Searching for Nothing - 12/6/12
Upping the Speed to the Up Sheet - 11/28/12
Closed on Sundays? Your Action Plan tasks can be rescheduled to skip them automatically - 8/18/12
Round Robin leads get promoted - 5/16/12
Filter your inventory by dealership - 3/21/12
Outgoing call tracking for everyone - 2/27/12
Ability to merge with delivered up sheets - 2/22/12
Vintage and non-standard VINS now supported - 2/17/12
Contact 'about' info is now shown on up sheets - 1/13/12
Round-Robin Leads - 6/6/11
New inventory search - 2/10/11
Improved note taking - 12/7/10
See the bigger picture - 9/19/10
Merging up sheets - 9/3/10
Editable E-mail Sender, {VEHICLE} for templates, and more - 8/26/10
Log in is your email address - 7/9/10
Improving Delivery - 12/18/09
Small, but helpful, you can now search for up sheets with no vehicle entered on them. Just type in "none" in the vehicle search field on the up sheet tab.
If you've tried to add a new up sheet recently, you've probably noticed it looks different.
Why?
Well in order to create an up sheet, you first need a contact for that up sheet. Before, this process could be lengthy. Getting to the up sheet as quickly as possible is what's important, though, so that other details (like vehicle information) can be entered sooner. The contact creation (or selection) step has been streamlined for that reason. After you click "Add new up sheet" and you enter a phone number, email address, or name, AutoRaptor will search your database for potential matches.
If a match exists -- either the contact or an existing up sheet for that contact -- you save time by not having to enter data for that contact and/or up sheet. Less time spent on data entry means more time for selling.
On the other hand, if there isn't a match and the contact doesn't exist yet, you'll still be able to add as little (or as much) detail about that contact as you want -- including adding important dates like birthdays and anniversaries.
Sundays. A day off for some dealerships, sure, but AutoRaptor is always humming along. No rest for the wickedly cool, one could say.
That AutoRaptor is always running is always a good thing, but dealerships that use AutoRaptor's powerful Action Plan engine -- to automatically create tasks to keep track of what needs to be done and by when -- are just a simple checkbox away from preventing AutoRaptor from scheduling Action Plan tasks on Sundays.
OK, so where's this checkbox?
Account Admins can mosey over to Settings, select a dealership, then check the box labeled "Task Scheduling". Don't forget to click the "Save Changes" button.
Done. Now what? How does it work?
Any upcoming tasks created by an Action Plan that are due on a Sunday will automatically be rescheduled for either the next business day -- those tasks that are due a day or two after an Up Sheet is created, for example -- or for sometime the following week.
Tasks created manually, however, will retain their due date no matter what (even if it's Sunday).
That's it. Simple, but powerful. Any day of the week.
Our introduction of Round-Robin Lead distribution caused quite a stir.
In typical AutoRaptor fashion, it's received plenty of tweaks since then, but now we're pleased to announce that you can share all of that Round-Robin-y goodness with both Sales Reps and Sales Managers.
We get it: Some of you wear many hats -- regardless of how many heads there are around to wear them. Big stores, little stores, and anything in between can have Sales Managers who both manage and sell.
It's easy to take advantage of this update: Simply go to 'Settings', select the dealership's settings that you want to edit, select 'Integration', then 'E-Leads'. Once you select 'Round-Robin...' for how to distribute your leads, you'll now be able to select any user who has access to that dealership.
Inclusion. It's a good thing. Good luck!
You may have already noticed: We recently snuck in the ability for you to filter your inventory searches by dealership.
So, if your dealer group has multiple locations and your inventory provider includes dealership as part of the rich data that AutoRaptor already imports for each vehicle, then you'll now able to search for and list vehicles for a specific dealership location. Better searches bring better results. And getting better just got a lot easier.
Simply choose the dealership under filters, then click Search as you always have.
If all of your vehicles show up under a single dealership, then it's possible that your inventory provider is not sending us dealership data for your inventory.
If that's what you're seeing, then contact our support team and we'll do our best to help you on your way to dealership-filtering goodness.
We are enabling outbound dialing and call tracking support for all accounts. Each dealership within an account starts with 500 minutes of talk time per month. Additional talk time can be purchased by your account administrator if needed.
To set up outbound calling, simply click your name at the top of the screen, then choose "Phones". You'll be able to quickly add and confirm any phones that you intend to place calls from.
Placing a call is easy: Simply click a phone number anywhere within AutoRaptor and you'll see the phone number pop up in very large print.
Choose which phone to use (if you have more than one) and click "Dial". The phone you've chosen will ring. When you answer you'll hear ringing as you're connected to your customer. When the call is complete, a note will automatically be added to the up sheet. Remember, it's up to you to leave a great note about what was discussed on the call. Enjoy!
One annoyance some of our users have run into periodically is the inability to merge delivered up sheets. Sometimes you just don't spot a duplicate until it's too late - and then what do you do? We haven't had a great answer to that question until now:
Just merge the duplicate up sheets, like always.
Starting today it's now possible for managers to merge a delivered up sheet with a non-delivered up sheet or even merge two delivered up sheets (if the details match up). About the only thing you still can't do is merge two different deliveries that were both imported from your DMS.
Merging works as it always has. To use this new feature just click "Merge" at the bottom of an up sheet, find the up sheet you wish to merge with, and then click "Yes" to review and complete the merge.
When merging two delivered up sheets the VIN number and delivery dates must match exactly. This prevents accidentally merging different deliveries. If there is any inconsistency the system will alert you know and you can correct the mis-match before proceeding with the merge.
If adding vehicles manually you can just enter the VIN like you would normally. The system will recognize that we can't identify the vehicle for you and ask you for year, make, model, etc.
Any vehicles in existing inventory feeds that have VINs meeting these new criteria will be automatically imported in the future without any special intervention required.
There are a few simple requirements:
This should cover a large number of the classic VIN situations we have seen users ask our help desk about. We're aware this doesn't yet solve the 17-digit grey-market VIN issue, but we feel it's a step in the right direction.
We hope you enjoy.
You've always had the ability to add helpful notes about a contact, but previously that feature was buried on the details page for a contact. Today we're making it even easier to add and view those notes.
On the right hand side of an up sheet you'll now see any special notes you've added about a contact and when editing a contact you'll be able to easily update these notes. Here is what it looks like:
Remember: Contact notes are intended for details about the contact (not about the deal). Perhaps their kids names, hobbies, favorite sports team, etc... something you can use to jog your memory when it comes to providing that personal touch during future follow-up.
We hope you enjoy.
Until now, AutoRaptor has offered only two different ways that leads could be distributed to sales reps: Managers could assign each lead manually, or sales reps could be allowed to claim leads.
Today we are proud to announce the ability to distribute leads in a round-robin fashion. Round-robin assignment will distribute leads equally to available sales reps with minimal manager intervention.
Each day when sales reps log in we ask for their schedule that day. Sales reps provide the hours during which they are available to promptly respond to leads. Round-robin assigned leads that are ignored for more than 30 minutes will alert a manager and could be reassigned.
As leads come in during the day they will be distributed round-robin to the sales reps currently working and available to receive leads. A sales rep is considered available during the hours they entered (unless they change their status to 'busy').
If a sales rep is going to be unable to respond to leads for a short while they can click the "Available" indicator and a popup will allow them to set their status to Busy. When they return they can click Busy and simply change their status back to available.
When someone is busy for less than an hour the round-robin system will track how many leads they "missed" and when they return will see that they "catch up". If someone is busy longer than an hour they are removed from the round-robin queue and will not "catch up" when they return.
You will need to be an account admin to enable round-robin. Click on Settings, then Integration, then E-Leads. You'll see a drop-down labeled "How should your leads be assigned?". Simply choose round-robin and select which of your sales reps you would like leads evenly distributed to throughout day.
We have added new filters under the Inventory tab to more effectively search for vehicles you have in stock. In the image above, you will see that on the right of the Inventory screen there are more search fields. Now, in addition to vehicle description. VIN or stock number, you can search your inventory by:
There is also a new feature on the top left of the inventory screen where you can sort your inventory or search results by:
We've recently improved the ability to take notes. Gone are the drop-down and "Add entry" buttons. So how does one add a note? Simply start typing or click into the note field and you'll see the new note taking form appear.
It's now even easier to select the type of activity. We've added a new "Demo" activity as well as the ability to differentiate between inbound and outbound phone calls. This same note entry form is now also used for adding additional notes to some activities - such as marking a vehicle sold or completing a task.
When adding a note regarding a specific activity the form will display the title of the activity. Starting today any tasks completed from an action plan will pop up the note window and prompt you to enter notes. If you don't need to enter any you can simply hit the Escape key or click Cancel. System Administrators can tweak their action plans and disable this behavior or only prompt for notes for certain tasks.
Ever looked at an up sheet from the past, or one you were just assigned, and wondered about the bigger picture? If so, you're not alone. If it's a new lead, is the lead's contact an existing customer? What's the last vehicle they purchased, when was that, what was the payment? So this up sheet is delivered, but is there a newer up sheet for this contact? Are they shopping again? ... So many questions... While it's always been possible to find those answers, we've now made getting those answers a lot easier. Here's what you'll see atop Up Sheets now: 
Now, with just a glance, we can immediately see some essential info:
You can click the contact's name to quickly see the full list of up sheets. From there you can find out if there is indeed a duplicate that you'd want to get help resolving (via our awesome merge feature, see below). Another common question comes up when you're staring at a customer's Delivered up sheet. What now? How do you sell them another car? It's now clear. If the contact doesn't have an active up sheet, an add button appears on the right allowing you to create one and start working with the customer towards their next purchase. 
Sales Managers using AutoRaptor may have already noticed that the “Delete” link on any non-Delivered Up Sheet has a new neighbor: “Merge”. Let’s pause and celebrate this moment. Duplicate (also known as “unwanted extra”) Up Sheets can happen to the best of us. We’re continually working on improving AutoRaptor’s detection and prevention of duplicate Up Sheets, but now we can add the massive computing power of your brain to the arsenal. Here’s how:
Got a question about this merry act of merging -- or anything else? Just click the "Contact us for help" link at the bottom of any AutoRaptor screen and let us know!
We are constantly working to improve our users’ AutoRaptor experience. Therefore, we are pleased to announce a few improvements we have made to certain features in the AutoRaptor system!
You can now change the subject and sender name that will appear in your customers inboxes. Account administrators will find these settings under Settings - Integration - E-leads. One example might be modifying your e-mails to appear from the "Internet Sales Team" instead of your dealership name.
You can change the sender’s name for any of your e-mails. This is useful if you go by a nickname, for example, or if you would like the sender to be your dealership’s name as opposed to your name. To change the sender’s name for your e-mails, click your name at the top right corner of your AutoRaptor screen. Underneath your e-mail signature you will see the field ‘E-mail Sender Name’ with your name in it as default. Simply re-type what you would like your sender name to be and click ‘Save Changes’ on the left.
While we are on the topic of e-mails, we would like to inform you that we have added an additional data tag, which can be used in both in regular e-mails and templates. Along with {FULL_NAME}, {FIRST_NAME}, and {LAST_NAME}, you now have the option to add {VEHICLE}. The vehicle data tag will pull the year, make, and model from the primary vehicle on the up-sheet.
You have already been able to click on the inventory tab and search your dealership’s inventory using multiple criteria, including year, make, model, color, VIN, and stock number. However, if you were searching for vehicles attached to an up sheet, you were limited to searching by make and model in the search in the up sheets tab. The search field ‘Make/Model’ is now called ‘Vehicle.’ It’s not just the name that’s changed either; you can now search for vehicles attached to up sheets using any of the same criteria you use to search your inventory. For example, you can find out exactly how many people are interested in stock number 4887, or how many leads are out on black 2008 vehicles.
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Note: Many of you already use an e-mail address to log in to AutoRaptor. If you're not in that crowd, read on. A few months ago, we boosted the importance of using your e-mail address with AutoRaptor by requiring everyone to have one as part of their user account. And, back then, we quietly introduced the option to use that very same e-mail address as your login (in addition to supporting our traditional "username" approach). Now, we've taken the next step by requiring that everyone use their e-mail address for logging in to AutoRaptor. As a helpful nudge, if you enter your old username instead of your e-mail address, you'll get a blast of colorful messages and your e-mail address will be entered for you in the login field. (We tweaked this to make it a bit easier after getting some feedback. Thanks!) So, that's it: Log in and rock on! |
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The next time you go to mark a vehicle as delivered -- or update an existing delivery -- in AutoRaptor you might see something new: Two additional fields for collecting the vehicle's stock number and VIN.
What? More data? Don't worry, we haven't lost our focus on achieving results (instead of focusing on data entry). Just a wee bit more data can go a long way in helping you and your store know what's going on. Give a little, get a lot. Sound good? You know it does.
So, how does this work?
If the vehicle that you're delivering is already an 'Inventory' vehicle -- meaning a vehicle with a stock number -- then you're all set. But if it's a 'Custom' or 'Build' vehicle then you'll see something like this:
Just enter the stock number and the VIN should fill in automatically. If the VIN doesn't magically appear (which means that this vehicle isn't in inventory for some reason) then you can enter it manually; after you click 'Confirm this Delivery' or 'Save Changes' that vehicle will be immediately added to the inventory roster as a delivered vehicle.
