CAR-Research XRM unveilsCAR-DealFinder,
delivers active car shoppers to auto retailers

HOUSTON — CAR-Research XRM has unveiled a new monitoring program for auto dealers. CAR-DealFinder uses Internet shopping behavior technology to locate dealership prospects who are currently shopping on automotive websites and notifies the dealership of any activity through its Internet lead management tool. CAR-DealFinder is CRM agnostic, integrating seamlessly with any CRM and watching dealers’ customer database (sold; service, parts and body shop; and unsold prospects) for in-market buyers. It takes the guesswork out of identifying possible customers who might want to purchase a new vehicle and places in-market buyers in front of the dealer.  

According to CAR-Research XRM President and COO Patrick Kelly, CAR-DealFinder effectively protects the dealership from losing its owner base to the competition. “Traditional marketing is putting the dealership in front of potential customers. CAR-DealFinder puts in-market shoppers in front of the dealer,” he said.

CAR-Research XRM, a single-source CRM solution uniquely branded as “XRM, Exceeding CRM,” provides auto dealerships with a comprehensive single-source CRM solution and has been helping dealerships grow their business and increase profits since 1994. Its founders worked in the retail automotive industry for years before forming CAR-Research XRM.

With the company’s latest innovation, CAR-DealFinder, an auto dealer can use his competitors’ advertising budget by leveraging that spend to his advantage. Bruce Glascock, a top-10 volume Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge dealer in Houston said, "I can now watch my competitors drive customers into the market to purchase a vehicle, and in many cases, I will know about their shopping behavior and get the lead before my competitor does; and he is the one that spent the $20,000 on the ad that actually drove the customer in-market. Wow, I love that feeling.”

CAR-DealFinder utilizes Internet shopping behavior technology to monitor the dealership’s customers and enables the dealership to:

• Know when owner-base customers, unsold floor customers and aged unsold Internet leads are in-market and shopping online; the sites they are shopping; and vehicle preferences.

• Improve closing ratios by knowing the competition and viewing which other models the dealership’s in-market owner-base customers are considering.

• Deliver relevant, sales-driving marketing messages derived from actual shopping behavior to its in-market owner-base customers.

“Industry statistics show that up to 2 percent of a dealer’s database is in-market shopping every month and that repeat buyers close at a rate as high as 60 percent. The fact is that dealers do have customers who are in (the) market for a new vehicle this month and every month—but they don’t contact the dealership. CAR-DealFinder can find them for the dealership,” said Kelly.

“According to a recent study from J.D. Power and Associates, 78 percent of in-market shoppers never submit a lead to a dealer. They are lurkers that view info on the Internet, look at numerous websites, do their price and product comparisons, decide what they want, then go into a dealership and buy it. DealFinder is the only way a dealer has of getting to those potential buyers before they buy somewhere else,” Kelly added. “It is similar to pulling a lease customer forward, when the dealer gets that deal before the customer contacts other dealers and starts shopping.”

CAR-DealFinder will be demonstrated at booth No. 817 on Oct. 23-25 at the 13th Digital Dealer Conference in Las Vegas. For more information visit www.CARXRM.com or call 800.376.5918.

Oct. 15, 2012