The benefits of robust dealership reporting tools

Dealerships today need all the available tools they can access to stay ahead of the competition. One solution often overlooked, or not considered valuable, is dealership reporting. Dealerships create volumes of data every day. With the proper reporting parameters and output, monitoring your own numbers is a powerful way to keep tabs on employee productivity and aftermarket product penetration. Quality reporting will allow you to track successes and see where there’s room for improvement.

Why does your dealership need a reporting tool?

It used to be that agents were the only individuals in the industry who needed and relied on reports to better their business. Now, more and more dealerships are seeking tools and insights into various data sets to watch and interpret trends that will help with better decision-making.

It’s hard to set and achieve goals if you don’t know where you’re starting from with sales and performance. Reporting can help you see where you are today and give you the information you need to set benchmarks and goals for tomorrow, all while tracking progress along the way - both wins and failures. Catching declines before they become too detrimental to your business is crucial to success. Staying on top of patterns and trends can help you plan with facts as your reasoning.

A powerful and easy-to-use reporting tool can help you understand and explore critical business data, creating valuable insight into your dealership’s F&I performance.

With real-time reporting capabilities, you’ll always know how the dealership, an employee, or a particular product performs during a specific month, week, or even day. Access to dealership details can help you quickly identify what’s performing and where potential opportunities lie.

Reporting should become essential to your workflow but shouldn’t be a hassle. Setting up and running reports and securely maintaining your data should be easy. Automated reporting frees up your staff to do other things and can ensure data accuracy.

Think of how helpful it would be to view new, used, financed, leased, and cash sales data. Access to valuable numbers helps streamline your internal business and gives you a competitive edge.

It’s your information, and you should be empowered to view which products are selling, the managers that are closing the most, and other trends so you can make effective and profitable decisions.

The better your facts - in the form of reporting data - the better decisions you can make about the future of your business.

Insights into what drives dealer ROI can help you and your personnel repeat success month after month.

What should you look for in a reporting tool?

Here’s what to keep an eye open for.

Unlimited customization because one size does not fit all.

A reputable reporting tool should effortlessly integrate with your current systems. The reports should be simple to manage and maintain, and one of the output options should be graphs and charts that can be quickly disseminated and viewed.

The types of reports you can run with your data should be endless.

A robust data reporting suite should allow you to run reports on whatever parameters you need. For example, you could run monthly reports on personnel and compare performances month –over- month to create fair base pay and compensation plans.

Everything that is sold through your dealership can be analyzed and reported. Think of how nice it would be to have comprehensive data on units sold, penetration, product details, PVR, and more facts that can guide you in choosing the best products to focus on for maximum profitability. With today’s tools, you can break this information down by each F&I Manager.

Ever wonder how your finance sources are performing? Keep tabs on averages and volume to determine who works best for your business.

The best reporting solutions for your dealership should be easy to set up, maintain, and help you quickly make better decisions with valuable insights into your sales and productivity. Your current systems already produce mounds of essential data, so tapping into a trusted provider that is securely integrated with numerous partners will help you access the details you need to become more profitable soon.

About Us

RouteOne was formed in 2002 by Ally Financial, Ford Motor Credit Company, TD Auto Finance, and Toyota Financial Services to improve the F&I process for automobile dealers and their customers. Connecting thousands of dealers and finance sources in North America for vehicle financing, RouteOne’s platform delivers a comprehensive suite of F&I solutions across multiple channels: in-store, online, mobile, and via third-party solutions. Its product line-up includes credit application, eContracting, menu, online/mobile retail services, and compliance. In addition, RouteOne enables dealer choice across a wide variety of best-in-class providers through open integrations with over 200 DSPs. More information is available at www.routeone.com.

Alex Bio

Alexander Mandeville is the Director of OEM Strategy and Strategic Accounts team leading engagement with partners and OEMs utilizing RouteOne’s services to build new and unique processes in the F&I space. Prior to taking on these responsibilities, Alex spent 13 years at RouteOne in roles of increasing responsibility with a focus on taking RouteOne’s Credit Application, eContracting, and Menu solutions to the marketplace. With RouteOne’s expanding toolset, Alex has focused on helping partners and OEMs create modern consumer experiences. When Alex isn’t working with partner’s and OEMs on enhancing customer experiences or at the park with his wife and toddlers, he can be found in the woods or on the water, depending on the season, in Michigan's great outdoors.