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Sometimes three or four simple letters can make your world a whole lot brighter. Think D-O-G or L-O-V-E or F-O-O-D.  If you run an auto-repair shop, the same is true of C-R-M.

Why?

Because a CRM can make your working environment a lot more efficient, better organized, more profitable, and less stressful.

So what exactly is a CRM? It’s simply a Customer Relationship Management software tool. With a CRM loaded on your office computer, you benefit from one easy-to-use, easy-to-manage place to store all your contact, customer, and booking information—and one place that tracks all activities related to them. 

But it goes beyond that. A CRM also allows you to communicate more effectively with your customers . . . better manage vendor relationships . . . store crucial sales, marketing, and customer-service information . . . generate critical reports and other documents . . . identify new revenue opportunities . . . deliver consistent, high-quality customer service . . . and track and quantify your progress toward business, marketing, sales, and customer-service your goals.

Is a CRM Right for YOUR Business?

Before looking at any specific CRM tool, it’s important to ask yourself these 2 critical questions:

What are our shop’s specific needs?

and . . .

Will this be an unnecessary expense . . . or a smart investment?

Specific indicators that your “shop may be ready to shop” for a CRM include:

• Your customer, prospect, vendor, etc. information currently is spread across different systems;
• You know you’d benefit from the capacity to target specific customers and prospects and personalize customer-service and marketing communications;
• You want to be able to track marketing and sales strategies—and identify new and/or recurring sales/revenue opportunities;
• You feel you never have enough time, and want to speed-up otherwise time-consuming, tedious office procedures.

Will It Pay?

While very tiny auto-repair shops may not need a CRM, any shop of even two or three mechanics and/or office personnel will typically experience, with a CRM, the immediate benefits of increased efficiency and reduced headaches. And that’s a formula for greater long-term profitability and happier employees.

When you look at it that way, it’s no wonder auto-repair shops—in overwhelming numbers—are moving toward CRM solutions. More and more mechanics and administrators are asking themselves, “How can our business afford NOT to use this tool?”

Auto Bookings Online is an online tool specifically designed to help auto-repair shops maximize profitability through better-managed customer bookings.