The rise in price of a first class stamp from 46 pence to 60 means all dealers should complete a switch to newer forms of customer communication, says dealer management software specialist Pinewood

The company points out that a gradual shift from to e-mail and text as the prime method of proactive customer contact, especially for marketing purposes, has been underway for more than a decade but that many dealers still use traditional postal communication.

Neville Briggs, managing director, explained that the stamp price increase, together with the associated costs of production, could have potentially make post redundant for almost all dealer to customer communications.

He explained: “Many dealers have maintained traditional mail alongside newer forms of communication for a number of reasons.  For a start, systems have needed to change to encourage e-mail address capture while customers needed a reason to volunteer their e-mail addresses without fear of simply being bombarded with mailshots. However, dealers should now have compiled solid databases.”

Continue reading

Dealers are frequently underestimating the true cost of their dealer management system, particularly when trying to compare one provider with another

DMS specialist Pinewood says there are three elements to cost that should be considered:

• Firstly, capital outlay and ongoing maintenance paid to your DMS provider
• Secondly, additional software or services which may be needed because they are not included in your particular DMS
• And thirdly, further manpower and other costs that may result from having to adopt those additional software or services

Managing director Neville Briggs explained that the issue of accurate cost calculation was important because it allowed dealers to calculate whether their existing or potential new DMS was providing a worthwhile return on investment.

Continue reading