Market Scan's New Profitcenter: Automobile Dealers' One Solution for Retail and Lease Financing
SAN FRANCISCO--Feb. 3, 2003--Market Scan Information Systems, Inc.:-- Market Scan's Sales Force Automation empowers sales
professionals to drive profits by improving productivity,
automating sales lead and customer contact management, and
providing real-time access to critical information remotely or
on-site.
Market Scan Information Systems, the leading provider of financing software solutions for automotive dealers, today announced a new version of its Profitcenter(TM). Now designed to be the one solution automotive retailers need to drive accountability, increase profits, sell more cars in less time, automate contact management, and access information needed to manage their sales teams and businesses in real-time from virtually anywhere in the world. The new Profitcenter will debut at NADA Conference in San Francisco, February 1st through 4th in Booth 1214N.
"For the first time in our business, automotive retailers have the one tool they need to improve overall profitability by selling more cars, increasing gross margins on every deal, building lease penetration, improving sales manager efficiency, managing inventory and information in real-time and evaluating trades more accurately -- all at the touch of a screen," said Ron Means, CEO, Market Scan. "Using this one tool from Market Scan, Profitcenter, automotive retailers have the ability to reduce the time it takes customers to purchase a vehicle by nearly 50%."
Using either of the newly upgraded main Profitcenter components, New Vehicles Lease and Retail and Used Vehicles Lease and Retail, automotive sales teams can access Market Scan's unparalleled database of over 192,000 lease and retail finance programs, ensuring they offer their customers the best retail and lease finance pricing available in the market -- all in less than 10 seconds. Profitcenter's advanced management information reporting ensures that sales managers have the critical information at the touch of a screen. For example, managers can develop customized reports to monitor their entire inventory by virtually any measurement -- lot age, equity position, recent auction value, and more.
These newly designed modules also provide more accurate book outs by including data from both local and national used vehicle auction values as well as the Kelly Blue Book, NADA, and the Black Book. In addition, the enhanced A-B Pencil feature now includes a split screen display allowing sales reps to view and work both lease and retail financing simultaneously on every transaction. Using Profitcenter, automotive retailers can reduce the average time to complete a transaction from 171 minutes to just under 90 minutes, freeing sales reps to serve more customers and sell more vehicles.
"One of the best things about the system is the speed," said Pat Burke, general sales manager at Earl Tindol Ford in North Carolina. "It used to take anywhere from one and a half to two hours just to get someone in and out of F&I, now it takes as little as an hour and fifteen minutes for the entire sales process from start to finish, if there are only a couple of pencils," he said. "We want the customer in and out as fast as possible and Market Scan makes it possible ... the faster we can get a deal in front of them and close, the better things are."
Sales Force Automation
Also debuting at NADA is Market Scan's comprehensive Sales Force Automation which allows dealers to design and implement a customized sales process, create a follow-up program, and monitor the results in real-time.
Seamlessly integrated with Profitcenter, Sales Force Automation enables sales reps to add customer information immediately into the deal-making flow, emphasizing selling to the customer on-site as well as sales follow-up. Using Sales Force Automation, sales reps can create an up card and send it in real-time to the desk and receive a quote in a matter of minutes -- all without leaving the customer's side.
In addition, sales teams can use Sales Force Automation to create personal work plans, manage in-bound prospects and sales leads, and automate contact management. Customer data is entered via a Windows-based workstation computer or laptop, or through Market Scan's Quik Sales Kiosk. Once the data is captured, it remains in the system allowing sales staff to follow up if a customer doesn't buy immediately and when the customer returns, to can pick up the sale where they left off.
Sales Force Automation also provides built-in accountability by offering sales managers the ability to track information that is critical to the efficient and profitable management of their stores through fully customizable reports based on virtually any parameter. Sales managers can track the ratio of closed sales to ups, the number and type of open leads being followed by each sales person, the leading sales associate, the number of customers being served at any given time, how many calculations have been worked up, the status of deals and much more. All reports and information are available in real-time either on-site through Profitcenter computers or remotely via laptops or PCs. With Sales Force Automation, managers can work with their teams to enhance their skills and for greater accountability by establishing goals and monitoring their completion.
These new features combined with Profitcenter's comprehensive software offerings make it the only solution automotive retailers need.
| -- | DMS Inventory Download Integration which allows dealers to download their entire inventory into Profitcenter and execute finance searches for any and all vehicles in inventory |
| -- | DSM Upload Integration, a fast, easy, and accurate method to upload customer and sales information into DMS using touch screen technology |
| -- | Network Option which gives dealers the ability to easily and seamlessly work any deal from any desk in the dealership -- or at each dealership location in a group of stores |
| -- | Quik Sales Kiosk which streamlines the process by allowing sales personnel to quickly enter customer information and route it to sales managers who can provide the best purchase and lease options on every potential deal before a customer completes a test drive |
Profitcenter is available immediately as one complete solution that provides automotive retailers with every feature of this powerful platform, or a la carte as individual modules, allowing dealerships to custom-configure solutions to meet their business needs. Pricing is based on the software selected and the number of seats a dealer purchases.
About Market Scan Information Systems
Founded in 1988, Market Scan Information Systems, Inc. is known as an innovation leader in financing software solutions for automotive dealers. The company's flagship line, Profitcenter(TM), delivers a wide range of integrated retail and lease financing solutions and services designed to speed transaction time and to increase profits and customer satisfaction. The company's customers include many of the largest and most profitable dealer groups in the world. Market Scan is headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., and has offices and training centers in New York, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Tampa, Florida. Additional information about the company is available through 1.800.MKTSCAN (1.800.658.7226).