Two key parts of Quorum's business strategy help dealers meet the needs of the modern marketplace and to take worry out of their businesses. These strategies are reflected under a program called "We've got you covered." which encompasses our ground-breaking DMS Assurance programs as well as a number of other products and services aimed at helping dealers with predictability of expenses, security, compliance and meeting the challenges of today's digital marketplace.
"DMS Assurance" provides dealerships with the ultimate price protection and cost predictability for their information technology. Dealers will only incur additional costs if they decide to add new services, grow their business and add users, or decide to have us perform custom work for them. The point is that it is all in their control and they can avoid unexpected costs and future capital expense.
The DMS Assurance Program is comprised of three main components:
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Price Assurance - locking in monthly support rates for "life" for new customers, plus the added benefit of no future factory integration costs for supported franchises, along with dealer-friendly month-to-month contracts (see previous release "Quorum's Pledge").
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Software Assurance - every new Quorum customer will automatically receive all future XSELLERATOR versions at no cost. In addition, all new versions of the underlying Microsoft technology (server operating system and database engines) will be provided at no cost as Quorum rolls them out. Customers can also enjoy unlimited secure remote connections for existing users to their system through the Internet or handheld devices such as iPads.
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Business Assurance - a remarkable option for new Quorum customers that provides protection from future hardware replacements and common ad-hoc charges for a very low monthly "subscription" fee. The major components include:
The dealership's server will be automatically replaced after 60 months at no cost. In conjunction with the services we already provide like automated off-site back-ups and server protection and monitoring, dealerships will find that they now have all of the benefits normally attributed to ASP or cloud-computing models, but without any of the deficiencies like expensive communication and reliance on outside data centers. In short, it is the best of both worlds;
No additional fees for unlimited use of standard F&I forms, and Quorum's large library of electronic non-F&I forms and documents (eDocuments) that can be used in XSELLERATOR and stored with transactions;
Access to the entire Quorum, library of high-value Excel-based "FlexReports."
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In March 2011, Quorum announced an alliance with Carfolks.com, the only auto retail marketing platform that helps dealers connect with customers and provides in-market shoppers with verified customer reviews of the dealer's performance.
"As social media channels exert more influence over where consumers shop and buy their vehicles, Quorum wants to provide our dealerships with the ability to meet the needs of managing their online reputations. After examining the landscape, we found Carfolks.com has a unique blend of a dealer centric model based on real 'social evidence' and objective information for consumers that presents an accurate picture of their experience," said Mark Allen, Quorum's Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Services.
The Carfolks program can automatically extract sales and service customer data from Quorum's DMS, XSELLERATORTM so that only actual customers of the dealership are posting reviews. Unlike other dealer rating sites, this program ensures "verifiable reviews" that the public can trust, and can be used by the dealers to differentiate themselves from the competition. Since Carfolks make everything public instantly, highly rated dealers can now advertise they are a top customer-rated dealership or provide a top-ranked service department. This can be a powerful marketing tool for dealers.
Kim Clouse, Vice President of Carfolks said, "Auto retailers haven't always had the best reputation in the market, but we know most of them do a great job of taking care of their customers. We wanted a way to reward those dealers for doing things right every day. Our process is simple, non-intrusive and integrates with dealers' websites, Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels. And, if Carfolks identifies a customer issue, the dealer is notified immediately so they can call the customer and determine the best way to resolve the issue. The resolution can then be posted as part of the review."
Carfolks, like Facebook, also offers auto dealers a free web page for every one of their sales people and service advisers to build their personal brand, connect with existing customers and reach new prospects too. This helps auto dealers retain staff members and lowers hiring and training costs.
