Customer relationship management (CRM) tools are some of the biggest buzzwords in recent years. By 2021, Gartner predicts that CRM will be the single largest revenue area of spending in enterprise software. And with good reason. If you plan your business to last, you had better make a viable, long-term business strategy.

Research has found that it is easier (and smarter) to invest into customer retention than new client acquisition, so in order not to memorize all the unnecessary data (who would have such big of a brain anyway?), your company needs a solid CRM. Such software tools are great for integration of different modes of communication and creation of welcoming or follow-up emails to check the status of your current communication. With a slight dash of reporting and seeing what worked (or not), your dealership can optimize its sales funnel within months.

Therefore, it would be smart to invest into customer retention, which is why we reflect upon Forrester’s predictions about customer service. Year after year, Kate Leggett analyzes how to make your customer service better and your operations more efficient. In her most recent report, she sees three broad trends your dealership should consider to fundamentally transform operations:

#1 Customers demand fast service anywhere, anytime.

With more choice upon shoppers’ hands and a plethora of products to buy, purchasing decisions are influenced by more information coming from the different streams and channels. In the age of big data and time-saving apps, people seem to lack the very essence they are trying to recover: time. Patience comes hand in hand with it, so your customers now demand from you to solve their issues as priorities.

Thus, Leggett predicts “that companies will explore chatbots and voice user interfaces to enhance the self-service experience, as well as investigate visual engagement technologies to cut through the conversational clutter and preserve a customer’s time.”

Key takeaway: Delve into CRMs which integrate texting apps and chatbots to help your car dealership customers solve their issues within moments upon receiving an SMS. Save time and money, and avoid unnecessary paperwork or administrative costs and have all your conversations stored on a cloud computer.

#2 Automation and AI quells headcount increases.

The proliferation of interactions across a swelling number of channels has forced customer service teams to enlarge their lineup despite the immense costs they bring (the numbers show projections of a 5-10% growth in the coming year).

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