We’ve been integrating TrackBack with OEM CRM and Lead Management Systems (LMS) for nearly ten years. We do this using a well tried and tested ‘behind the scenes’ technology called Web Services. Basically the client’s LMS/CRM system sends us lead contact details together with the code for the dealer that each lead has been assigned to. TrackBack then instantly passes back a substitute set of contact details that it can immediately monitor. These are the details that the dealers see and hopefully use (and we’ll know if they don’t). After a call has been made, we send the details back to the OEM system so they can measure and compare both follow-up activity and lead quality.
But it’s not always possible for the CRM Manager working for a car manufacturer in a specific country to authorise the integration of TrackBack with the system their dealers use. It may be a system implemented for their whole region, like Europe, N America or AsiaPac, or it may even be a global solution. Whilst we have yet to discover an LMS/CRM system we can’t quickly fully integrate with, the authorisation process to enable this to happen might not always be quick and easy. It is therefore important to explore local solutions with clients in markets who don’t control their LMS/CRM system and who are eager to find out what happens to their leads.
The core function performed by TrackBack is to substitute trackable numbers into lead records. So by following the trail of how leads are originated for clients in the UK we can select the most significant sources. Another issue is that not all leads end up being allocated to dealers. Some are considered more appropriate to be dealt with by other processes. Again, careful filtering needs to be applied.
Other challenges might present themselves. TrackBack measures not only if lead follow-up has been attempted, it also measures how long it took before there was any activity. When TrackBack automatically integrates with an LMS/CRM system, the clock starts from when the data is swapped and all lead follow-ups are timed from the same objective reference point. However, when substitutions happen sporadically with data sources, other rules need to be applied to achieve similar objectivity.
Presenting the data about follow-up without feeding it back to the LMS/CRM system is not an issue since TrackBack has its own secure reporting portal for both OEM staff and also their dealers if required. It provides comparisons and benchmarks for easy identification of best practice and where training, process adjustments or more radical solutions might be appropriate. So if the data can’t be passed back to the central LMS/CRM system, it can still be usefully analysed.
Fortunately the TrackBack team has built up a great deal of experience in deploying lead tracking solutions around the world and is always keen to be given a challenge.