In the latest installment of the annual Power 300 issue of Auto Remarketing, we go behind the scenes with some of the leading companies in the used-car space and their top executives with a few Q&A features.

Next up in this series is Reuben Muinos, senior director of business development for DealerSocket. 

The emailed Q&A is below: 

Auto Remarketing: General Motors has given DealerSocket’s CRM product the greenlight to be an iMR Turnkey product. Can you explain a bit about what this program is? 

Reuben Muinos: General Motors has approved DealerSocket CRM for the GM iMR program. The program allows dealers to use certain accrued funds to offset certain vendors’ cost. GM dealers participating in iMR will now be able to use iMR funds for part of their DealerSocket CRM bill.

AR: What does this approval mean for DealerSocket, and for its dealer customers?

RM: This is an amazing opportunity for DealerSocket customers to help offset the cost of CRM by utilizing their iMR funds. General Motors understands the importance of utilizing a CRM in the dealership, and they are committed to helping their dealers acquire quality products. GM is at the forefront of integrations and support with technology vendors and their dealers.

AR: I understand that upgrades have been made to DealerSocket’s DealerFire web product. What changes have been made, and what prompted those changes?

RM: We’ve made a number of enhancements to DealerSocket’s responsive web product to improve security and speed up dealer websites. We’re also now offering a fully integrated digital retail tool for DealerFire sites called Precise Price.

1. For added security, we've included SSL certificates on our platform websites at no cost. Converting our HTTP sites to HTTPS helps with SEO and consumer peace of mind. 
    
2. We also released our mobile page speed enhancement module. This update was made globally and allows DealerFire websites to load in approximately three seconds, considered excellent by Google. Some of the page speed enhancements include server optimization, minification of code (like Javascript and CSS) and automated image compression. 
    
3. Lastly, we made a big update to the platform with the addition of Precise Price. Consumers can now calculate an accurate finance and lease payment directly from the DealerFire website, and it automatically imports all payment criteria into Desking. This means no dropped leads or miskeyed information through manual entry.

AR: Given that DealerSocket’s software touches a lot of different pieces of the retail dealership business, what’s on your radar and to-do list in this second half of the year?

RM: The biggest buzz in the industry today is digital retailing. Taking the customer from the web to F&I, all electronically, is the ultimate nirvana. You will see more and more vendors coming to market with digital retailing offerings over the next year, but most are nothing more than lead providers. One of the missing links in digital retailing has been the ability to push information from the customer-facing website into the DMS and creating a seamless experience with no double entry.

DealerSocket has been able to resolve this missing gap in the digital retail process with the launch of PrecisePrice. PrecisePrice has a full integration from the website to the DMS and we are working with many dealers to finally create a true digital retail experience.