​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.

​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.

At AutoPlay we've always been all about integration.  Wherever possible we've looked to integrate our AutoPlay Sales Pipeline with other 3rd Party systems such as DMS and CRM  systems, through to vehicle checks via MotorWeb, CarJam and Motorcentral.

Provident Insurance are 100% kiwi owned and driven - just like AutoPlay.  So when the opportunity came up for AutoPlay to integrate with Provident Insurance it proved to be a no brainer.  For mutual customers that use Provident Insurance as their insurance provider, salespeople are able to tap a button to easily push info across to the Provident Insurance system - jump starting the Insurance Application process.  

Once complete, salespeople can jump into the Provident Insurance system without having to retype all the customer or vehicle information already captured in AutoPlay.  From there, it's a simple case of completing any information required by Provident that is not able to be supplied via AutoPlay in order to finish the insurance application.

1.  If you are already a customer and want to take advantage of this feature then the first step is to contact AutoPlay via support@autoplay.co.nz to request set up.  The purpose of this email is to give AutoPlay written permission to send customer and lead data to Provident Insurance. 

2.  Once we have permission, AutoPlay will contact Provident Insurance and request your unique Provident ID Number.

3.  Once supplied by Provident, AutoPlay will set up API access using your unique ID as the key to send data from AutoPlay Sales Pipeline to Provident Insurance.

4.  Once the export record is set up as per (3), the Provident Insurance option will be visible within the FINANCE & INSURANCE button.

5.  Once the button is visible when you wish to start a new Insurance application with Provident Insurance just open the lead with the customer who wishes to apply and click Finance & Insurance>Provident Insurance.

VIEW SAMPLE FILE

The weather may have taken a turn for the worse recently, but Lead, Test Drive and Sales activity remains buoyant.  Following a strong May, June 2018 saw the number of Leads generated increase by 6.2%, Test Drives increase by 5.9% and Sales by 1.2%.

For the second consecutive month the number of leads from the ‘Web – Dealer’ source decreased – by 1.2% from May to June.  As expected with Fieldays activity we experienced a 30.8% increase in the number of leads generated to dealers by their ‘Brand’.  After a significant increase in leads from ‘Web Classified’ sources last month, this source again accounted for the 3rd most leads and increased by 5.7% from May to June 2018.

After the volume of Test Drives from the ‘Web – Dealer’ source decreased in May, the source rebounded to increase by 17.3% from month to month.  Test Drives attributed to the ‘Direct’ source again occupied second spot and increased by 7.8% from May to June.  Test Drives from ‘Brand’ generated leads did increase – by 4.9% - but perhaps less than expected from the higher volume of Fieldays leads.  This potentially means that Fieldays activity has been a bit slow to translate to Test Drives, and potentially means we may see a proportionate increase in Test Drives from the ‘Brand’ source in future months.

In June 2018 there was a change in the status quo for Sales tracking.  Whilst ‘Web – Dealer’ retained the top spot and increased by 8.9% from May to June 2018.  However, whilst in May ‘Repeat’ and ‘Direct’ accounted for the 2nd and 3rd most Sales by source, these sources were overtaken by ‘Web Classified’ (up 27.4% from May 2018) and ‘Brand’ (up 32.9%) respectively. 

Make sure to check in next month to find out the top sources of Leads, Test Drives and Sales for kiwi dealers in July.  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.

Events play an important role for many marketers.  According to Lead Liaison (another overseas company in this space), 58% of marketers have used an event lead management solution or lead capture tool at a live event.  Despite this only 34% of marketers use new referrals, quality of leads and sales closure to measure event ROI (Marketing Charts 2013).
 
In addition, over 80% of marketers cannot quantify the data they collect during events, yet 46% of marketers view generating leads as the main reason to attend events and trade shows.  Most damningly of all, some sources suggest 75% of all leads are never followed up with after an exhibition.
 
When you consider that some exhibitors are using paper forms to capture their potential leads at events these figures start to make sense.  Inevitably it’s a lot of work to type out all the details on the form into a spreadsheet, and then distribute that spreadsheet out to their dealer network – not to mention chase up individual dealers and salespeople to see where they got to following up their leads.
 
In the last few years AutoPlay has been working with a number of brands to improve the efficiency of their lead capture at various events, and more importantly making their follow up considerably easier.  There are several approaches on how AutoPlay can be utilised at events to help capture more leads;
 
1.  “Cold walk ins, light touch approach”
WHAT?
Collect leads via a very simple web form that feeds leads into your Sales Pipeline Dashboard
PROS
+ Can design your own custom form especially for this event – making it as simple as you need it to be
+ Web form is a one-way push to Sales Pipeline and as such can work much better when internet is patchy
+ Don’t need the Sales Pipeline on-site.  Can access the web form on any device that has an internet connection
CONS
-  Doesn’t allow for any customer lookup – meaning there is no opportunity to prequalify event attendees
- Cannot link a database to pre-event marketing activity
 

2.  “Pre-qualified, integrated marketing approach”
WHAT?
In conjunction with marketing activity prior to the event you can pre-qualify leads that are likely to attend the event.  These leads can be sent from a CRM to AutoPlay Sales Pipeline – allowing salespeople to lookup pre-qualified leads during the event.
PROS
+  Ties in with pre-event marketing to ensure ROI tracking is linked from start to finish
+  Pre-qualified customers are further down the decision channel and this streamlines the experience during the event
+  Minimises chances of duplicate customers or duplicate leads
+  Enables salespeople to use built in tools such as database lookups, business card and drivers licence scanning
CONS
-  Looking up a database of thousands of leads can require a reliable internet connection – something that is not always guaranteed at events and trade shows
-  More pre-event work required to pre-qualify leads
-  No ability to provide customers with a simplified lead capture form – leads entered manually at the event must be manually entered to the Sales Pipeline
 
Why capture leads with AutoPlay during events?
The most obvious answer is in order to track ROI of how many potential leads are generated during the event.  However, it goes much further than this.  By capturing leads via AutoPlay dealerships and OEM’s benefit greatly in the weeks and months following;

• Distribution of leads post event to dealerships/salespeople is made easy as all data already exists within AutoPlay
• Follow up of leads is made easier for salespeople as the lead is immediately visible within their own Sales Pipeline Dashboard
• Event leads are mixed right in with their normal day-to-day leads – making ongoing follow up over the coming weeks and months part of their natural day-today routine
• Users don’t need to double handle data – meaning less duplicate leads and customers
• OEMS and managers gain a fuller picture of success from events as they are not just able to see Sales and Test Drives from the event, but also Appraisals or just a measure of activity via Progress or Calendar Events
• Many leads that would likely fall through the cracks are all recorded – further increasing the pool of leads the dealerships have to remarket to

 
If you are interested in using AutoPlay for events talk to matt@autoplay.co.nz about the approach that would be suitable for your dealership/brand.

The latest version of AutoPlay is now available for download from the App Store.  Make sure to grab the latest version to take advantage of all the changes listed below.  Additionally, if you use the Desktop Studio make sure to log out, close the browser window and reopen the application to apply the latest update.

• Automatically clear notifications after 7 days to improve loading speed
• When Vehicle Appraisal Manager Approval is enabled lock down the Appraisal Form after creation so that the valuations cannot be changed.  In addition managers now have the option of telling AutoPlay to send SMS notifications as well as the standard email notification when there is a waiting Appraisal
• When Closing Leads As Won users are now able to add a follow up date via a ‘Post Sale Follow Up Date’ field within the Close Won popup.  This will close the lead, but also create a calendar event on the specific day labelled “Post Sales Follow Up”
• Force users to choose a Type when creating Loan Car Forms instead of defaulting to None
• On iPad now prompt a message asking user “Do you want to send this assistance request?” when completing an Assistance Request.  This brings it into line with the Desktop
• When sending Appraisals to wholesalers from iPhone via SMS in addition to the 3 images embedded in the SMS we also automatically generate a google shortened URL to a website with the rest of the Appraisal images
• Added a disclaimer to the Appraisal Form and Write Up Forms “Vehicle trade price will be confirmed once any outstanding airbag, recall or campaign work is verified to be completed”
• When using Test Drive Kiosk mode, we now refresh the listings every time the listing popup is opened
• Added a BACK button to Sales Pipeline Reporting to assist users getting back to the app after using the EXPORT function
• Fixed ‘Clear Signature’ option in iOS app within the Write Up Form
• Individual notifications are no longer sent when bulk closing leads and bulk closing now occurs in the background to minimise disruption to the user
• Closed Leads with no outstanding calendar event are no longer classed as Stalled when viewing on the Dashboard
• Fixed issue with ‘Manual Load’ tick box not appearing under certain accounts
• AutoPlay are now able to set up individual Test Drive T&C’s for any “brochureware” yards
• Middle Name is now weighted in the customer database search that happens when a new lead is loaded
• When duplicating a Fleet Quote Builder email the Accessories are now copied across to the new email
• New Role Management setting to give dealerships greater control over who can and cannot Delete Leads.  This is for accounts where users are set up as System Admin but should not be able to delete leads
• When Notes on a lead are edited by an external CRM or DMS integration this triggers a notification to the lead owner that Notes have been added to their lead
• Improvements to how searching for customers in the Address Book screen works to gain more accuracy in search results
• New Role Management setting to enable dealerships to hide the Wholesale Quotes section from users they don’t want to see wholesale quotes
• When dealers are in an Assistance Request record they are now able to duplicate the record using a ‘Create Duplicate’ button.  This is useful if the request has been declined as a new request can be made with minimal effort
• Added ‘Next Action’ field to Print List function on the Sales Pipeline Dashboard.  This column shows the whether the Next Action is Overdue/Stalled etc.  Additionally, the Overdue Days field will display negative numbers if the event is in the future
• On Prospect & CRM Follow Up screen users can now either click the Complete button, or tick the on-screen check box to mark the record as complete
• When a Wishlist has matching Appraisals, these are now displayed by the most recent Appraisal first
• Added a filter for Model within the Morning Meeting Report, Email Allocation & Response Time, Overdue Lead Report
• Preferred Name field has been added to Lead Audit Report
• Upcoming category added to the Overdue Lead Report
• Added a column for Dealership Name to the Overdue Lead Report when logged into group/brand accounts
• Restricted Lead Source pie graph to show no more than 15 labels for lead sources. This has been done to ensure graph remains readable.  Full list of lead sources still available within data table.
• Closed Notes added to Export Report function within the Closed Lead Report
  
• In Market Leads – see /playbook/introducing-in-market-leads-making-buyer-matching-easy