Kia de LaSalle Transformation
with Activix CRM
Background
When Antony Renaud took over as General Manager at Kia de LaSalle, he inherited a dealership with minimal CRM usage. Although Activix CRM was in place, it was not being used to support daily operations, track customer interactions, or guide sales performance. In contrast, his previous dealership had been using Activix to its full potential. This discrepancy triggered a structured rollout and change management initiative aimed at maximizing the CRM's impact across the dealership.
Implementation Strategy
1. Diagnosis & Leadership Buy-In
-
Initial phase involved weeks of observation to understand where and why CRM usage was lacking.
-
Antony focused first on leadership: sales directors were trained in CRM basics and expected to model usage before rolling it out to their teams.
-
Antony personally led the training “clinics,” ensuring clarity on tools like the calendar, filters, notes, and leads and sales tracking.
2. Department-Wide Enablement
A phased and structured rollout was conducted across all departments:
-
Sales Team: Reinforced CRM fundamentals, including search functions, tasks, follow-ups, and vehicle interest tracking.
-
Finance (F&I): Introduced CRM as a compliance and coaching tool by recording interactions (with consent) and using them for coaching, internal training and audit readiness.
-
Delivery: Introduced task automation and delivery tracking to trigger customer satisfaction surveys and renewals.
-
Fixed Ops: Granted calendar access to manage delivery timelines and prep schedules, replacing manual communication.
-
Service: Began using the CRM calendar to proactively call customers for first service appointments—aiming at boosting service retention.
3. Operational Checks & Accountability
-
Daily reconciliation between manual showroom logs and CRM entries to ensure accurate data capture.
-
Monitoring tools like activity reports and auto-closing summaries were used to drive team accountability and coaching.
-
Implemented standardized F&I email templates tailored to each bank, ensuring consistency of communications and saving valuable time.
Measurable Results
1. Sales Growth
-
New Vehicles: +17.6% YoY (Jan–Apr)
-
Used Vehicles: +130% YoY (Jan–Apr)
2. Profitability
-
Used Vehicle Gross Profit: +84.3% per unit sold YoY.
-
New Vehicle Gross Profit: +7.9% YoY.
3. Overall Revenue
-
Total Vehicle Sales Revenue: +26.1% compared to the same period the previous year.
Operational Improvements
-
Data Quality: CRM data now reflects reality, supporting BDC tracking, performance reporting and accurate data for renewals and new campaigns.
-
Employee Engagement: Improved CRM adoption led to better follow-up, more sales, better commissions and increased job satisfaction among staff.
-
Management Control: Directors now have clear visibility into rep performance, follow-up status, overdue tasks, and customer journey continuity.
-
Customer Experience: Proactive communication (e.g., follow-ups, delivery coordination, first-service calls) enhanced professionalism and retention.
Lessons Learned & Best Practices
-
Leadership First: Change must begin at the managerial level for front-line adoption to follow.
-
Consistent Training: Repeating the fundamentals and explaining the “why” behind each feature built trust and consistency.
-
System Integration: Activix became the hub for communication and coordination even though DMS remained a depositary of contracts.
-
Customization Matters: Tailored templates and scheduled routines made processes repeatable and scalable.
-
Benchmarks Are Motivating: Antony noted potential value in comparing dealership performance to industry benchmarks, especially when segmented by OEM or market type.
Conclusion
The transition from underutilized software to a CRM-driven culture at Kia de LaSalle demonstrates how structured training, leadership alignment, and cross-departmental integration can transform dealership operations. The success was not only reflected in hard sales numbers and profit margins, but also in better team cohesion, improved customer experience, and scalable process discipline.
Activix CRM proved to be more than a tool—it became the operational backbone of the dealership.
Want to optimize your dealership’s
CRM management? Let’s talk!
