The Reynolds and Reynolds Company on Jan. 19 announced enhancements to its dDesking solution. The enhancements target automotive retailers' need to improve and streamline the negotiation process while maximizing profitability on every deal.

Desking, a critical element in the sale of a vehicle, is a term commonly used in automotive retailing to refer to the process of calculating payments and quoting aspects of the transaction to potential customers. Historically, the customer's buying experience has been jeopardized due to delays and hand-offs between the sales desk and F&I. Furthermore, dealership profit leaks occur when managers lack the time or tools to structure financing options that meet customers' needs and optimize profits for the dealership.

Designed with this in mind, Reynolds says its desking solution enables sales professionals to quickly and accurately present customers with multiple financing and leasing options that meet their individual needs while optimizing dealership profits.

"Reynolds Desking solution dramatically speeds up our negotiation process and helps us to close more deals," says Bill Seltzer, general sales manager of Potamkin Auto World in Springfield, Pa. "With Reynolds Desking, we're closing more business on the first try because we can quickly provide a variety of payment options. I can now calculate multiple lease and retail payments on each deal in less than a minute. Before, it would have taken me about 10 minutes. And after two months, our closing ratio has increased from 25 percent to 35 percent. The only thing that we're doing different is using Reynolds Desking."

According to Denise Grieshop, Reynolds solutions executive for CRM software, "Most dealerships only have time to calculate one or two payment options for their prospective customers, especially on a busy Saturday. Consumers like to have options and our Desking solution allows dealerships to quickly and accurately structure multiple scenarios and present them professionally. Plus, the integration with the retailers' ERA® system saves time in the showroom and the F&I office."

Unlike other offerings, Reynolds Desking has embedded bi-directional integration with the Reynolds ERA dealer system, enabling retailers to have access to the latest customer and vehicle information. Reynolds says this integration results in less time spent rekeying information and reconfiguring deals and more time spent with the customer selling.

Tight integration also enables the use of a single system calculator that drives the ability to plug profit leaks by ensuring consistent, to-the-penny payment matching capabilities between the sales desk and financing office, according to Reynolds. With payment matching, retailers can protect profit margins on deals and no longer worry about sales to F&I calculation discrepancies, the company said.

Reynolds says the Desking solution helps retailers to improve the customer purchase experience and maximize profitability on both retail and lease deals. Other enhancements and capabilities, according to Reynolds and Reynolds, allow the Desking solution to:

• Quickly calculate items that might affect the customer's payment including extended service contracts, theft protection, insurance, etc.

  
  

  
  

• Further improve front-end gross by easily ranking the lenders' finance programs based on profitability and other criteria, allowing the retailer to optimize the profitability while meeting consumers needs

  
  

  
  

• Boost close ratios by presenting multiple financing scenarios to the consumer in a professional and attractive manner through printable payment options and detailed customer proposals

  
  

  
  

• Increase productivity and streamline operations. Tight integration provides real-time access to customer and vehicle information, reducing data entry and enabling retailers to handle more customers during peak times

  Help improve customer satisfaction through an expedient and professional purchase experience

  
  

  
  

  Reynolds Desking is available nationwide as a supplemental sales and F&I management solution to the Reynolds ERA dealer management system.

  
  

  About Reynolds and Reynolds

  
  

  Reynolds and Reynolds (www.reyrey.com) is a provider of integrated solutions designed to help automotive retailers manage change and improve their profitability.

  
  

  Serving the automotive retailing industry since 1927, Reynolds says it enables OEMs and retailers to work together to build the lifetime value of their customers. The company's product, service and training solutions include retail and enterprise management systems, Web and customer relationship management solutions, learning and consulting services, documents, data management and integration, networking and support and leasing services.

  
  

  Reynolds serves more than 20,000 customers comprising nearly 90 percent of the automotive retailers and virtually all OEMs doing business in North America. The Reynolds International Division serves automotive retailers and OEMs through Incadea AG and its partner network as well as a worldwide consulting practice.