Now’s the Time to Get Control of Your Data. It’s Foundational

The automotive industry is changing at a breakneck pace – tariffs aren’t making life any easier – and your dealership is likely feeling the impact in your day-to-day operations. Now is the time to not only tighten up operations, it’s time to double down on data and use every competitive advantage at your disposal.

That starts with your collecting the data that you own. More specifically, a customized data warehouse for automotive, designed to integrate your DMS, CRM, website metrics, digital marketing, and 3rd party performance into a centralized hub. This will open up the opportunity to actually use it to make real-time business decisions that influence profitability.

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DMS, CRM, and Why They’re Not Enough on Their Own

Let’s say you’re at a Rolling Stones show. Mick is wailing (and dancing) Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood are laying down killer riffs, but…no drums. Well, that’s only 2/3rds of a great show! That’s your DMS and CRM without Business Intelligence. BI is the thumping drumbeat that ties everything together.

It coordinates your data (the rhythm) so that data rocks. All the data in the world won’t help your DMS and CRM if they are not working together — and just like The Stones, if it’s not live and visual — you’re not getting the most out of it.

A powerful BI gives immediate insights in ways your sales manager, marketing team, and dealer principal can all understand and act on. No more fragmented and siloed streams of data, no more waiting for end-of-month reports.

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Questions You Should Be Asking

Aggregating data is only one half of a solid foundation – you also need to know what questions to ask to maximize ROI. Here’s just a few examples:

• Are your third-party lead sources actually delivering? Or are you paying high CPL for low-converting, bottom-of-the-barrel leads? Maybe it’s time to cut some of them loose and reinvest in higher-performing channels.
• Is your website performing well? A tiny increase in your online conversion rate — even 0.5% — can mean hundreds of extra leads per month. That could be the difference between hitting your objective or falling short.
• How’s the service side of your dealership? Sales might dip during a downturn, but people still need oil changes, brake jobs, and repairs. If you’re not already shifting some ad budget toward your service department, you could be leaving money on the table.

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Putting It All Together

When you properly aggregate your data into the right BI system, you get the full picture. Ask it the right questions and suddenly you’re making smart decisions to maximize your sales. Your entire operation can flourish with a proper data structure in place, from your showroom, website, service center, everything. Don’t leave Mick and Keith out there without a drummer. Make sure your DRM and CRM can really jam.