Along with introducing a new customer relationship management system (CRM) for dealers, Reynolds and Reynolds recently announced the acquisition of GoMoto, a provider in kiosk technology for the service lane that can offer streamlined, self-led customer check-in and check-out.

Robert Burnett, senior vice president for business development and acquisitions at Reynolds, explained why the provider of automotive dealership software, documents and professional services made this move.

“When I speak with dealers, I consistently hear them note the importance of the service department in their overall business, but also the need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service operations and improve the way consumers experience the Service department,” Burnett said in a news release.

“GoMoto is a proven retailing tool that will enable dealerships to increase efficiencies and better serve customers the way the customer chooses to be served,” he continued.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, according to a news release.

As automotive retailing continues its digital transformation, Reynolds reiterated the value of its tools such as the docuPAD system, Reynolds eWorkflow, e-contracting and Advanced Service.  With the addition of GoMoto, Reynolds has expanded those capabilities with a well-established technology and product team.

Reynolds highlighted the GoMoto benefits include:

— Streamlines the service check-in process — in as little as two minutes or less — and collects the necessary information with 95% accuracy

— Boosts higher throughput in service

— Displays service recommendations tailored to the customer’s vehicle and helps improve the upsell rate at the dealership by as much as 20%

— Displays other upsell opportunities, including trade-in appraisals, which have increased vehicle trade-in appraisal rate by as much as 11%

— Provides a consumer-friendly reminder for recall alerts

“The GoMoto platform and software tools already have a substantial footprint among automotive retailers,” GoMoto chief executive officer Todd Marcelle said.  “As consumers, we’re used to self-service technology across a lot of different retail environments.  Why wouldn’t we expect the same from automotive retailers?  Combining our business as part of Reynolds will provide immediate growth opportunities and is really exciting for all of us at GoMoto.”

Today, GoMoto software can fit seamlessly with major DMS providers.  Burnett indicated that practice won’t change with the acquisition.

“This acquisition is one more example of Reynolds’ ongoing commitment to support automotive retailers in operating more efficiently and profitably, while, at the same time, improving the overall car-buying and servicing experience for a dealership’s customers,” Burnett concluded.

Details about Reynolds’ new tool named FOCUS

In other company news, Reynolds also introduced a new customer relationship management system (CRM) for automotive retailers named FOCUS.

The company explained FOCUS is a dealership-wide CRM system enhanced with mobile functionality and built to deliver the efficiency, convenience, and accessibility that dealership personnel rank as top priorities.

Designed and built as part of Reynolds Retail Management System, FOCUS helps ensure dealers are maintaining one database of customer information to manage all aspects of the dealership. As a result, FOCUS can provide a full picture of the customer life cycle across all dealership departments — from sales to service — without duplicate entries or keystrokes.

“FOCUS represents a complete reimagining of what a CRM system can and should be,” said Jon Strawsburg, vice president of product planning for Reynolds and Reynolds. “CRM tools have been around for years and generally have gotten more sophisticated and complex.

“But that added complexity doesn’t always make it more effective to get work done. We changed that,” Strawburg continued. “FOCUS is built to make managing the customer relationship easy and intuitive, and to help in deciding what ought to be done next, not simply providing a list of what needs to be done some time.”

The new CRM system is built on the unique roles of users throughout the dealership. Reynolds broke down what various store departments can do with FOCUS, including:

— Managers can more effectively train, lead, and manage their sales force with automated process tracking.

— Sales professionals can more efficiently manage their sales process as it happens, closing more deals and avoiding the dreaded, “I’ll be back.”

— BDC and marketing managers can more proficiently handle leads, appointments, and customer communications from a single tool and virtually eliminate manual entry.

“It’s become increasingly apparent to us that traditional CRMs haven’t been cutting it for the challenges dealers face today — and more importantly, will face tomorrow,” Strawsburg said. “We incorporated extensive feedback from dealers who tested and used the new product — in their stores, in real time, for real work.”

“What we delivered is more than a CRM,” he added. “FOCUS redefines traditional functionality to achieve the perfect balance of employee empowerment, management control and dealership-wide success.”

To learn more about how FOCUS can help revamp your dealership, visit reyrey.com/FOCUS.