New driving force for Earnhardt

CRM software vendor FireSocket announced today that US $1 billion auto dealer group Earnhardt Auto has standardized its customer relationship management operations on the DealerSocket system. The move will affect all departments at Earnhardt’s nine Arizona- and Texas-located automotive dealerships, including its BMW, Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Honda, Hyundai, Jeep, Lincoln, Mercury, Mazda and Nissan.

The Earnhardt organization has contracted FireSocket to shape a CRM system to operate as complete interdepartmental system among customer service, marketing, floor sales, internet sales, automotive parts and service units. “We’re a high-volume dealer,” goes Earnhardt Auto IT operations vice president Donald Speen’s creed, “and we sell a lot of vehicles.” Be that as it may, even Earnhardt was surprised at just successful peddling online would become. “We were doing really well with … our internet sales with a product that we were using … [but] it was just geared toward Internet sales and follow-up.”

In order to maximize benefits from the received information, Earnhardt went for a CRM solution. Tex Earnhardt’s story is a real classic bit of Americana: Ol’ Tex started his first Ford dealership in Chandler, Arizona in September 1951. From its storied “humble beginnings” of selling a few Fords a month, Earnhardt Auto Centers garnered nearly US $1 billion in retail sales and sold over 27,000 retail units last year. Earnhardt employs over five hundred employees.