "Aim at nothing and you'll be sure to hit it every time." It's amazing how many more cars are sold when we take this old saying to heart. Your CRM should provide each salesperson with a daily business plan based on clear, concise rules for every type of customer (leads, prospects, owners, renewals, etc.). An automated list of calls to be made and letters and emails to be sent is a must. The CRM should tie into your phone system to measure outbound call compliance and to report on the calls your sales associates logged but never made. Finally, all this data should be thoroughly analyzed in a report format, allowing you to interactively drill down to each customer record, if needed.

8. DON'T: Use the "old school" mentality of identifying customers
   DO: Clearly identify customer types and sub-types within your CRM

   In the not too distant past, we had our sold and unsold customers, but for a sizeable ROI, a CRM must be more specific. "Unsold customers" has little meaning; however, a customer who was unable to secure financing should be treated differently than the unsold customer who told his salesperson that he bought somewhere else. A beback that is ready to buy in 7 days should be treated differently than a prospect that is expected to buy in six months. Likewise, a "sold" customer could have taken delivery or could still be waiting on the unit they ordered. With a more detailed approach, you will sell more cars.

9. DON'T: Ignore the business that sales associates actively bring to the dealership
   DO: Be aware of and properly appreciate personal lead production (PLP)

   Your CRM should clearly categorize prospects found through an associate's personal networking. Separately, it should track all referrals uncovered during calls to sold customers. Teaching your sales force to hunt for these prospects will drive sales forward, but they need a tool that will show their progress in these more aggressive strategies for selling cars. Additionally, be ready to reward your sales staff for taking the initiative with their own personal lead production.

10. DON'T: Work without a clear process to accurately gather inbound customer data
    DO: Create a data collection process to capture 100% of customer information

    Successful CRM has less to do with cutting-edge features and more to do with how those features are critically-designed to fit into your sales method. Unfortunately, many dealers select their CRM solution based on features alone, giving little consideration to how well it incorporates process. Attention to process is the one component many CRM providers fail to incorporate, and the one reason why many solutions fail in the dealership. If your CRM is accomplishing little more than data storage, you're wasting your money.