“Customer experience management” or CXM, is more than just a buzzword these days. It’s a way of flipping the sales conversation so that it’s customer-led and not salesperson-led. The goal is to plot the customer journey – the path a customer takes from the first idea that she wants to buy a vehicle to the day she drives off the lot – and strive to improve her experience along every step of the journey.
Because it involves so many data points, customer experience management is best accomplished with the help of some artificial intelligence. The term “big data” might have been invented for CXM: using thousands of data points, a good AI-backed dealership sales and marketing solution can predict the customer journey and advise salespeople about what their next steps should be to maximize the chances of a sale.
Dealership software solutions provider AutoAlert recently announced that it is extending its relationship with Ford and has released significant enhancements of its Ford National Program based on key feedback from Ford and Lincoln dealership partners across the U.S. The enhancement involves the addition of two tools: GeoAlert and AutoAssistant, for built-in employee and customer engagement.
“The industry is going through a lot of changes, and we have our finger on the pulse thanks to our strong dealer relationships and our unique relationship with Ford,” said Mike Dullea, AutoAlert’s CEO. “As the Ford program continues to grow, we are able to give participating dealers even more solutions not available anywhere else.”
GeoAlert was designed to accurately identify a dealership’s customers, and their location, using mobile tracking and IP address verification technology. The goal is to help dealers know when customers are visiting competitive lots so they can turn up the sales offers and send the relevant ads. AutoAssistant uses artificial intelligence to identify the best communications and offers to send to customers at the right time to match where they are in the buying cycle.
With more than 1,200 Ford and Lincoln dealerships currently participating, the AutoAlert Ford National Program provides predictive incentive management – integrating the dealer’s DMS, Ford’s Smart VINCENT system, Ford Credit pre-approval, and AutoAlert’s patented data analytics – to identify customers who can trade “key to key.”
