​Did you know you can use your iPad or iPhones built in dictation feature to record what you want to say, and the iPad/iPhone will automatically convert your words into text.  For those of us that are slow typists, this feature can be quite useful as it makes compiling emails within the Sales Pipeline even easier than it already is with Standard Responses and our built in video tool.

Dictation won't work on every field within the Sales Pipeline - for example Customer Email and Customer Mobile.  You'll know if you can dictate if when you open the keyboard to type you see a microphone icon - as pictured above.  The function is available in the Notes fields on leads, and on the Messages field when crafting a Email Response.  Simply hit the microphone icon and start talking.  You will notice that your words begin to appear on screen as iOS converts them to text.  From our experiments we've found this feature to be quite accurate across a range of diverse kiwi and aussie accents, however remember to speak slowly and clearly for best results.

If you are not seeing the microphone icon on your keyboard then you will need to activate this function.  To do so;

1.  Open SETTINGS on your iPad or iPhone Home screen.
2. Tap GENERAL.​
3.  Tap KEYBOARD.
4. Tap on the On/Off toggle next to ENABLE DICTATION.  Green means Dictation is on, grey mean it is off.

If you want to find out more about the AutoPlay Email Response Tool contact support@autoplay.co.nz with any questions or to arrange training.

As many of you will be eagerly awaiting, we've been rebuilding our existing Silverlight based Desktop Studio in HTML5.  This will give our customers huge benefits including the ability to run the Desktop on any browser (Chrome, Firefox, IE, Edge, Safari etc), as well as on any device (iOS, Android, Windows tablet and devices).  This obviously means that installs are easier, and it becomes a lot more flexible for our users to jump on and manage leads at any time.

We've been working diligently on this project on/off from January, but it's been a while since we last updated all our customers on our progress towards completing this massive project.  Where possible we are pumping as much resources into this project as possible, and we are making good progress.  At present we are working on the most important part of the system - the Dashboard of the Sales Pipeline.

As you can see from the screenshot above we are making good progress on this.  The Dashboard is much faster loading and has had a few subtle improvements, whilst still maintaining all the amazing features our customers are used to.

The HTML5 version of the AutoPlay Studio for Desktop is our number one development priority.  At this stage we are hoping to get an early release BETA version out to selected customers at the end of Q1.  If this changes then we will advise you as soon as possible.

If you have any questions about the HTML5 version of the AutoPlay Studio then please feel free to email matt@autoplay.co.nz with your questions.

Last week we launched a refresh of the AutoPlay website.  The new site does a better job of showcasing the full range of products and features that AutoPlay can offer.  In addition there are now separate versions of the site for New Zealand and Australia that include customised content for each country, that more closely reflects our product offerings in each respective market.

Feel free to take a look via the links below.  We'd love to hear your feedback.

For New Zealand customers - https://www.autoplay.co.nz/ 
For Australian customers - https://www.autoplay.com.au/​

Australian dealerships are now able to run vehicle lookups through MotorWeb within the Appraisal screen in the AutoPlay Sales Pipeline.  Vehicle look ups cost $0.64AUD + GST for each successful lookup, which populates some vehicle fields on the Appraisal Form.  To find out more about this function you can view the How To Guide HERE.  To sign up for this function please email support@autoplay.co.nz

• Fixed a bug with accessing reporting, hitting refresh and refining your report from within the iPad App.
• We’ve added an option to restrict the Lead Dashboard to show only the ‘First 100’ leads returned by the filters.  If your experiencing slow performance this option will help speed up the Dashboard for you.  Contact support@autoplay.co.nz to enable this role.
• Added the VIN and Chassis fields to the Listing screen for the Motor Home/Caravan Listing Type.
• Changed references to ‘Toyota Certified Imports’ to ‘Toyota Certified’.
• Added a new Assistance Request Status for ATECO called ‘Conditional’.
• Fixed a bug in the Vehicle Appraisal Dashboard where the date range filter was not picking up the right records within the selected date range under certain circumstances.
• When a lead is ‘Closed – Won’ AutoPlay will now automatically mark the lead as ‘Sold’ as well – making it easier to understand in reporting.
• Tidied up error messages displayed when the device has no internet connection.
• The iOS Apps will now allow users to edit Accessories on a Write Up Form, or Reconditioning Items on an Appraisal Form after the initial form has been created (Note – this brings it into line with the current Desktop application).
• On the iPhone app it is now possible to edit the Notes field within the Test Drive or Loan Car Forms.
• Assorted improvements to In-Market Leads functionality.  View a full breakdown of this function HERE;
  • After selecting ‘Ignore’ on a matching In-Market Lead, the app no longer automatically closes the window displaying all your possible matches.
  • In-Market Leads – we can now stop this function from running on selected yards by removing the yards from the ‘In Market Leads’ role settings.
  • Changes to “Brochureware” yard listings no longer appear in the In-Market Leads dashboard.  Leads with “brochureware” listings will still be matched against new listings/price decreases if the criteria matches.
  • When an In-Market Lead is triggered by a Price Decrease, the previous price will now be displayed on the matching In-Market Leads record.
  • Within the in-Market Lead matching screen the lead Yard is now displayed.
  • When an In-Market Lead is triggered by a Price Decrease, there is now a separate option to ‘Schedule Follow Up’ on leads with this exact vehicle against them.
  • After adding a New Listing as the Primary or Secondary Listing on a matching In-Market Lead, a calendar event is automatically created for today +24 hours so users will know to follow up with the customer about the new listing.
    
  • After actioning a matching In-Market Lead by adding the listing or scheduling follow up, the user will be automatically taken to the relevant Lead within the Dashboard – instead of having to manually search for the lead they were just working on.
    
  • Added a new filter on the In-Market Leads dashboard to restrict the visible leads via Interest (Hot, Warm and Cold)
    
  • Made considerable improvements to the speed that matching In-Market Leads are displayed – particularly on Desktop.

​At AutoPlay we frequently get asked what is best practice - both when it comes to using the AutoPlay suite of products and also in the broader sense of managing leads.  In response to this we've come up with a couple of flow charts that sum up how we believe a lead should be managed from start to finish.

Click on the image below to open a PDF file.

If you would like to talk to AutoPlay on what we believe Sales People and Sales Managers should be doing on a Daily, Weekly or Monthly basis please contact us on (+64) 9 361 1505.  We have other Best Practice Guides that cover these topics and are available upon request for AutoPlay customers. 

​If you have any questions about these best practice documents, or would like to organise training in your dealership please contact support@autoplay.co.nz to arrange.

Despite dealership websites overtaking Trade Me as the number one source of Leads, Test Drives and Sales – Trade Me is still NZ’s number one third party listing site and accounts for a reasonable portion of a dealerships online leads. 

The AutoPlay Support Team frequently gets calls from dealerships confused about why their listings have not made it to Trade Me.  Below is a quick checklist of things you need to know to make sure your listings get on to Trade Me first time, every time.

·         The listing must have a Year, Make, Model, Price, Transmission and Body Type
·         The listing Transmission and Body Type need to match Trade Me’s list of pre-defined options.  Trade Me do have a mapping table to map different Transmission or Body Types, but the further from their defined list the higher chance your listing will be frozen
·         The listing Make and Model must match Trade Me’s list of Makes and Models – if your Model doesn’t exist then you need to contact Trade Me to request it is added
·         The listing Body Type selected must match the Make/Model – you cannot load a Hilux as a Hatchback
·         The listing requires 1 of Chassis, VIN or Rego
·         The listing must not reuse a stock number
·         The listing Odometer cannot go backwards
·         The listing cannot contain special HTML characters
·         The listing cannot have any contact info/url’s etc anywhere within the listing – this includes on the images
·         The listing must have at least 1 image
·         If using Trade Me Super Feature the listing must have at least 3 photos

Follow these basic rules and you should find all your listings make it on to Trade Me at the first attempt and don’t get frozen.  If any of these rules are not followed it can cause delays with the listing making it to be live on the site, as Trade Me staff will need to get involved to review the listing.
​
AutoPlay offer a full range of Data Management services including populating stock pages on your website and exporting to third party portals.  If you have any questions about AutoPlay’s data management services contact us on +64 (09) 361 1505.

Make sure to check in next month to find out the top sources of Leads, Test Drives and Sales for dealerships in August.  Lead Source reports are just one of the reports available to dealerships and OEM’s who use AutoPlay Sales Pipeline.  To find out more about the range of reports available via AutoPlay contact us on sales@autoplay.co.nz or +64 9 361 1505. ​

​Over the past 12 months you might have noticed our Dealer Solutions Manager Jackie Hingston in your dealership as we’ve made a concerted effort to get around and visit all our customers.  As part of Jackie’s visit she was conducting a review of each dealerships strengths and weaknesses.  However, the good news is that you don’t need to wait until AutoPlay visits you in order to conduct your own self review.
​
LEVEL 1:
If you feel like your dealership is below average at utilising the AutoPlay Sales Pipeline then the areas to focus on that will provide you with the most improvement are;

·         Tell us what you did (i.e load leads and update the Progress)
·         Tell us what you are going to do (i.e use the Calendar)

You can measure the number of leads loaded by each salesperson by using the Lead Summary and Conversion or Daily Activity Reports.  Simply open the report, select your date range and open the salesperson section to have the report display by salesperson.

The Sales Pipeline Report will give you a breakdown of whether your dealership is progressing the leads being loaded.  The goal is to ensure that there is not a disproportionate amount of leads sitting at Awaiting Action, and also allows the dealership to identify areas where the leads are stalling through the road-to-a-sale.

The Morning Meeting Report can be used in order to report back on how well the sales team are using the calendar.  It will give managers an instant view of how many calendar events each salesperson has created for the day, and how many are complete.

LEVEL 2:
Once you’ve mastered Level 1, it’s time to advance to Level 2.  Whilst Level 1 focuses on simply what you’ve done and what you are going to do, Level 2 ups the game.  If you can achieve mastery of Level 2 you will be a competent user of AutoPlay Sales Pipeline;

·         Are you using the Test Drive Forms AND making sure to mark your Test Drives as DONE when the customer finishes the Test Drive?
·         Are you using the Appraisal Form and benefitting from the MotorWeb/MotorCentral/CarJam integration?
·         Are you using the Calendar effectively to minimise the amount of leads falling into Overdue or Stalled?
·         Are you using the Morning Meeting Report to help with your daily one-on-ones with the sales team?
·         Are you using the Sales Pipeline Report to identify the areas in the road to a sale where your leads are stalling?
·         Are you using the Lead Summary and Conversion Report to determine your conversion to Test Drive and Sales?

LEVEL 3:
If you can answer yes to all the questions in Level 1 & Level 2 then congrats – you are more than likely using the Sales Pipeline effectively.  That said, it’s time to take it to the next level;

·         Do you enter salesperson Lead, Test Drive and Sales targets and measure against this month and last month using the Daily Activity Performance Report?
·         Do you enter Lead Source and Lead Campaign costs to measure ROI in the Lead Source and Marketing ROI reports within AutoPlay reporting?
·         Have you compared the number of leads at Awaiting Action to your normal Test Drive and Sales conversion figures to determine how much money is sitting in your captured data?
·         Do you take advantage of Live Leads to target the captured leads you have yet to sell to?  Live Leads allows you to build an audience based on your previously captured leads, and automatically schedule follow up based on their interaction with your email.
·         Have you got into In Market Leads yet?  In Market Leads is a great way to immediately link potential interested buyers when the dealership loads new listings or lowers the price of existing listings.

We’ve worked hard to make sure the AutoPlay Sales Pipeline is easy to use and intuitive, and we’re proud that many users can pick up the software and with a minimum of assistance start managing their leads via the Dashboard.  That said we understand that the primary job of a salesperson is to sell cars, not learn software.  From time-to-time it can be beneficial for sales people to have a refresher on AutoPlay.  We offer a number of options for new staff or refreshers

​AutoPlay Academy (Free of charge to AutoPlay customers)
The AutoPlay Academy is AutoPlay’s e-learning module and covers use of the Sales Pipeline on Desktop, iPad and iPhone. Each series is made up of a range of courses designed to help you get the most out of the Sales Pipeline.  Click on the link below to find out more and get started with AutoPlay Academy
http://autoplay.co.nz/Academy.aspx

Face-to-face Training ($1,000 + GST for full days training in dealership + expenses/flights/accommodation if applicable)
​
For those that prefer face-to-face training AutoPlay can spend the day at your dealership (exact hours dependent on availability of flights).  Typically, it’s a good idea to divide the day into 2 sessions to ensure there are always salespeople available on the sales floor.  This also ensures smaller sessions which result in more hands-on attention, and more willingness to get involved.  AutoPlay Sales Pipeline training is hands on and is perfect for both new salespeople and as refreshers for existing salespeople.  As with Skype training, dealerships can tailor their own specialised training or let AutoPlay’s experienced trainers recommend best practice.

Spending time with AutoPlay staff members can yield great results.  At AutoPlay we don’t just want you to pay for our product.  We want to help dealerships connect buyers and sellers and we firmly believe that if your dealership takes advantage of the functionality available within the Sales Pipeline, you’ll improve accuracy, efficiency and transparency throughout the dealership.

To book training with AutoPlay or enrol in the AutoPlay Academy contact support@autoplay.co.nz with your request.