What’s the most time-consuming part of making a sale? More often than not, it’s the paperwork: dragging the customer inside to input information…involving sales managers who are stuck in their offices desking deals...getting trade-in information down on paper to input into the appraisal tool, which is back in the office, and so on.

Sound familiar?  There should be an easier way—and there is. It’s called mobile CRM.

Today’s smartphones let you do almost anything from the palm of your hand. And everyone has one: an April 2015 Comscore Study found that an average salesperson checks the phone approximately 150 times a day. If you think about it, that’s 150 potential opportunities to add a new customer to your database. An auto dealership can boost productivity, improve customer service, simplify the selling process, deliver real-time information, and increase and ensure accuracy—all by simply providing its salespeople with mobile tools.

A mobile CRM is a great place to start. Instead of being tied to their desks while customers are ignored on the lot, mobile-enabled salespeople can assist customers and input information on the spot. Rather than clustering around the front door waiting for the next customer—which means they aren’t following up on leads—salespeople can easily integrate and manage tasks from anywhere.

To see how that could work, visit an Apple store—where purchasers don’t need to stand in line at the cash register. Every employee has an app to capture the customer’s information and complete an entire transaction from start to finish, anywhere in the store.

Meanwhile, the average dealer’s existing process goes more like this: A customer asks for numbers on a certain vehicle. The salesperson brings the customer inside to type necessary data into the computer and grab a trade appraisal slip. Then it’s outside again to collect the customer’s trade-in information…which must be added to the CRM as well, so…back to the desk. Time now to head over to the sales manager, who pulls up the just-added CRM information, takes the trade appraisal slip out to the customer’s vehicle, does a walk around and makes notes. Once more, it’s back to the computer to input more information. And all of that is  just to get a trade value—we haven’t even started working on the actual deal!

Now imagine that process with a mobile CRM: suddenly, inputting customer info doesn’t have to happen inside—it can be done right on the lot, right at the vehicle. Instead of information being jotted on note pads or the backs of business cards, it’s logged directly into the system from anywhere—extremely relevant when you consider that salespeople on average log only 50-60 percent of customers that visit the dealership. A mobile CRM can increase logged customers by as much as 25 percent.

With a mobile CRM, the salesperson simply scans a customer’s driver’s license and trade-in VIN. That information goes to the sales manager, who can start structuring a deal almost immediately. A process that usually takes upwards of an hour was just reduced to minutes. It’s more efficient, more accurate, and best of all, it creates a significantly better customer experience.

And speaking of sales managers … a mobile CRM can give them access to reports and deal updates with just the click of a button. It also allows them to see the progress of every salesperson and customer at each stage of the sales process. No more wondering where Bill went or what’s going on with the customer who came in hours ago—with a mobile CRM, they’ll know. 

Technology can be intimidating, but this one is pretty much a no-brainer. Give your staff the ability to access the CRM no matter where they are. You’ll see an increase in customer information logged, more accurate and detailed notes in the CRM, and desk managers who can now desk more deals with more efficiency…and all in real-time.

Trust me: your customers—AND your employees—will thank you for it.