Alison Ottaway, Brand Development Manager for The Co-operative Motor Group - "Developing a better understanding of which messages and tactical communications attract customers so that time and effort can be put into marketing exercises that actually work is undoubtedly the ‘Holy Grail’ for dealerships, especially in the current challenging climate.

Following a successful six month trial, The Co-op erative Motor Group has introduced a new call tracking and recording system developed by dealership marketing specialist, Marketing Delivery Ltd, which is delivering real results.

The use of unique local phone numbers for individual campaigns and detailed intelligence on the activity against each number has allowed us to identify the return on investment and confirm the effectiveness of each campaign. We’re now using this information to plan future activity and target our spend much more effectively .

The aptly named ‘SmartCall’ system is enabling us to audit the facilities and resources used within the sales and aftersales operations across the G roup to ensure each site is meeting customer expectations. Following the trial, we’ve now rolled it out across the entire Group - 23 franchised dealerships throughout the Midlands, Yorkshire and North West.

Of course, our people and processes have come under the spotlight too and the new system has highlighted areas for improvement. Because SmartCall allows us to record and play back customer calls into the business quickly and easily, we’ve been able to identify training and development needs – and, of course, acknowledge best practice among our teams.

We’re always on the lookout for products that make the day-to-day aspects of running a dealership simpler & more effective and that, ultimately, allow us to improve the quality of the service we provide to our customers. SmartCall has slotted seamlessly into our operational strategy .

SmartCall emails and/or sends a text to the sales manager every time a call is missed or a voicemail message is left, so we’re able to call the customer back within minutes. I’ve no doubt that this will secure new business and improve retention rates. It’s too soon to report any increase in sales or aftersales business but anecdotal feedback from our site managers has been very encouraging .

Tracking and recording calls is not a new idea but the effectiveness of any system that offers this facility is dependent on the managers actually using it. And, of course, if the system is complicated to use, they will avoid it! I would urge other dealers to take a close look at the administration of the system they have in place to make sure there are no barriers to use and that they’re getting value for money."