CDK Elead CRM Helps Keep Modern Toyota on the Upswing

Modern Toyota of Winston-Salem, North Carolina is on a mission to provide amenities and guarantee customer satisfaction throughout the sale and beyond. Their track record for success in delivering on that mission is proven by their many accolades, including the Edmund’s Five Star Dealer award. They’ve elevated the car-buying experience with help from CDK Elead CRM and by making a commitment to customer service that is second to none.

Founded in 1933, Modern Toyota is known for keeping pace with changes in the automotive industry and marketplace. Four generations of the Fowler family have kept the dealership on trend with innovative facilities, state-of-the-art services and an emphasis on integrity that keeps customers coming back. Engagement is key at Modern Toyota, and Elead has helped take them to the next level. “A big thing we look at is the percentage of appointments set to leads and eventually showings. A show rate of 65% is typical for Toyota. We have stores in the mid-70s,” explains Jamie Tilley, director of BDC operations.

Integrated and Easy

A big plus of utilizing Elead CRM has been the seamless integration and overall ease of use. As Tilley puts it, “Everything is very simple. It's all in one place. It all correlates, making it easy to use. We're able to keep an eye on things and measure them effectively.” With such a long history of success, we asked about Modern’s experience with other CRM products compared to working with Elead. “Some CRMs push over to the DMS better than others. Having Elead and then CDK as our DMS makes a big difference. In the past, we’d have people manually put a deal in because they didn't know what was entered and what wasn't.”

With so much emphasis placed on the customer experience at Modern Toyota, Elead makes the perfect partner for generating and nurturing relationships. The ability to easily and accurately identify customer information on the fly with Elead CRM has proven to be effective for their team. Tilley explains, “We really like the ease of being able to go in and search for customer information in Elead. I can enter a phone number as well as search by name or email. It's very easy to see. It's right in your face all the time. Everybody has the app on their phone, and of course if they’re in the showroom, they're utilizing their desktop. I would say through a typical day, our Sales team is utilizing the app for 30% of their time just getting customer information.”

Checking All the Boxes

As Modern Toyota keeps climbing higher, we keep working with them to improve their bottom line even more. “I’m very happy with Elead. I'm happy with Roadster. I'm happy with the whole package our group has from CDK. There's always new technology, but for the basic fundamentals I feel we need as a dealership, Elead checks all the boxes. How would Tilley advise dealers who are on the fence about which CRM to choose? "We've been working with them for a while now, and for anyone that asks, I would recommend Elead for their store.”