5 Tips To Find The Best Management System for your Trailer Dealership in 2022

Written by Blackpurl

It's 2022 - are you still using pen and paper to manage your trailer dealership? If so, it might be time for a change. 

A dealership management solution (DMS) will make your life a lot easier by automating many of your timely day-to-day operations. With a DMS, you'll be able to track all things sales, inventory, and customers in one place. 

Why is this important? Connecting all aspects of your dealership will allow you to make more informed decisions about where to allocate your resources and grow your business. The trick with any business is maximizing the time you spend on the revenue-generating activities and minimizing the time hog activities with little monetary value. 

Looking to start off 2022 right? Below are the 5 steps to take to successfully find, implement and utilize a management solution at your trailer dealership.

1) Ask yourself, is there a better way to run my dealership?

This sounds like a funny question but the point of this exercise is to identify your pain points. Start from the beginning and walk through your day-to-day operations, is it as easy as you would like to sell a trailer? How many steps does it take to sell a part? Can you look up inventory as quickly as you want? How do you track invoices and client records? 

Remember there are a lot of great tech solutions out there and it's important to focus on your needs and understand how the solution pertains to them – not the industry as a whole. Whether it’s pen and paper or DMS - there is no “one size fits all” solution to run your business. 

2) Understand ALL The Costs Of The Solution

Despite popular belief, switching to a DMS doesn’t have to be expensive. Luckily, there are numerous systems that make switching more accessible to even the smallest shops. However, it is still very important to understand the total cost and not just the upfront price. Many times, there are hidden costs that can add up quickly such as implementation fees, training, and monthly service contracts. Make sure you understand the upfront costs and additional costs (like maintenance and service fees) so there are no surprises down the road. This is where it’s important to compare apples to apples. 

3) Focus On The Important Capabilities, Not the Glitzy Features

When looking at different dealership management solutions, it can be easy to get caught up in the features. We don’t blame you - it’s easy to get lost in the world of best-of-breed integrations and features you didn’t even know were possible.  

While features are important, you need to make sure that the solution can actually do what you need it to. For example, if you don't have a lot of inventory turnover, then tracking historical trends might not be as important to you.

The most important capabilities to focus on are the ones that pertain directly to your dealership - that is why it is so important to highlight your particular pain points before you start your dealership management solution search.

4) What Do I Do With My Data?

Depending on this question there are two recommendations. 

If the data is up-to-date and organized, bring it with you. Modern DMS makes it easier than ever to bring over your existing data. If your data is outdated and incorrect, you might be better starting off fresh. Remember you put bad data in, you'll get bad data out. If your data isn’t in the right shape to import, don’t stress. You can always access it via Excel or some other simple data management solution.

5) Setup time to get your team trained

Training is one of the most important aspects of a successful implementation. Not everyone needs to be trained on every feature, but it is pivotal that each team member understands how the system works and their role within it. This will help ensure that everyone is using the system in the same way and can help avoid any confusion later. Remember - if you’re “too busy” to allocate the time now, when will you down the road.

Many DMS offer comprehensive training options to help your team get on the right track as quickly as possible. From one-on-one training sessions and online academies to chatbots and knowledge bases, your team will be making the DMS switch with confidence. While these are all integral parts of your team’s training, it's also important to have a dedicated project manager who can be the point person for any questions or issues that may come up.    

Ready to Start Looking for a DMS? 

These are just a few tips to get you started on your journey to implementing a dealership management solution in 2022. Remember, it's important to focus on what will work best for your business and not try to fit into a mold - there’s no “one size fits all” solution.

For more information, please visit blackpurl.com.

About Blackpurl

Blackpurl makes dealership management awesome. It believes in keeping it simple by eliminating hefty training and setup fees, making it easier to operate a dealership and creating a game-changing customer experience by building a platform dealerships love to use. With everything needed to run an operation included, rebelling against DMS has never felt so easy.