DealerRefresh

Obstacles, Observations and Opinions of an Automotive Internet Sales & Marketing Manager

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Internet Lead Manager (ILM) Tools, where are they?

A list of affordable Internet Lead Manager tools

Here is a question I get a lot…

“Do you have a few Lead Management Tools that you can provide
to me off the top of your head?”

or

“My dealer currently doesn’t have a full CRM but I need an ILM to work my Internet leads. Do you know of any affordable ($200-400.00 a month) Internet Lead Management tool available?”

Maybe I’m lost but I too have to ask “where are all the affordable ILM tools“? For many Internet sales representative having an affordable ILM tool is vital. Believe it or not, there are a lot of dealers that still do not have a full fledge Customer Relation Manager (CRM) tool and as you know, many of the CRM’s have ILM features but are more of an after thought and lack what you really need.

Most of us have used or are still using either AVV Webcontrol or Cobalts LMCC. These 2 ILM tools used to be the only options available for dealers. Then after the initial offering from AVV and Cobalt, a few more ILM tools that cropped up.

iMagiclabs (then known as icarconnect) had a top shelf ILM tool that I believe eventually evolved into their full CRM. eLead also had an Internet lead management system that was quit robust but this too turned into a full CRM. Both of these vendors I believe still offer their ILM product as an a la carte but I’m not 100% sure anymore.

Since I get this question a lot, AND since I too have sort of lost touch with all the different ILM tools available, lets get a list going. I’ll start off with the ones that I know..

  1. Cobalt LMCC
  2. AVV Webcontrol
  3. iMagicLab ILM
  4. MLM Dealer Sight
  5. Dealerpeak E-Lead Manager
  6. Dealer.com LeadMachine
  7. AutoJocky Lead Manager
  8. NetTrack Lead Management
  9. VinSolutions MotoSnap ILM
  10. CAR-Research

If you know of or are using an Internet Lead Management program that’s affordable and a good fit for dealers looking for a lead management tool for a 1 person or small Internet sales department, SPEAK UP!! Let us know what you think and what you’re paying.

If you’re a vendor and you offer an ILM solution…let us know what you offer. Feel free to include your features and pricing. I’ll be sure to add your link to this post.

Categories: CRM

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Dominion Enterprises Acquires AVV and its WebControl ILM / CRM

Webcontrol_logo
AVV’s Internet Lead Management tool "WebControl" has been bought by Dominion Enterprises.

I’m sure most readers already know who Dominion Enterprises is. They own AutoTrader, DealerSkins, AutoBase, XiGroup, AutoRevenue and Data One software, just to name a few. Well it looks as if AutoBytel has finally made the step to dump and it’s WebContol ILM / CRM tool. I had heard this was in the works for sometime but was not aware that Dominion was a possible purchaser. The purchase price was $22.75 million, dammnnn!!

"Ed Braunbeck, vice president and general manager of AVV, will continue to lead the business. “We are delighted to be part of an organization that recognizes the potential of our employees and products and has shown such strong commitment to the automotive industry. Dominion Enterprises will be the perfect place for us to take the Web Control solution to the next level,” said Braunbeck."

If you’ve been on the internet side of the car business, chances are you’ve heard of or have even used AVV WebControl. It was one of the first ILM (Internet Lead Management ) tools available to dealers. I was at a Mazda dealer when they had first signed the contract to exclusively use WebControl and that has been at least 5-6 years ago. Even to this day, I think it’s still one of the better ILM tools.

I’d like to see Dominion financially support AVV allowing them to take WebContol to the next level. I overheard a few rumors about 2 years ago that AutoBytel was going to bring WebControl over to a .net platform but that obviously never happened. Well either way, this should be a decent move for AVV since AutoBytel never did anything for AVV or Webcontrol.

  1. Have you used AVV WebContol?
  2. What did/do you think of it?
  3. What do you think of this Acquisition?

Here is the full press release Dominion Enterprises Acquires AVV, Inc. Assets

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I know we need an ISM tool, but which one?

I’m completely new to the internet side. I’m the first person in this position at a Toyota Dealership. So I’m carving the way here but not sure steps I should be doing. I know we need an ISM tool ASAP but I don’t want to make a mistake on what one to choose. I have been looking at:

  • icarConnect
  • AVV Webcontrol
  • Rey Rey Contact Management

I have heard that AVV doesn’t have the best support when you run into problems. To be honest I’m really not sure exactly what I should be looking for in a tool, because any tool would be better then no tool at all, which I’m at right now. Any help would be great. Thanks!

-Josh Couzzo