Reynolds and Reynolds Announces Enhancements to its Automotive Retailing Desking Solution

With robust bi-directional integration, solution helps to boost closing ratio, optimize profitability and enhance the customer purchase experience

DAYTON, Ohio, Jan. 19 -- The Reynolds and Reynolds Company today announced enhancements to its Desking solution. The enhancements target automotive retailers' need to improve and streamline the negotiation process while maximizing profitability on every deal.

Desking, a critical element in the sale of a vehicle, is a term commonly used in automotive retailing to refer to the process of calculating payments and quoting aspects of the transaction to potential customers. Historically, the customer's buying experience has been jeopardized due to delays and hand- offs between the sales desk and F&I. Furthermore, dealership profit leaks occur when managers lack the time or tools to structure financing options that meet customers' needs and optimize profits for the dealership.

Designed with this in mind, Reynolds Desking solution powerfully enables sales professionals to quickly and accurately present customers with multiple financing and leasing options that meet their individual needs while optimizing dealership profits.

"Reynolds Desking solution dramatically speeds up our negotiation process and helps us to close more deals," says Bill Seltzer, general sales manager of Potamkin Auto World in Springfield, PA. "With Reynolds Desking, we're closing more business on the first try because we can quickly provide a variety of payment options. I can now calculate multiple lease and retail payments on each deal in less than a minute -- before it would have taken me about 10 minutes. And after two months, our closing ratio has increased from 25% to 35%. The only thing that we're doing different is using Reynolds Desking."

According to Denise Grieshop, Reynolds solutions executive for CRM software, "Most dealerships only have time to calculate one or two payment options for their prospective customers, especially on a busy Saturday. Consumers like to have options and our Desking solution allows dealerships to quickly and accurately structure multiple scenarios and present them professionally. Plus, the integration with the retailers' ERA(R) system saves time in the showroom and the F&I office."

Unlike other offerings, Reynolds Desking has powerful, embedded bi- directional integration with the Reynolds ERA dealer system, enabling retailers to have access to the latest customer and vehicle information. This integration results in less time spent re-keying information and reconfiguring deals and more time spent with the customer selling.

Tight integration also enables the use of a single system calculator that drives the unique ability to plug profit leaks by ensuring consistent, to-the- penny payment matching capabilities between the sales desk and financing office. With payment matching, retailers can protect profit margins on deals and no longer worry about sales to F&I calculation discrepancies.

The Desking solution helps retailers to improve the customer purchase experience and maximize profitability on both retail and lease deals. Other innovative enhancements and capabilities include:

   * Quickly calculate items that might affect the customer's payment
     including extended service contracts, theft protection, insurance, etc.
   * Further improve front-end gross by easily ranking the lenders' finance
     programs based on profitability and other criteria, allowing the
     retailer to optimize the profitability while meeting consumers needs
   * Boost close ratios by presenting multiple financing scenarios to the
     consumer in a professional and attractive manner through printable
     payment options and detailed customer proposals
   * Increase productivity and streamline operations. Tight integration
     provides real-time access to customer and vehicle information, reducing
     data entry and enabling retailers to handle more customers during peak
     times
   * Help improve customer satisfaction through an expedient and
     professional purchase experience

Reynolds Desking is available nationwide as a supplemental Sales and F&I management solution to the Reynolds ERA dealer management system.

About Reynolds and Reynolds

Reynolds and Reynolds ( www.reyrey.com ) is the leading provider of integrated solutions that help automotive retailers manage change and improve their profitability. Serving the automotive retailing industry since 1927, Reynolds enables OEMs and retailers to work together to build the lifetime value of their customers. The company's award-winning product, service and training solutions include a full range of retail and enterprise management systems, Web and Customer Relationship Management solutions, learning and consulting services, documents, data management and integration, networking and support and leasing services. Reynolds serves more than 20,000 customers. They comprise nearly 90 percent of the automotive retailers and virtually all OEMs doing business in North America. The Reynolds International Division serves automotive retailers and OEMs through Incadea AG and its partner network as well as a worldwide consulting practice.